A Book And A Bird

Once upon a time at Grandma Doris’ house, we were up in her sewing room messing around with her sewing stuff. Grandma showed me this old book, and asked me if I wanted it. She said it had belonged to Grandpa Bert’s mother, Sophrona. She said she had thought about throwing it out. Who would want a bunch of old newspaper clippings? ME! That’s who! HA!

If you are my friend on Facebook you might remember me posting about this book, and some of the discoveries within it. I decided to write about it and feature it officially here on my blog. So if it’s your first time, enjoy! If it’s your second time, enjoy, but with more pictures this time! HA!

For reference, here is my Great-Grandmother Nancy Sophrona Young Johnson. Everyone called her Sophrona or “Frona”, her grandchildren lovingly called her “Gwa Gwa”. I’ve posted this picture of her before, but figured I would again for story reference.

Again, a repeat picture of Great-Grandma Sophrona and Grandpa Bert.

Of course I would want her book of old newspaper clippings. The newspaper clippings were quilt patterns, crochet patterns, and knitting patterns. I had hit the jackpot of the antique crafting world!

When I got the book home I went through it and was amazed at what was inside of it, and also confused by some of my findings. Here’s the book. It’s an old “Teacher Register”.

You can see the faded writing on the spine of the book. Inside the pages are ledger pages with children’s names on them, and their grades. The ledger was originally from a school in Kansas. This confused me. I didn’t think Sophrona had ever lived in Kansas. Ohio, yes, California, of course, but Kansas? I thought maybe I had misheard who Grandma Doris said it belonged to. Or maybe Sophrona found an old ledger in Ohio or California that had been from Kansas.

Either way, “someone” had used the old ledger as a scrap book. Gluing quilt patterns and crochet patterns from the newspaper over the pages of student names and grades

I knew the book itself was old. This is pasted in the front cover of the ledger. I later saw a copyright in the ledger from 1877. The book is, as I write this in 2023, 146 years old.

*An interesting school law for any teachers or history buffs out there.

Not everything was glued down. There were lose clippings. “Someone” had probably meant to glue them down, and never got around to it. This one is from 1931, and from “The Kansas City Star”. Someone had made this pattern, noting that, “I have a quilt like this pieced of green and white.”

The date made sense, but here’s Kansas again. Sophrona was in California in 1931, why would she be getting a Kansas newspaper?

Here are some glued in clippings. I was fascinated by not only the clippings but the notes on the actual ledger.

The “Pineapple Quilt”, and old favorite.

Quilt blocks and a needle work design.

I don’t know how the “Christmas Handkerchief” is made. Embroidery, crochet, or tatting, I was fascinated at the formal lives that people once lived. Making a special handkerchief for Christmas seems like lots of work. I think that holidays and family get together’s were quite special events, like they are now. It’s just that back then people had a harder time getting together, so you probably would want to show up with a fancy new handkerchief.

More quilt blocks.

More crafty stuff. I always like coming across handwritten things. It’s so personal, even if it is just a note about which crochet pattern those instructions are for.

Here’s the picture of the “Tumble Doily”.

I love this “Old Lady Knitting” tidy.

Lace patterns and a quilt block.

“Deer In Cross Stitch”.

I don’t know who needs this, but some child in the family does!

Also, look at the instructions under the picture of the collar. A crocheted fascinator? I’m going to need one!

This was inside the ledger. A thin piece of some sort of tissue paper, and a piece of pink cloth. I think “someone” used it as a pattern.

Another view of the pieces.

I need to get better at knitting! I would want these too!

Knit patterns.

Strawberry Lace?! Mia might need that!

Various patterns.

“Emblem of Hope” tidy, and a clue. This book came from Dickinson County.

Now wait a darn second. This had me delighted and confused. Sophrona was born in 1880, why would she have a Centennial tidy pattern? I was delighted, I was born in 1976 and am a Bicentennial baby, so I love all things “76”. Did this pattern come out years after the Centennial? Again, was this Sophrona’s book? Did I misunderstand what Grandma Doris had told me?

Keeping in the theme of “Patriotism”, a Martha Washington tidy.

Embroidery instructions, knitting, and quilt patterns.

Now wait! This clipping is from Fresno, Ca. That made sense, Sophrona had lived in Clovis, Ca and the Fresno paper was one that people living in Dos Palos, Ca would subscribe to.

I want this rug as well!

Quilt patterns.

A whisky ad? I’m sure they kept it for the horse design. I would find evidence of tracing and design transfer further on in the ledger.

Cross stitch.

“Someone” was serious about making this quilt block. They drew and colored in the pattern.

The date on the ledger entry is 1882. So the ledger was still in use after the Centennial. The Centennial tidy had to have come out many years after 1876.

This was folded up in the back of the ledger. It’s a bigger quilt design, hand drawn and colored in on a think piece of scrap paper. Butcher paper perhaps?

This was in the back too.

Homemade quilt pieces, still pinned together.

Then I found this folded up in the back with the loose clippings. It was a hand drawn bird that had been used as a transfer. All around the entire design there are tiny holes punched through the paper. “Someone” had used chalk or something, and rubbed it on the front of the design. If their idea worked it would leave an imprint on fabric of the basic design, and it could then be embroidered.

This piece really got my mind working. Had the transfer worked? There wasn’t chalk over the whole design so maybe whoever did it gave up. I thought hard, had I ever seen this bird on anything at Grandma and Grandpa’s house? No, I had not. I imagined that Sophrona had embroidered this bird onto some throw pillows that were long gone.

For the next few years anytime I was at Grandma and Grandpa’s house, I would look around for anything with this bird on it.

When Grandma Doris had her stroke, and was still in the hospital, I laid in the little bed that she had in her sewing room. Things with her at that moment were unsure, and didn’t look so good. There were plenty of other beds and rooms in the house, but I wanted to be in her sewing room. She had taught me how to hide my knots when hand quilting in that room. She would show me little things she was doing. She would show me all of her little sewing treasures and gadgets. I guess I wanted to keep that sweet feeling of my Grandma teaching me things for just a while longer.

I thought about her, and for whatever reason, I thought about the bird. There was a fabric picture hanging on the wall in her sewing room. I laid in bed and looked at it. I knew it wasn’t the bird I had been looking for. It was similar, but it wasn’t the bird. I actually got out of bed, turned on the light, and studied the fabric picture on the sewing room wall to make sure I wasn’t mistaken. The fabric it was made out of had glitter and metallic threads in it, no way was it my bird.

Grandma put lots of thought into who she wanted her and Grandpa’s things to go to after she had passed away. There was an old steamer trunk in the sewing room that she said belonged to my sister Michelle, and myself.

Each one of her children had a trunk, and my cousin Melanie had a trunk.

After she passed away I spent a day at the house with my Dad and Aunt Tamy, and we opened our trunks. We each took a turn and were amazed at the treasures she had so thoughtfully left for all of us.

My Dad had pieces of his Grandfather, James Bert’s WWI uniform. He had an old cast iron toy that had a note. It had also belonged to James Bert. He had a funny report card from the 4th grade that Grandma had kept all of these years. He had a drawing he had done has a child, a quilt that Sophrona had made, and tons of other mementos. It was like Christmas morning. A very bittersweet Christmas morning but we all sat around together and watched each other open our trunks.

My Aunt Tamy had a quilt that Sophrona had made, a jar of antique glass beads, an ugly dog statue that she and Aunt Joylana had bought for Grandma one year for Mother’s Day. We laughed a lot over that ugly dog! Of course, there were other cherished mementos.

Inside mine and Michelle’s trunk there was the outfit that Grandma wore when she married Grandpa. Sophrona’s tailors ruler with a note on it of course. A crochet hook that James Bert had hand carved for Sophrona out of an olive wood branch, another note of course, and other mementos.

There was also a little brown paper bag. Inside the brown paper bag was a piece of white fabric. When it was opened I gasped. I literally gasped and wanted to cry. IT WAS THE BIRD! I had finally found it! I couldn’t believe it! I still am in shock to this day retelling about it!

Here it is, the bird!

Of course, there was a note sewn onto it. This wasn’t Grandma Doris’ handwriting though, it was Sophrona’s. She was the original person to start putting notes on everything, explaining what it was. Grandma Doris got the idea from her.

The note said, “grandmother Young helped pull the flax and make the thread for this towel and it was woven by her mother grandma Stoner in 1867-in Ohio” She later must have added, since in pencil and not pen, “And grandma Young embroidered it in 1893”.

As I write this, the birds fabric is 156 years old, and the embroidery, 130 years old.

Well this explained all of my confusion about the ledger! Yes, it had belonged to Sophrona , but only because she inherited it from her mother! She probably added some of the later clippings, like the ones from Fresno. A quick search on the internet and I discovered that her mother, Mary Catherine Stoner Young had lived in and died in Kansas.

Here she is, my Great-Great Grandmother, Mary Catherine Stoner Young. Original owner of the ledger, the one who embroidered the bird.

The fabric has a few little stains, but it is great condition considering how old it is, and that it was considered a towel!

This is the Stoner family.

Back row standing, left to right: John Stoner, Mary Catherine (my Great-Great Grandma), Abe Stoner.

Front row seated, left to right: Sarah (Ruhly), Abraham Stoner ( my 3rd Great Grandfather), and Ester “Hetty” Stoner (my 3rd Great Grandmother).

Plaid fabric must have been on sale! I come from a long line of people who love to match and theme for an event! HA!

It was Grandma Stoner who wove this piece of fabric.

The tintype photo of Ester Stoner and Abraham Stoner.

Ester Welch Stoner was born in 1820, in Pennsylvania and died in 1887, in Ohio. This isn’t the greatest picture, but is that a decorative handkerchief I see?

Grandma Young added this blanket stitch to the top of the birds fabric.

Grandma Young must have inherited the fabric that she and her mom had made.

Here is the Young family. Sophrona is in the back, third from the left. Grandma Young is seated in the fabulous striped dress.

They did a great job pulling the flax and weaving this fabric. Who knew that my family line of sewing ran so deep?

In the end Sophrona inherited this towel, woven by her grandmother, and embroidered by her mother.

Sophrona and her Mother. My Grandmas.

When I think about how far this bird had to travel, and through so many generations to get to me, I am in awe. Yes, I had to write it out.

I am honored to now be the keeper of the bird. Michelle was nice enough to share and let me keep it. I had, after all, looked for it and wondered about it for so long. I have them framed the towel and the transfer and hanging in a place of honor in my house.

This one little crafty item, that my Grandmothers made, has made them a part of my life today. With one towel with a bird embroidery, they have become names that are again spoken by their family, after being gone for so very long. They were once forgotten and are now remembered, and revered, and loved.

The power of sewing.

There was one more thing to find though.

Yep, the note in Sophrona’s handwriting leaves no doubt as to where this old thimble came from.

It is bent and molded to Great-Great Grandma Young’s finger. Which is a common thing that happens to thimbles when they are used a lot.

Well if the thimble fits..

Grandma Doris knew what she was doing when she packed those trunks!

As for me, onto the next!

P.S. Inside Melanie’s trunk was all of the old pictures! So thanks to her for putting faces to all of the names!