The Maple Hill Quilters

I wouldn't begin to guess how many years ladies of the Maple Hill Community have gathered to work on quilts together.   Some ladies quilted in their homes on lap quilting frames, (round frames held on their laps) or on the larger, full-sized quilting frames.   Others belonged to quilting groups that would gather once weekly or every other week and enjoy quilting, conversation and usually refreshments or lunch.

One such group began at the Maple Hill Community Congregation Church when it was still the Eliott Congregational Church, or as we know it today, the Old Stone Church.    Since the stone church did not have heat during the week, the ladies met in homes.


I found two articles in early "Maple Hill News" clippings about quilting parties under the auspices of the Eliott Congregational Church.    One party was held in 1883 in the home of Mrs. M. J. Warren, one of the founders of the church.   The home was very large (8 bedrooms, a pantry, kitchen, dining room, sitting room and a huge front parlor.   The article doesn't say which room the ladies met in but the size of the front parlor would suggest they may have met there.   The front parlor also had a stove which would heat the room and there were floor to ceiling windows in the east wall with large windows in the north wall.   There would have been ample light.

This is a photograph of the Warren Home, built in 1874 and one of the oldest structures in Maple Hill Township.   The front parlor is the room in the immediate foreground where there are two floor-to-ceiling windows.   Originally, there was a front porch with columns and to the left a conservatory with a bay window.   This photograph is from about 1970.

The second article was about a quilting party at the home of Mrs. Benjamin Warren.   Gertrude Warren and her husband Benjamin were related to the other Warren Families in Maple Hill and all came West after the financial panic of 1873.   Benjamin and Gertrude Warren's daughter Mable Warren later became Mrs. Horace Greeley Adams, Sr.    All of the Warren ladies were well acquainted with the art of needlework and had come from fashionable Eastern families.

This is a photograph of the Maple Hill Methodist Episcopal Church.   The structure was used as a parish hall by the Maple Hill Community Congregational Church after it closed in the 1930s.  This is where the church ladies quilted.

After the congregation moved to the new townsite of Maple Hill, 1.5 miles east of the Old Stone Church, they eventually changed their name to The Maple Hill Community Congregational Church and after the 1930s included the congregations of the Maple Hill Methodist Episcopal Church and the Baptist Church.  When the Methodist Church closed, their church became the social hall for all the congregations.


My first memories from about 1950, are of attending church services at the Maple Hill Community Congregational Church and then moving 1.5 blocks west to the former Methodist Church for carry-in dinners and church dinners.   The old Methodist Church was also were the Ladies Aid met and where the church quilters met.   I remember helping set up tables and chairs for events and also helping pump and carry water since there was no indoor plumbing.    The former Methodist Sanctuary did make a wonderful place to meet and socialize.   It had horizontal beadwork siding on the interior walls, which was either painted a cream or foam green color at various times.   It also had small rectangular pieces of glass stained various colors around each of the gothic-style windows.   It was heated by coal when I first remember the structure.   It was located right next door to the church parsonage, which was a five room, one-story house with bath.














This is a photograph of the Maple Hill Quilters of the Maple Hill Community Congregational Church, which the author took in 1971.   The photograph is taken in the church parish hall constructed in 1951 of cement blocks.   It is immediately north of the church.   The quilters L-R are:  Charlotte (Mrs. Elmer) Imthurn, Mrs. Velma Schlotz (mother of Mrs. Ruth Raine and grandmother of Bill, Art and Ruth Ann (Raine) Rogers, Mrs. Hazel (Knapp) Ballinger, wife of Harry Ballinger, Mrs. Wanda (Harpster) Adams, wife of Arthur Adams Sr., Mrs. Myrtle (Young) Beach, wife of Harry Beach, and mother of Mrs. Marie Mee, Miss Olive Clements, whose family owned and operated the Clements Hotel in Maple Hill, Mrs. Flora (Hartman) Barsch, whose family farmed south of Maple Hill, and Mrs. Mabel Rachel (Jones) Clark, wife of James Peter "Jim Pete" Clark and long-time Maple Hill Central Office Operator.  During the 1950s and 1960s, there were twice as many quilters and there were usually two quilting frames where ladies would work on quilts.    At the time this picture was taken, the group was charging $50 to $75 dollars  to complete a quilt if the pieced quilt top was provided. 


My paternal grandmother, Mabel Rachel (Jones) Clark was a member of the quilters group from the
1950s forward.   Her mother, Virginia Hannah "Vergie" (Miller) Jones and her step mother, Susanna Jeanette (Reinhardt) Jones had both taught her how to compelte beautiful needlework and Grandmother Clark also could tat edgework for pillowcases, towels, table cloths and as trim on garments.   Grandmother Clark took great care and pride in her sewing.    She was also the chief telephone operator and so her availability for meetings was limited.   One of her assistant operators was her cousin, Mable Edith (Phillips) Herron.   As I recall, they struck a bargain: Mabel Herron would work so that Grandmother Clark could attend quilting, and Grandmother Clark would work so Mabel Herron could attend The Ladies Aid.

When my Maternal Grandmother, Mildred Mae (McCauley) Corbin-Clark finally retired in the 1960s, she also joined the quilting group.   She was a very fine seamstress and was also good at crocheting.  

This is a photograph of the Maple Hill Quilters, also taken in the Maple Hill Community Congregational Church Parish Hall (called Fellowship Hall by some) in 2008.  The quilt top they are holding was embroidered by Mrs. Lucille (Corbin) Clark (on right in second row) for her great grandson, Liam Clark.  Front Row: L-R Joyce Figeroa, Georgia Brown, Arlene Bays and Carolyn ?.  Back Row: L-R are Dorothy Evans and Lucille (Corbin) Clark.   All of the ladies in the photograph worked on the quilt.  In addition, two were not present for the photograph, Mrs. Pat Salfrank and Mrs. Teresa (Dean) Adams.

Also a member of the quilting group was our cousin, Bonnie Lou (Thomas) Mitchell (Mrs. Charles.)   Aunt Bonnie had been raised on a large farm near Pauls Valley, Oklahoma but her mother had been raised on a fine plantation near Atlanta, Georgia.   She had taught Bonnie how to do all of the fancy needlework stitches.   Bonnie loved making children's clothing for her own two children as well as other children in the Mitchell and Corbin families.   During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Bonnie became an artist at taking flour and sugar sacks (which were colorful and printed with flowers and all manor of other subject matter) and making beautiful shirts, dresses, blouses, pillow cases---you name it----Aunt Bonnie would make it.   I have given my daughter, Amelia Mary Verona (Clark) Allendorf some of the flower sack pillow cases that were Bonnie Mitchell's.

L-R:  Mrs. Pat Salfrank, Mrs. Dorothy Evans, and Mrs. Carlene (Fauerbach) Wilt.

L-R:  Carolyn (?), Mrs. Lucille (Corbin) Clark and Mrs. Teresa (Dean) Adams.

My mother, Lucille (Corbin) Clark, didn't begin quilting until after she retired from her job as secretary of the Maple Hill Grade School.  However her maternal grandmother, Lucy Mae (Lemon) McCauley-Bonta-Strong was an excellent seamstress and could do very delicate and beautiful embroidery.   She taught Lucille how to do embroidery and gave her a love for needlework.   Mom was very proud of the Maple Hill Quilters and love them all.   For many years, they went twice each week to work on quilts.  They would go in the morning, have lunch, and then head home at mid-afternoon.    I have no idea how much money they made and donated to the Maple Hill Community Congregation Church but I remember mother talking about donations of $1,000 or more on many occasions.   Quilting provided good fellowship and funds raised went for a good cause.   Although my mother, Dorothy Evans and everyone of the ladies pictured in the 1971 photograph have now gone to their Heavenly reward, the work of the Maple Hill Quilters goes on.

Happy Trails!