Maggie Lucille (Gowens) Galloway Friendship Quilt

    My grandmother, Maggie “Lucille” (Gowens) Galloway (1913-2008), referred to this as a "Friendship Quilt." Lucille created and assembled the quilt in Texas between 1932 and 1934. She was just out of High School when she started and finished just after she was married. My grandmother would send each square to family members, who would then hand-embroider their name, date, and location onto the fabric before sending it back to her. After she had all the pieces back, she stitched them together.

My grandmother's "Friendship Quilt"

Provenance:

   After the death of my grandmother in 2008 in Klamath Falls, Oregon, it was handed down to her daughter, Juanita (Galloway) Fallon. Last year (2024) Aunt Juanita gave it to my mother, Faye (Galloway) Hawthorne, during a family reunion.

My mom with the quilt 

The Squares

There are twenty squares: Four across and five down.

In the following descriptions I will number each square left to right, top to bottom.

1.     This is most likely Mary (Jones) Bass, the mother of her sister-in-law, Minnie Bell (Bass) Gowens. Minnie married Lucille’s older brother, Slyvester Bernard Gowens.

2.     Debra Shaw could be a friend. I have found no family connections yet.

3.      Rosa Evelyn Ray is her niece, the daughter of her older ½ sister, Charity Evelyn (Gowens) Ray. But, Rosa would have been 5 years old, so maybe it was completed by her mother?

4.     Mrs. Charlie G. Ray is her older sister, Charity Evelyn (Gowens) Ray. Note: She is also the same person in square #15.

5.     Nadine is her niece. Daughter of her older sister, Stella Vera (Gowens) Perry.

6.     Lena Georgia (Gowens) Perry is her older sister.

7.     Frances Delilah McCallister is her niece. Daughter of her older sister Lena (Gowens) McCallister and Henry Matt McCallister.

8.     Nota Mae (Phariss) is her maternal 1^st. cousin. Daughter of her maternal uncle Joseph William Phariss and Maude Mae Close.

9.     Crystal Elizabeth (Gowens) Reedy is her older sister.

10. Mother is her mother Frances Emily (Phariss) Gowens. I am not sure why it says “Lubbock.” They lived in Crosbyton, which is almost 40 miles east.

11. Cordie Loraine Gowens is her older sister.

12. Lora Eva (Atchison) Gowens is her sister-in-law. The wife of her older brother Clarene Preston Gowens.

13. Maude Mae (Close) Phariss is her aunt-in-law. The wife of her maternal uncle Joseph William Phariss.

14. Minnie Belle (Bass) Gowens is her sister-in-law. The wife of her older brother Sylvester Bernard Gowens.

15. Charity Evelyn (Gowens) Ray is her older sister. The same person as in square #4.

16. Tishe [?] Bass. I have not identified this person yet. There is Theresa (Davis) Bass, wife of Henry Bass, who was living in Crosby County at the time.

17. Virginia Lea Reedy is her niece. Daughter of her older sister Crystal Elizabeth (Gowens) Reedy and Charles Leslie Reedy.

18. Lila Mae Reedy is her niece. Daughter of her older sister Crystal Elizabeth (Gowens) Reedy and Charles Leslie Reedy.

19. Sarah S. (Millican) Perry is the step-mother-in-law of her older sister Stella Vera (Gowens) Perry. Clyde Perry’s step-mother.

20. Juanita Linsly[?] I have not identified. Could be a friend. But, my grandmother’s maternal great-grandmother was Emily (Linsley) Phariss who died in Coleman County, Texas. There may be a connection there.

TOP ROW (L-R)

NEXT ROW (L-R)

NEXT ROW (L-R)

NEXT ROW (L-R)

BOTTOM ROW (L-R)

 

   My grandmother learned how to sew from her mother. She became a seamstress for the rest of her life. She made all the clothes for her children when they were young. After they moved to California in 1942, she worked for several companies, including one in Costa Mesa that only made men's suits. She learned to use the big industrial sewing machines that they had. My mom said she made her a skirt to wear the next day at school all in one night! 

Lucille Gowens and Sammie Galloway - Wedding Day 1933 Scurry Co., Texas

On the 125th. Anniversary of my Grandfather’s Birth - James Boardman Hawthorne

On the 125th. Anniversary of my Grandfather’s Birth - James Boardman Hawthorne 

On a cold Thursday, 12 days after the New Year, in 1899, my grandfather was born in Greenville, Alabama. His mother, Kathryn Ann (Albertson) Hawthorne, was the daughter of a Danish immigrant. His father, Alexander Travis Hawthorne, was the son of a Major in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Boardman, as his family called him, was named after his father’s uncle, Rev. Dr. J. B. Hawthorne, a famous Baptist preacher in the South. 

Boardman with his mother Kathryn
Greenville, Alabama ca. 1900

Boardman's father, Alex Hawthorne

   When I asked him about his birth, he said that it was snowing, and the snow would blow into the house from the cracks in the shutters. His mother had to make sure he was covered up with blankets. Decades later, I researched old weather maps and news articles to see if this happened… and sure enough, it did!  The blizzard of 1899 started in February 1899 (a month after he was born) and covered all of Alabama and down into Florida.

Temperature map of the United States during the storm

   According to the 1900 US Federal Census, his father was a farmer, and his mother was at home with the children: Boardman 1, Etta Mae 4, and Travis 8. Another child who was born in 1889, named Ethel, did not survive past that year. 

  Boardman had many aunts, uncles, and cousins who lived in Greenville as a child, and more in nearby Camden. His Danish grandfather lived in Manhattan, New York at the time, and his 64-year-old grandmother, Clara (Ford) Hawthorne, was living in Greenville. 

Boardman's grandmother, Clara (Ford) Hawthorne

   My grandfather instilled love and compassion in his own family, which has been carried down through the generations. Boardman has 42 living descendants as of January 2024, with more on the way. 

Boardman with wife Myrtle and their children.

Boardman's legacy lives on...