A Vintage Rescue.

 I bought these blocks at Houston in 2015 as a memento of my trip and have really enjoyed putting them together and researching the quilters who made them. There were only 5 blocks and were most likely the remains of a vintage quilt which was too worn to survive.
  Luckily some of the names were quite unusual as it made it easier to find them on the US Census data. I wasn't sure if they were from the 1930s or 1940s but I think they are more likely to be pre-1940s. All of the quilters were listed as living in Marion, Daviess County in Missouri.

 Lura Canfield, was  born in 1887 and was 43 in the 1930 census. She was married to Allen W. Canfield and they had 4 children, the eldest DD dying from diptheria when she was 9 years old. In 1939,  Lura took in her niece when she was 2 and the child's mother moved to Chicago for work as her husband had died. This was during WW2 and life must have been hard in the farming areas of Missouri where a young widow might find it hard to find work to support herself and her family.

 Hattie Smith was born in 1852 and was 78 in 1930. She is on the same Census page as Lura Canfield which enabled me to identify which Hattie Smith was correct. Neighbours are usually listed on the same, or adjoining pages, of the Census documents.

 Voncille Otterman was born in 1908 and was 22 in the 1930 Census, living in Marion, Daviess County, Missouri. She does not appear in the 1940 census for this area, most likely because she married and perhaps moved.

 Fern Canfield was born in 1919 and was 11 in 1930. Her mother, Jesasie, was 36 in 1930 and they were living in Marion, Missouri. Perhaps her mother also signed a block which was one of the damaged blocks and discarded. It appears that Fern's block was very nicely signed and I wonder if she had help writing her name.

Laura Snider was born in 1861 and was 69 in 1930, also living in Liberty, Missouri, nearby to the others. She was widowed in 1940 and I have not yet found details about her family.
   I don't know who the quilt would have been made for, perhaps it was to farewell Lura's relative who was widowed at a young age. I really enjoyed piecing the blocks together and I thought it would make a nice wall hanging or a table runner. I hand quilted 2 of the blocks and then removed the stitches as the batting was too puffy for that era. Cotton batting provided a more authentic finish and I used some vintage fabric from that era to bind it. I have a first finish for the year so I need to keep working to get some more done now.
Thanks for stopping by.
Hugs, Jan Mac