Quilting: Patching Together History by Marie Bakken

Quilting: patching together history: ‘Mystery’ blanket centerpiece of depot display

by Marie Bakken - Reporter Staff Writer

Rockdale Reporter - November 14, 2013

What started as a request for old quilts for a display by the Rockdale Historical

Society at the I&GN depot (11 N. Main Street) has turned into a quest to help “piece

together” the history of one of the featured pieces.

‘MYSTERY QUILT’—The “mystery quilt” is displayed as the Rockdale Commemorative Quilt and

is on loan from Dave and Pam Weldon of Decatur. The Weldons became owners of the quilt

when they bought it at an estate sale of their deceased neighbors, Homer and Velma Lewis

in Decatur. The Lewis children took out a loan on their parents’ home after the couple

died, but circumstances led to the home being foreclosed on. The owners who bought the

house and its contents at auction held an estate sale and the Weldons purchased several

quilts, including the commemorative piece.

In their search for the original home of this quilt, the Weldons found the Rockdale

Historical Society website and saw the request for display items. They then contacted

Historical Society member Mary Phillips.

“They contacted me and asked if we’d be interested in displaying this quilt,” Phillips

said. “They happened to be going down to shop at the big Round Top antique sale, so they

brought the quilt to my house, stayed the night at Rainbow Courts and went on their

way.”

The large quilt is made up of 41 squares with listings of what is believed to be several

Rockdale businesses and individuals from many decades past—the question is just how far

back.

In one of the bottom squares, it is hand-stitched “Compliments of E.L. McGuyer.”

There are three businesses on the quilt that are still in business today (or at least

what the businesses became). They are Rockdale Beauty Shop, The Rockdale Reporter and

Louis G. Gest Chevrolet (known now as Miller-Starnes Chevrolet Buick).

Anyone that might remember Homer and Velma Lewis or know more about this quilt are asked

to contact Mary Phillips or Pat Jackson. Also if you have any old photos of the

businesses listed on the quilt, the Historical Society is interested in copying those

for their archives.

OLDEST QUILT— The oldest quilt on display is from the 1890s, and on loan from Rockdale

resident Leanna Applegate. The quilt was made by Mary Ann Decker, Applegate’s great-

great grandmother who was born in November 1819 and died in 1903. She and her sister

were found on a dock in Jefferson after they were abandoned there, Applegate said.

She was reared by an East Texas family named Decker and married Issac Garner. The quilt

was made for Applegate’s maternal grandfather Homer Luckey. He was 11 years old when

Mary Ann died.

The quilt is in such a fragile state that it is displayed in a glass case inside the

depot.

A FEW OTHERS—People would use whatever they had on hand to make the quilts—scrap

materials from other items, such as dresses that they had already made, old work shirts

of their husbands or even feed sacks.

A few of the other quilts on display include:

• Yellow “Snowball Quilt” (circa 1930), quilt top by Gussie Owens (Pat Jackson’s mother)

and her grandmother Laura Bell Smith. The fabrics are depression era fabrics and include

some feed sacks. Jackson also loaned out a “String or Scrap Quilt” made by Owens

sometime in the 1940s. Jackson said that she remembers several of the scrap pieces used

being the same material of several dresses that her mother made for she and her sister.

• Sunbonnet Sue Quilt (circa unknown), by Mrs. Bill Holley, who made the quilt pieces

many years ago, and Rachel Lopez who pieced together the quilt five years ago. The

Holley’s had Holley’s Motel and Restaurants in the early 1960s.

• “Friendship Signature Quilt” (circa 1945) is on loan from Suzanne Clark that was made

for her great grandmother Lucy Caffey. It includes signatures from her children,

grandchildren and in-laws.

• A “Double Wedding Ring Quilt” was made sometime in the 1940s by Mattie Timmerman

Dockall. She was the owner and operator of Rockdale Beauty Shop that is on the“mystery”

commemorative quilt. It is on loan from Dockall’s son Bert, who is a member of the

Rockdale Historical Society.

• The “Gibson Girl Quilt” was made by Mildred Luckey Harris Baker in the 1940s. Just a

portion of the quilt is on display and features hand embroidered and colored blocks. It

is on loan from Applegate as well.

• A blanket and sheet set displayed on an old iron bed is on loan from Mary and Dave

Phillips. It was given to them by Dave’s mother and the linens were hand appliquéd to

match the quilt. Its date of origin is unknown.

• A quilt, doll and doll bed is on loan from Pat Jackson and was made in the 1930s. The

quilt was made by Jackson’s mother Gussie Owens. The doll, quilt and doll bed was given

to Jackson when she was a young girl.

All the quilts and items are on display now at the Rockdale’s I&GN depot during its

regular hours (Saturdays 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and Sundays 1-4 p.m.). Each donated quilt has a

story of its own. And at the display, you can read about the history of each of them.

If you have a quilt you feel would be a great addition to the display, call Phillips

512-446- 7118 or Jackson 512-446-2956 for any info or pick up of your quilt. The display

will run through March 2014.

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Businesses, names listed on Rockdale Commemorative Quilt

• Elite Cafe

• Backhaus Brothers Grocery & Feed

• Henry’s Super Service

• Phillips & Luckey Funeral Directors

• LaMode Beauty Shop, Mrs. Elzie Lewis

• G.B. Lumpkins, Magnolia dealer

• Jim & Fred Eads Dry Goods

• Rexall Drug Store, W.S. Duke

• Noack Grocery

• Strickers Variety Store

• McGuyers Service Station

• McCoy’s Grocery-Feed

• Vogels Variety Store

• Clark’s Service Station

• W.C. Colvin, Constable

• Old South Cafe

• E.M. Peebles & Son Hardware & Furniture

• Loewenstein’s Dry Goods

• Maxie’s Sweet Shop

• Baldridge & Prewitt Druggists

• Nig Moody, District Clerk

• O.F. Glenn Auto Supply

• Red & White Grocery & Market

• Scarbrough & Hicks

• Gulf Service Station, N.E. Alford

• Dr. D.W. Harriss, Chiropractor

• Rhodes Radio Service

• J. Appleman Dry Goods

• Rockdale Beauty Shop

• The Rockdale Reporter

• Rutherford Mattress Factory

• Cook’s Style Shop

• Modern Beauty Shop, Mrs. Pearl Jones

• Neatherlan’s Service Station

• Harris Transfer Coal & Ice

• Gaither Motor Co. Fords

• McLeod’s Grocery & Market

• Wade’s Tailor Shop

• Fairmont Creamery Co., Goldnugget Feed

• Louis G. Gest Chevrolet

• W.T. Pearson Home Furnishings