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Elizabeth Keckley & the Mary Todd Lincoln Quilt

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Elizabeth Keckley & the Mary Todd Lincoln Quilt Elizabeth Keckley & the Mary Todd Lincoln Quilt BY SUSAN WILDEMUTH Each quilt has a history, a unique story to tell, and 19th-century African-American quilts are no exception. Unfortunately, detailed the age of 4. Her first duty back to Virginia, where she written accounts of the was to rock the cradle and was reunited with her moth- background and history of keep the flies from pester- er at the home of another of many of these quilts and the ing one of the younger chil- Armistead Burwell’s chil- quiltmakers who created dren of her owners, Col. dren, Hugh and Anne them are few and far and Mrs. Armistead (Burwell) Garland. between. The majority of Burwell. If she performed Times were so hard for information we do have this task to Mrs. Burwell’s the Garlands in Virginia about these wonderful works specifications, it would be that Hugh decided to move of art has been verbally her passport out of a life in his entire family, including passed down, transmitted the cotton fields and into Elizabeth, her son and through stories from gener- the plantation house where mother to St. Louis, but the ation to generation. she would be able to work Garland family did not fare eyes, even beg from street to If you like quilts and alongside her mother, Agnes much better there. Things street. I told Mr. Garland so, quilt lore as much as I do, Hobbs, who did the majori- got so bad, Mr. Garland and he gave me permission come along, and I will intro- ty of the sewing and cook- talked of loaning out Agnes to see what I could do.” duce you to Elizabeth ing for the Burwell family. to neighbors to supplement What Elizabeth did was Keckley, dressmaker to Because they did not have their income, but Elizabeth pick up her needle and try Mary Todd Lincoln, and to any slaves of their own, was appalled by the thought her hand at earning a living a quilt, reportedly made 14-year-old Elizabeth was of her aging mother work- as a dressmaker or “modiste.” from scraps of the former separated from her mother ing and being at the mercy It did not take her long to first lady’s clothes, lovingly and “loaned out” as a chore of strangers. After careful gain an excellent reputation referred to over the years as girl to the wife of her mas- thought, she came up with a as a seamstress among the the Mary Todd Lincoln Quilt. ter’s oldest son, the plan. Elizabeth stated later wealthy and influential fami- Reverend Robert Burwell, in her book, Behind the lies in St. Louis. In so doing, Elizabeth Hobbs who lived in North Scenes: Thirty Years a Slave, she managed to support 17 Keckley Carolina. Elizabeth and her and Four Years in the White people for over two years Born into slavery near son George, whose House, “I would rather work with her needlework skills, Dinwiddie Courthouse in Caucasian father was a my fingers to the bone, bend including the family of her Virginia, Elizabeth “Lizzie” neighbor of the Burwells, over my sewing till the film impoverished white owners. Hobbs began working at would eventually be sent of blindness gathered in my During this period of her From Quilter’s World magazine, February 2009, Vol. 31, No. 1, Copyright © 2009 Quilter’s World magazine life, she met and married as a dressmaker, Elizabeth claims of freedom, she and James Keckley separated. James Keckley in the and her son crossed the George would be considered George obtained the Garland family parlor, and Mississippi River by river fugitive slaves in some states. education denied his mother, her thoughts turned more ferry from Missouri (a slave Elizabeth would settle for eventually attending college and more in the direction of state) into Illinois (a free nothing less than the oppor- at Wilberforce University obtaining freedom for her- state) on several occasions to tunity to purchase their before enlisting as a white self and her son. In her work deliver orders to her cus- freedom and be legally free man in the U.S. Army when tomers. The easiest way for in all states. the Civil War broke out. her to obtain their freedom Thanks to the help of Before the war between the would have been for them some of her dressmaking states, Elizabeth found her- to simply stay in the state of clients and Elizabeth’s own self in Washington, D.C., Illinois on one of these needlework skills, she was with dressmaking clients by excursions, but she did not able to purchase their free- the name of Mrs. (Lt.) want to gain their freedom dom from the Garland fam- Robert E. Lee and Mrs. in this manner. ily for the sum of $1,200. (Sen.) Jefferson Davis. And Without signed legal The next few years thanks to an introduction by documents from her former brought many changes to Mrs. (Gen.) John McClean, owners to back up her Elizabeth’s life. She and Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley A closeaup of the quilt shows the detail of one block. Photograph courtesy of The Kent State University Museum. Elizabeth Keckley’s Mary Todd Lincoln Quilt, property of The Kent State University Museum. Gift of Ross Trump in memory of his mother, Helen Watts Trump. KSUM 1994. Photograph courtesy of The Kent State University Museum. From Quilter’s World magazine, February 2009, Vol. 31, No. 1, Copyright © 2009 Quilter’s World magazine was about to gain entrance to D.C., an incarnation of an the White House “through institution she had helped the front door” to meet the organize in earlier years, first lady of the United States, Mary Todd Lincoln’s picture Mary Todd Lincoln. was found among her per- The inauguration of sonal things. Abraham Lincoln as President of the United The Quilt States was fast approaching Elizabeth Keckley grew and his wife, Mary Todd up in a time of frugality and Lincoln, was in a bit of a was the type of person who pickle due to a coffee stain did not throw anything on the dress she had planned away. It is well documented to wear to the event. that she was a saver and col- Needing another dress in a lector of artifacts which held hurry she turned to one of personal significance to her. her Washington acquain- She was given the right- tances, Mrs. John McClean, hand glove worn by and asked her the name of President Lincoln at his first her dressmaker. The general’s public reception after his wife answered, “Lizzie second inaugural, the comb Keckley” and Mrs. Lincoln and brush Elizabeth used to asked for an introduction. comb Mr. Lincoln’s hair, the On a Tuesday morning, at President’s cloak, Mary 8 o’clock, Elizabeth Keckley Lincoln’s bonnet worn on crossed the threshold of the the night of the President’s White House for the first the White House, dozens of once confided to her hus- assassination,w and Mr. time and was ushered into a dresses created for personal band, “If it had not been for Lincoln’s overshoes. All waiting room where she dis- and public events, Abraham Lizzie Keckley, I do not these items were personal covered three other talented Lincoln’s assassination, and know what I would have mementos from her years at seamstresses waiting for an Mrs. Lincoln’s financial and done.” However, after some the White House and were interview with Mrs. Lincoln. public-image woes after her of her personal correspon- later donated to benefit Her heart fell. Elizabeth was husband’s death. It lasted dence with Elizabeth was Wilberforce University, an sure that she, a former slave, right up to the publication included unedited in the African-American college didn’t have a chance. She of Elizabeth Keckley’s book book without Elizabeth her son had attended before was the last of the dressmak- entitled Behind the Scenes: Keckley’s knowledge or per- the war. ers to be interviewed by Mrs. Thirty Years a Slave and Four mission, Mary Todd Lincoln There is documented Lincoln, but in the end Mrs. Years in the White House, the refused to speak to her after proof that Elizabeth Lincoln choose Elizabeth to book that was meant to help it was published. Keckley did save fabric be her new dressmaker. ease some of Mrs. Lincoln’s Despite the silence pieces from gowns she cre- What started as a public-image woes. between them, Elizabeth ated for Mrs. Lincoln. Like employer-employee relation- However, as Elizabeth stat- would remain devoted to the the items listed above, sev- ship would turn into a ed regretfully in 1901, “I former first lady for the eral of those pieces were friendship. A unique bond never received a dollar from remainder of her life. It is donated to the Wilberforce was formed between these the publication of that book. said that when Elizabeth University in Ohio. two women, which grew and It made some enemies for passed away on May 26, According to the verbal evolved through the death me who should have always 1907, at the Home for lore surrounding this quilt, of their sons, Abraham been my friends.” Destitute Women and Elizabeth did use some of Lincoln’s first four years at Mary Todd Lincoln had Children in Washington, her stash of fabric scraps, From Quilter’s World magazine, February 2009, Vol. 31, No. 1, Copyright © 2009 Quilter’s World magazine material left over from Mrs. which is consistent with a This quilt, so rich in ver- posed to be a success story.
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