Place

Kingsclear, York County, New Brunswick

Date

1890-1900

Materials & techniques

Cotton; Velvet, sateen

Credit

Possibly Frances Virtue Taylor (1860-1936)

ID

Kings Landing Corporation, M2007.39.83

This quilt follows the traditional log cabin pattern and is hand sewn. Approximately 120 blocks were used in it's construction, all about 14cm square. The centers of each square are shades of red ranging from pink to burgundy. Many of the squares start with light colours at the center and move out to darker shades around the edges. The backing is medium green sateen.

Frances Virtue Taylor, the woman who may have made this log cabin quilt, belonged to the family of George Leek. George Leek was a slave owned by Colonel Isaac Allen of Kingsclear, New Brunswick; Leek was also Allen's son. George married Jane Hector and had at least four sons, two of whom were renowned carpenters. One of the sons, William, married Frances Williams, a woman of black and Irish background. Together, William and Frances had at least seven children. One of their daughters, Frances Virtue, the likely maker of this quilt, married Thomas Richard Taylor and had two children: Thomas Richard Taylor and Julia McCarty O'Ree.