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Pieced Family Record Quilt
1866
Sally Sprague Humphrey (1788-1879)
USA: Massachusetts, Hingham
Cotton
overall: 79 3/4 in x 79 3/4 in
Special Acquisitions Fund
75.21

Quilt pieced with multi-colored printed cottons. 100 four-patch blocks (8 inches square) have plain white squares that alternate with 16-patch blocks. Straight-grain applied binding with mitred corners. The fabrics include some earlier examples (1830s and 1840s), as well as some much later replacements (1930s-1960s). Hand-pieced with checks, brown, pink, blue and green prints. Muslin backing in three pieces. Thin batting. Hand-quilted with outline and half circle motifs at six stitches to the inch. In the center of the quilt, a number of the plain blocks are inscribed in handwritten ink with birth, marriage and death information for the maker's family. One square is signed, "Made by Sally Humphrey in the 79th Year of Her Age 1866." Other squares read: "Capt. Thomas Humphrey born Feb. 25, 1788 Died Jan. 16, 1837 Aged 44"; "Sally Humphrey Born Feb. 15, 1788"; Capt. Thomas Humphrey and Sally Sprague Married June 20, 1812"; Sarah H. Johnson Born Feb. 10, 1814 Died Feb. 12, 1863"; "John Johnson Born May 5, 1817"; John Johnson and Sarah Humphrey Married April 2, 1840"; "Thomas Humphrey Born May 1, 1822"; "Mary Jane Humphrey Born Sept. 6, 1821"; "Thomas Humphrey and Mary Jane Morton Married March 24, 1846"; "Lewis Taylor Born Aug. 19, 1824"; "Mary Taylor Born Sept. 4, 1824"; Lewis Taylor and Mary Humphrey Married Feb. 10, 1848"; "Charles G. Cutter Born June 25, 1827 Died Sept. 2, 1863"; "Elizabeth D. Cutter Born Dec. 7, 1827"; "Charles G. Cutter and Elizabeth D. Humphrey Married May 4, 1851"; "Sarah E. Johnson Born March 11, 1841"; "Mary E. Johnson Born Feb. 15, 1843"; "Ellen F. Johnson Born Sept. 2, 1844 Died Aug. 2, 1845"; "John C. Johnson Born March 17, 1851"; "Charles K. Johnson Born Aug. 26, 1853"; "Louisa A. Humphrey Born Dec. 29, 1847 Died Sept. 28, 1848"; "Fred E. Humphrey Born Aug. 7, 1849"; "Charles S. Humphrey Born Aug. 25, 1851"; "Jennie M. Humphrey Born April 11, 1856"; "William L. Taylor Born March 4, 1850"; "Webster H. Taylor Born Oct. 11, 1852"; "John O. Taylor Born June 25, 1854"; "Edward L. Taylor Born May 8, 1857 Died July 10, 1859"; "Minnie Gay Taylor Born Oct. 28, 1863"; "Lizzie A. Cutter Born April 19, 1852"; "Ella D. Cutter Born Nov. 9, 1853 Died July 5, 1855"; "Charles G. Cutter Jr. Born May 21, 1860."


Sally Sprague was born in Hingham, Massachusetts on February 15, 1788, the daughter of Reuben Sprague and Silence Lasell. She married Thomas Humphrey (1788-1850) in 1812. The couple had five children. While family record samplers are common, quilts documenting family births, marriages and deaths are less so. This quilt allowed its maker to keep track of her family's important dates and to symbolically keep her children and grandchildren close by.