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Quilt, Appliquéd Friendship Richmond

Date1857

Maker Leigh Street Baptist Church Members

Owned by The Reverend Edward Jefferson Willis (1820 - 1891)

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Richmond

MediumPlain and printed cottons; ink; cotton embroidery threads (identification of fibers by eye)

DimensionsOverall: 105 1/2 × 105 1/2in. (268 × 268cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2013.609.8

DescriptionThis is a large square appliqued friendship album quilt made by the women of the Leigh Street Baptist Church, Richmond, Virginia, for Reverend Edward Jefferson Willis (1820-1891). The quilt consists of 36 signed individual blocks, each measuring approximately 17 1/2" square. The signatures are stitched, inked, or stamped representing three of the four ways that signature album quilts were signed. The blocks consist of pieced, appliqued, and chintz-work motifs. Twenty-one of the blocks are dated "1857;" five are inscribed "Richmond;" and six blocks are specifically dedicated to their pastor. One block is inscribed "March 2nd 1857, To My Pastor E. J. Willis. Harriat W. Edmondson." Each block was individually pieced and/or appliqued, layered, quilted, and edge finished prior to being assembled as a quilt in a "quilt as you go" style, also coined "potholder." Some blocks were also embellished with stuffed areas and/or embroidery stitches.

Stiches: buttonhole and overcast applique, chain, cross, running, satin, stem

Quilting: 7-14 running stitches per inch and machine quilting
Label TextSignature album quilts made up of individually signed blocks became especially popular after 1845. Also known as friendship quilts, these album quilts were often created to commemorate a special event or with the intention being the presentation of the item to an honored recipient, such as a bride, minister, or other respected member of a community. This large appliqued friendship quilt was made by female members of the Leigh Street Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia. Each of the thirty-six blocks is signed; the signatures are stitched, inked, or stamped representing three of the fours ways that signature quilts were marked. Twenty-one of the blocks are dated "1857;" five are inscribed "Richmond;" and six blocks are specifically dedicated to the pastor. One block is inscribed "March 2nd 1857, To My Pastor E. J. Willis. Harriet W. Edmondson."
Assembled in a block-by-block construction, sometimes referred to as “quilt-as-you-go,” the quilt consists of blocks that were individually pieced and/or appliqued, layered, quilted, and edge finished prior to being assembled as one entire quilt. The term "potholder" was coined for quilts of this type because each block standing alone as a finished unit resembles a pot holder. Some blocks were also embellished with stuffed areas and/or embroidery stitches.

ProvenanceThe quilt descended to the previous owners upon the death of their parents. The original owner was Reverend Edward Jefferson Willis (1820-1891), who was the pastor of Leigh Street Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia. The previous owners were related to Rev. Willis on the maternal side of their family (F. Harrison Cowell, III, to Kim Ivey, 12/15/2012).

History of Quilt's Original Owner:
The appliqued friendship album quilt was made by the women of the Leigh Street Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia, for their pastor, the Reverend Edward Jefferson Willis (1820-1891). Edward Jefferson Willis was born in Culpeper County, Virginia, to Sarah Emily Fry and Larkin Willis (1801-1856), who was a prosperous farmer. Edward was the oldest of twenty-two children. Edward graduated from the University of Virginia Law School in 1842, and began practicing law in Charlottesville, Virginia. In 1843, he married Virginia Ann Sneed and they had three children by 1848. They would have six more children later. In 1849, Edward left his home and young family for California, apparently for the Gold Rush. It is not known if Edward ever found any gold, but in April of 1850, Edward was elected County Judge of Sacramento County. Also that year the First Baptist Church of Sacramento was established in the home of Judge E. J. Willis. By 1852, Judge Willis's wife and children had joined him, as his first daughter was born that year in California. In 1854, Judge Willis resigned from the bench to found the First Baptist Church, at Oakland, California. He was ordained a minister in October of 1854. Rev. Willis returned to Virginia in 1856, and by 1857, was serving as the pastor of the Leigh Street Baptist Church in Richmond.

In April of 1862, then the 41 year old father of eight children (the ninth born in 1862), he was appointed Chaplain of the 15th Virginia Infantry Regiment, and sometime soon after that, Captain and Commander of Company A. (At least four of Edward's half brothers fought for Virginia, in addition to his son, Edward B. Willis.) In the officer's official after-action report Capt. Edward Willis described the Fifteenth Virginia Regiment's participation in the battle on Sharpsburg in September of 1862. One after-war account of Capt. Willis claims, "In the Battle of Antietam, while leading his regiment, he had fifteen balls shot through his hat, beard, and uniform, but he emerged from battle without a wound." How much of this statement may be an exaggeration is unknown; he did, however, come out of the battle unwounded.Capt. Willis continued service in the regiment until January 1865.
From 1865 to 1867 Rev. Willis served as pastor at Gordonsville and Orange Court House, Virginia; from 1867 to 1869 in Alexandria, Virginia; and as a missionary pastor in Winchester, Virginia. In 1872 he took leadership of the Winchester Female Institute, later Broaddus Female College, and moved to Clarksburg, West Virginia. His wife Virginia died in 1875 and he remarried Millie Rogers, who died along with her unnamed baby boy in 1883. He later married Eva Taylor. Reverend Willis died February 26, 1891 and was buried at "Woodland," his father's home in Orange County, Virginia.
(http://antietam.aotw.org/exhibit.php?exhibit_id=289)