History
Ellen Smith made the quilt at Nairne South Australia probably about the turn of the century. The family moved from Nairne to Crows Nest in Queensland. Fred Smith, Ellen's son, went to SA to visit his family and brought the quilt back in the 1930s. Fred gave it to his daughter Beryl Deeth (Smith) who donated it to the Carbethan Folk Museum at Crows Nest Queensland. "Ellen [Haines] arrived from England on her 17th birthday, the 8th May 1850, on the 'Lysander'. She later married the bullock driver who transported her from port Adelaide to her brother Perc's place at Nairne. They arrived at 2 am in the morning and Ellen's sister-in-law just moved over in her bed to make room for her that night. She and Mr Hillman [her first husband] had a son who died and is buried near the forked gum tree in Nairn cemetery and Mr Hillman also died from injuries received in an accident and is buried in the Hillman vault in [the] Nainre cemetery." [Extract Geneology of John Smith by Dawn Foote]
Edis Smith was born in 1827 in England and arrived at Port Adelaide on the 'Star Queen' in 1854. He and Ellen Hillman were married in 1857 and they had twelve children: Emily, Mary Sophia, Rebecca, Zilla, Frederick, Rosina, Hephzibah, Elizabeth Amy, Isabella Annie, Albert Edis, Martha, Herbert Edis. It is said Ellen made a quilt for each daughter. Ellen was a deeply pious woman and with Edis (a lay preacher for 50 years) helped build the Nairne Wesleyan Church. She died in 1916 aged 83.
[Source of information - Genealogy of John Smith]
Description
Patchwork quilt in a variation of log cabin. The materials are cotton and cotton velveteen. The backing is twill cotton ticking. There is no padding.
1499 x 1169mm.
