History In An Antique Crazy Quilt

Crazy quilts aren’t that crazy. In fact, sometimes a crazy quilt can become a history lesson.

The crazy quilt featured in the past 6 blog entries is an antique crazy quilt that I purchased locally at an estate auction in 1994.

The estate auction was large and it drew the attention of local residents, antique buffs, and museum collectors.

The estate sale was composed of a historic home’s entire contents, and, as I have learned, the contents of this home spanned generations.

This historic home had been the residence of Francis Wesley Lehew, a Confederate soldier in the Civil War. Francis W. Lehew was born in Page County, Virginia in 1837 and he married Sallie Hopewell in 1868.

The Lehew’s residence, located just north of the Civil War battlefield at Fairview in Cedarville, Virginia, remained in the family for more than 150 years.

Of course, I was unaware of this home’s history until I began researching some of the antique textiles that I purchased at the estate auction. Who would know that a bag of threads, unfinished textiles, and a few antique quilts would give me the clues to research local history?

Lehew-Cabell family background

Francis and Sallie Lehew had a daughter, named Mattie Virginia, who was born on February 5, 1869 in Warren County, Virginia.

Mattie Virginia Lehew married Samuel J. Cabell and they had a daughter, Frances Lehew Cabell, in 1908. Frances was named after her grandfather, Frances Wesley Lehew.

The young Cabell family (Virginia, Samuel, and their daughter, Frances) lived in the Francis W. Lehew home, where Samuel Cabell and his father-in-law, Francis Lehew farmed.

When Francis W. and Sallie Lehew died, his daughter, Virginia, inherited the family home and property.

Several of my antique quilts are from the Lehew family estate. They came into my possession from the estate auction I have mentioned. One of the antique quilts is the crazy quilt I have been sharing on past blog entries.

Folded up with the antique crazy quilt was a small sack holding some remaining silks and velvets — scraps for the crazy quilt.

The small sack also contained some cotton threads. The cotton threads are from Dexter’s Cotton and from H.T. Company in Fall River, Mass.

Researching the family genealogy and history of the Lehew and Cabell families has helped me to discover the identity of the needleworker in the Lehew household. I have a hand-tatted piece with the initials VLC in the piece. I used to wonder who VLC was.

I also have a hand embroidered silk thread case with the initials MVL. The antique strands of silk floss are all Corticelli silks and they are still prized for their sheen and colorfast shades. 

Until I researched the Lehew and Cabell families by tracking back through Census documents, Civil War records, and property deeds, I did not know who the Lehew and Cabell families were. What is more, I didn’t know who the woman, or women, were. After all, it was probable that a woman made the items I now own.

Once researched, I know that VLC and MVL are the same woman: Mattie Virginia Lehew Cabell. I also know that Virginia Lehew Cabell was born in 1869 and died in 1940. I know she was a skilled needle artist. I know she was a single child. I know she only had one child, a daughter named Francis Lehew Cabell who was born in 1908. I know that she lived down the road from me all of her life. And I know that she is buried at Prospect Hill Cemetery, in Front Royal, Virginia.

Virginia Lehew Cabell was the woman who hooked the small rug I own. Virginia Lehew Cabell tatted her initials, VLC, into a small rectangular cotton lace. Virginia Lehew Cabell made a silk thread carrying case that she embroidered her maiden initials, MVL, on, then filled with 28-inch lengths of lustrous silk Corticelli threads. And Virginia Lehew Cabell was the woman who made the crazy quilt which contained some of the silk threads in her carrying case. 

Each of the antique quilts and other antique textile items that came from the Lehew-Cabell-Jett estate are very special to me. Not only do they provide a glimpse of local Virginia history, but I have learned about the woman who stitched quilts, hooked rugs, and tatted.  And I am so appreciative to have this collection of textiles all from one family who lived just down the road from me for 150 years. If I were born a century ago, I would have no doubt shared scraps and neighborhood gossips with Virginia Lehew Cabell.