Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

Crazy Quilt with Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Daughters of Rebekah Symbols
ca. 1900
Members of the Olive Branch Rebekah Lodge, No. 21
USA: Massachusetts, Cambridgeport
Silk; velvet; cotton; oil on silk; embroidery
overall: 56"h x 56-1/2"w
Gift of Edith B. Lewis
83.36

Crazy quilt in a variety of silk, satin, brocade, and twill pieces; Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Daughters of Rebekah symbols, both painted and embroidered, include heart with dagger, three link chain, all-seeing eye, sun, moon, heart, crossed keys, cross, Bible, scales; other painted and embroidered designs include basket of flowers, flowers and leaves, "M," hand, umbrella, shoe, face; names in squares include "Charlotte S. Freeman, Lottie E. Freeman, LJ, SSA"; a variety of decorative embroidery stitches and patches; backed in blue (faded silk). Foundation pieced by hand and machine. Twenty-five blocks are 11 1/2" square. Knife-edge binding; no batting; no quilting or tying.

This quilt offers a glimpse into a circle of friends. An immigrant and mother of nine children, Ellen Mary Trayes Murray (1835-1915) belonged to the Daughters of Rebekah, the women's auxiliary of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Family history relates that Mrs. Murray held an office in the Rebekahs but, unlike another officer, did not receive a quilt to thank her for her service. So her friends, some of whom embroidered their initials or names onto their quilt, gathered to compose a suitable gift for Mrs. Murray. It features a painted M (for Murray), the three links of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and even the painted figure of a girl surrounded by various Odd Fellows symbols. The makers also included umbrellas, fans, and boots-all decorative devices that did not relate to the Rebekahs but showed that Mrs. Murray's friends were well versed in the fashions of their time.