Friday, April 7, 2017

Price of Fabric in 1875 - Page Co., Virginia




From time to time we have a discussion on the price of cotton fabric for quilting on one of the several  quilt history Facebook lists I follow. A recent discussion got me to remembering that I had transcribed some old family ledgers that my father found in my Great-Grandfather's home place near Luray in Page County, Virginia.

Samuel Milton Biedler (with beard) owned a Dry Goods Store in Stanley, Page Co., Virginia, from approximately 1870 until 1900. Seated on front porch of the old someplace with his wife Margaret Amanda (Varner) Biedler about 1902. My grandfather (Daniel Lampton Biedler) is seated at the left on the porch step.

The makers of the two quilts at the end of this post are one or both of my great aunts in the photo. On the far left is Annie Alderton Biedler, who never married. Standing at the back on the far right is Lena Biedler Huffman. I knew both of these Great Aunts as a child and they were formidable, especially Aunt Lena! It is also quite possible that my Great-Grandmother may have made some of the blocks in the Sampler quilt below for the blocks range from ca1840 to the 1890s.




Here are two transcribed pages from a ledger dated 1875. I have highlighted in red goods related to sewing. I have also added an alphabetical list of names mentioned on the two found pages from the ledger.  I also attempted to GUESS what someone's occupation might be by what was noted on these two ledger pages.






Below are two quilts found in my Great Grandparent's homeplace. 
More about these two quilts in my next post.



2 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks, Bill. I need to get some advice/ideas from you about properly lighting my quilts for photography. I don't think I will be producing a book, but…..

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