Quilt Made Many Years Ago By Marjorie Waddell Sturgis Journal clipping, date unknown.


Quilt Made Many Years Ago
By Marjorie Waddell
Sturgis Journal clipping, date unknown.

A quilt made from blocks left over from another coverlet, finished in 1853 and now in the American Museum in Bath, England, is a treasured possession of Mrs. Roy H. Hagerman, 107 South Fourth Street, Sturgis.
The original quilt was made for her great-great-grandmother, Mrs. Helen Merwin Waterbury, when he husband was a pastor of the Unitarian Church in Milford, Conn., in the era of the 1850’s, as a gift from the women of the congregation. The quilt is composed of cotton squares, each appliqued with the name of the donor and ht edate. No two squares are alike. The center block is inscribed “To the Rev. Mrs. Waterbury from her loving friends – 1853.”
 The quilt, which always was considered “too nice” for ordinary use, had been handed down to the oldest daughter in each generation, and had been carefully preserved – never laundered or dry-cleaned. Mrs. Hagerman’s sister, Mrs. Hassel Smith, Sr., now of San Anselmo, California, the oldest daughter in her family, inherited the heirloom, and, like her ancestors, kept it carefully folded on a shelf.
Recently, Hassel Smith, Jr., a professor of art at the university in Bristol, England, and then on a two-month lecture tour on “New Art in Britannia,” at the University of California, suggested to his parents that they give the quilt to the American Museum.
He and his family (four sons) often visit the museum as they feel it is an excellent source of history, besides being a beautiful sight.
Correspondence was started between the Smiths and the museum in 1972, and, as a result, March of this year found the quilt on its way to England, fully in sured again st damage, theft or loss.
When the Smith family first offered the quilt to the museum, museum officials accepted the offer enthusiastically, realizing that the quilt would make a splendid addition to the priceless collection of early Americana. 
The Smiths now have word that the quilt is on display in one of the bedrooms in the museum, where it has been draped over an antique quilt rack.

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