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2021.609.4, Quilt
Quilt, Pieced Red and White Sawtooth
2021.609.4, Quilt

Quilt, Pieced Red and White Sawtooth

Date1857
Maker Philena Rebecca Lee Stephens (1832-1897)
OriginAmerica, Maryland, Cecil County
MediumPlain and printed cottons
DimensionsOverall: OH: 97" × OW: 100 1/2" (246.4 × 255.3cm)
Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The American Folk Art Society
Object number2021.609.4
DescriptionThis is an almost square pieced red and white cotton quilt consisting of 25 full blocks on point with five half blocks on all four sides. The blocks alternate between pieced red printed cotton sawtooth squares and plain white squares filled with quilted designs. The quilt is backed in plain white cotton, which has been brought to the front to form an edge finish. It is quilted in 9-10 running stitches per inch in a large variety of designs including sunflower faces, parallel lines, clam shell, flower sprigs, 8-pointed stars, hearts, crossed laurel leaves, feathered vines, pineapples, a spread eagle, seated man and woman, “E” “S” (possibly for Ellen Stephens), and the signature “P R Lee/ 1857, which appears in the third block down on the right side.
Label TextThis handsome quilt consists of twenty-five full blocks of alternating red and white pieced sawtooth squares and white solid blocks. However, the white blocks are anything but plain for they are extravagantly filled with quilted designs stitched in approximately ten running stitches per inch. The designs include sunflower faces, parallel lines, clam shells, flower sprigs, eight-pointed stars, hearts, crossed laurel leaves, feathered vines, and pineapples. One block is filled with the quilted design of a seated man and woman facing each other. A spread eagle hovers over them and the initials "E" "S" appear in the block. Another block has the quilted signature "P R Lee/ 1857."

The quilt was made by Philena Rebecca Lee Stephens two years after she married Joseph Lincoln Stephens of Cecil County, Maryland. Interestingly, Philena included her maiden name in quilted stitches on the quilt. The initials "E" "S," which also appear on the quilt, are probably for Philena's unmarried sister-in-law, Ellen (Nellie) Stephens, who lived with Philena and Joseph Stephens.
Inscribed“P R Lee/ 1857
"E" "S"
ProvenanceThe quilt descended to Philena's oldest daughter, Emma P. Stephens Haines (b. 1856), and to Emma's grandson, Edwin Haines, Jr. It left the family sometime after 1995.

History of Quilt Maker:
Philena Rebecca Lee Stephens (born 1832) was the daughter of Jane and Samuel Lee. She grew up on her father's farm in West Nottingham Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. In 1855, Philena married Joseph Lincoln Stephens (1828-1887) of Cecil County, Maryland. The couple lived on his father's farm, Willow Dale, outside of Rising Sun, Cecil County. In the span of ten years the couple had six children: Emma P. (b. 1856); Mary L. (b. 1857); Lydia W. (b. 1859); Jennie L. (b. 1860); Elizabeth R. (b. 1863); and John L. (b. 1866). By 1860, Joseph was running a profitable farm while Philena kept house for her father-in-law and produced butter for the Philadelphia market. After his father's death in 1862, Joseph inherited Willow Dale. Philena continued to keep house for Joseph, his unmarried sister, Ellen (Nellie) Stephens, his brother, and their six children. According to Philena's granddaughter, Philena also taught Sunday school at the local Mt. Hope Methodist Church, which was built on Stephens property. Philena died on February 2, 1897, is buried at Rosebank Cemetery, in Calvert, Maryland.