Blazing Star
Designed by Fannie Elizabeth Wilson
Abbeville County, SC
ca. 1875
Gift of William and Elizabeth Brooks
McKissick Museum Collection 2012.14.01
This Blazing Star patterned quilt looks like an exercise in how to get creative using striped fabric scraps. Pieced stars are set against a white ground. Bold rust-colored fabric used for sashing the blocks and border. Closely and finely hand-stitched in fan design.
Crazy Quilt
Eva Lovelace Counts (1878-1942)
Prosperity, SC
1926
Gift of Jane Duke
Columbia Bicentennial Quilt
Designed by Hazel Ross
Columbia, SC
1986
Gift of Logan Lap Quilters
Francis “Fannie” Elizabeth Wilson (1857-1945) 2012.14.01
Fannie grew up on a family farm in Abbeville County, SC. One of 13 children, she was the daughter of Frank Wilson and Sarah Amanda Boyd. She married Abbeville farmer Matthew Harvey Wilson in 1877. Matthew, a Civil War veteran, was from a deeply rooted farming family, and the young couple was active in the Abbeville community. In 1910, they employed a newly married African American couple, Sam and Hattie Chalmers, as servants. Fannie and Matthew had no children.
The Wilson home was often used for meetings of community organizations like the Long Cane Cemetery Society, the Missionary Society of the Presbyterian Church, and the Ladies Aid Society.
In 1904, the home was the setting for the wedding of Matthew’s sister, Annie Rosa. Attendees noted “the parlors and front hall of the spacious home were most beautifully decorated with asparagus and ivy.” Matthew Wilson died in 1911 and, soon afterward, Fannie listed their property for sale, including 45 acres of land and the 8-room house, outfitted with “all modern conveniences.” By 1915, Fannie had purchased land in Abbeville to build a new “commodious cottage” in which to reside. (188)