The Underhill Tree of Life Quilt Story Continues

From a letter from Jill Meszaros dated June 12, 2012:

Yesterday, the Underhill Tree of Life quilt had one more piece of its story written. 

As you know, I created my Underhill Wholecloth Quilt to honor my Underhill ancestors.  I wanted to update you on my Underhill family. 

My grandfather, Donald Underhill, at the age of 99 and 10 months, died yesterday at 12:35 pm.  His only living sibling, Aunt Mary Lou, age 86 and 10 months died yesterday at 8:20 am. 

They were both very proud of their family heritage and it was in his books that I found a great deal of the family history I used in my quilt's story.  He loved history, especially his family’s. 

My quilt was really for him more than anyone else.  This is not a sad story....99 years is something to celebrate - especially since he died peacefully, at home with family, simply from old age. 

Major David Underhill would have been my grandfather's (Donald Underhill) Great-Great-Grandfather.  Aunt Mary Lou was still living on a piece of David's original homestead.  She will rest in Norwalk, Ohio with many other Underhills that came before her.

I just wanted to share this piece of my quilts continuing story with you.

                   Jill Meszaros

You can see this incredible quilt up close when you view the Seaway Trail War of 1812 Traveling Exhibit which is on the road for the next two years.

Not Much Actually Happened DURING 1812

If you put the name of the War of 1812 aside, not much actually happened during 1812.

1 - Most of the fighting took place in 1813.

2 - The peace treaty was ratified in 1814.

3 - The deciding battle was fought in 1815.

So, be prepared to stretch this War of 1812 Bicentennial Commemoration out for a while. 

That means you still have lots of time to borrow the Seaway Trail War of 1812 traveling quilt exhibit if you have a suitable venue that would be interested in the display.

Last weekend the exhibit was hung in the Anglican Christ Church - on site at Upper Canada Village.  The exhibit has now traveled to Fort Wellington in Prescott where it will be on display June 29 thru July 1. 

Send me an email if your interested in borrowing it and we will look at the travel schedule.

May is Quilting month in Canada!

We are reminded by AQS Certified Quilt Appraiser Diane Shink that May is Quilting month in Canada!  

Diane hosted an old fashioned quilting bee with Montreal West quilting friends to entirely hand quilt her entry in our 2012 War of 1812 Quilt Challenge.  This quilt and 25 others will be displayed in our Traveling War of 1812 Quilt Challenge Exhibit.  

Diane transferred the image below to the label of her quilt. She sent a note with the photo telling us that her fingers were sore after all the hand quilting including the historically accurate knife edge finish. 

See this stunning quilt in person and the rest when our Traveling Exhibit comes to a venue near you. 

Quilt Display at the Fort La Presentation War of 1812 Symposium

A selection of the Great Lakes Seaway Trail War of 1812 quilts will be on display as part of our exhibit at the upcoming Fourth Annual War of 1812 Symposium in Ogdensburg, NY on April 27-28, 2012.  We will also have a preview of some of our new War of 1812 theme interpretive panels on exhibit.  

For all the details and to register for the event visit the Fort La Presentation website at: www.fort1749.org 

Stop by and say hello at our booth at the Freight House Restaurant on Saturday.

The events seminars and presenters include:

Research leading to the discovery of Col. Zebulon Pike's encampment on the Saranac River:   Keith Herkalo is an 1812-era re-enactor and a founding member and current president of the Battle of Plattsburgh Association. As an amateur historian, his research is the catalyst behind the archaeological discovery of “Cantonment Saranac” and the location of the Grab Island graves. Mr. Heraklo edited The Journal of H.K. Averill, Sr.: An Account of the Battle of Plattsburgh and Early North Country Community and is the author of September 11th, 1814: The Battles of Plattsburgh. He is involved in restoration projects as the City Clerk for Plattsburgh.

The archaeology confirming the site of Col. Zebulon Pike's encampment on the Saranac River:   Timothy Abel, PhD, has interests spanning the prehistoric and early historic archaeology of the Great Lakes. Since 2003, he has conducted more than a dozen projects related to the military and domestic archaeology of the War of 1812 in northern New York. Recently his archaeological investigations have produced conclusive evidence in Plattsburgh of the encampment named “Cantonment Saranac” by its commanding officer Col. Zebulon Pike. Dr. Abel is an instructor at Jefferson Community College in Watertown, New York.

Medical practices during the War of 1812:   Gregory Baran, MD, a private practitioner and medical consultant in Kingston, Ontario since 1992, is the regimental surgeon for the re-enacted Regiment of Canadian Fencible Infantry and King's Royal Regiment of New York. He regularly presents on War of 1812 medical practices at Upper Canada Village and continues to consult as a medical historian with various bicentennial projects and productions related to the War of 1812. Dr. Baran collects antique medical equipment.

The discovery, investigation and the preservation of the Schooners Hamilton and the Scourge:   Nancy Binnie, MSc, is a Senior Conservation Scientist with Canadian Conservation Institute in Ottawa, Ontario. Her career began in 1988, and she has had a long association with the wrecks of the Hamilton and Scourge. An experienced scuba diver, her scientific interests have also taken her on the recovery of historic aircraft, such as the Fokker Universal from Lake Charron in northern Manitoba, and the search for Avro Arrow models in Lake Ontario. Ms. Binnie is the author or co-author of many papers related to artefact conservation and preservation.  

The Battle of Queenston Heights and the role of Fort George in the War of 1812:   Ronald Dale served as the Superintendent of Niagara National Historic Sites, including Fort George and Brock's Monument for 14 years, before being appointed the 1812 Bicentennial Project Manager for Parks Canada to develop a strategic plan for federal bicentennial commemorations.  As an historian he is the author of The Invasion of Canada: Battles of the War of 1812, The Fall of New France: How the French lost a North American Empire 1754-1763 and Niagara-on-the-Lake: Its Heritage and Its Festival. He resides in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. (Featured in the PBS War of 1812 production.)

Planning for and conducting of War in North America, 1808-1815:   Major John Grodzinski is an assistant professor of history at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario. His doctoral thesis is The Constraints of Strategy: Lieutenant-General Sir George Prevost as Commander-in-Chief of British North America during the War of 1812. His MA discussed the War of 1812 on the Upper St Lawrence River. Since joining the army in 1983, he has held several appointments with his regiment, Lord Strathcona’s Horse, and various staff positions. Major Grodzinski conducts War of 1812 battlefield tours for the Canadian military. (Featured in the PBS War of 1812 production.)

Teaching the War of 1812 as a civil war:   Melissane Schrems, PhD, is an assistant professor of history at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, where she is a member of the Native American Studies Advisory Board and teaches courses focused on Native American and Colonial American history. Dr. Schrems doctoral dissertation was on the Mashpee Wampanoag Indians on Cape Cod, and her minor fields were Native American history, the history of Colonial America and Comparative Slavery. She is on the board of the Fort La Présentation Association.

Abbé Piquet and the legacy of Indigenous/Mohawk alliances during the War of 1812:   Scott Stevens, PhD, is the Director of the Newberry Library’s D’Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies in Chicago. His research interests concern the diplomatic and cultural strategies of resistance among North American Indians in the face of colonialism, as well as the political and aesthetic issues surrounding museums and the indigenous cultures they display. Dr. Stevens is currently working on a book-length research project entitled Indian Collectibles: Encounters, Appropriations, and Resistance in Native North America. He is a member of the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation.

Traveling Quilt Exhibit Venues Include New England and Williamsburg

The Great Lakes Seaway Trail is so excited to announce that our exhibit “Great Lakes Seaway Trail War of 1812 Bicentennial Quilts” will be traveling to several venues in the US and Canada over the next two years.

"Like a regiment of soldiers standing at attention" – that is how Seaway Trail, Project Manager Lynette Lundy-Beck describes the new Great Lakes Seaway Trail War of 1812 Bicentennial and Quilt Traveling Exhibit of quilts and interpretive panels. Twenty-five of the finest newly-made examples of 1812-period quilts will be accompanied by four Great Lakes Seaway Trail "Storyteller" interpretive panels that will tell the stories of the war; fabric technology in 1812; the daily lives of militia, soldiers and sailors; and the impact of the conflict on the daily lives of those left at home.

Mancuso Show Management is the producer of some of the largest quilt festivals and antiques shows featuring quilt competitions and juried exhibitions in the United States.  Mancuso has placed the “Great Lakes Seaway Trail War of 1812 Bicentennial Quilts” exhibit on their schedule for the following venues:

• World Quilt Show - New England - August 16 - 19, 2012 in Manchester, New Hampshire

• Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza  - September 13 - 16, 2012 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

• Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival - February 21 - 24, 2013 in Hampton, Virginia the Greater Chesapeake Bay / Williamsburg Area

• The Quilt Fest of New Jersey - February 28 - March 3, 2013 in Somerset, New Jersey

Final selection of the twenty-five quilts selected be on the tour will be announced by the Great Lakes Seaway Trail in April.

The Handquilted Underhill Tree of Life Whole-Cloth Quilt

The show’s second Viewer’s Choice winner the “Underhill Tree of Life Whole-Cloth Quilt” was made by Jill Meszaros of Cambridge Springs, PA, 25 miles south of Erie and the Great Lakes Seaway Trail Pennsylvania. The dark blue quilt is intricately quilted by hand with a dark blue thread. 

Meszaros says, “I chose to create a whole-cloth quilt to honor my family heritage and the history of quilting and our nation. My fourth great-grandfather, Major David Underhill traveled to Huron County, Ohio, in 1810. In 1812 he reacted to the news that the British and Indians were landing only to learn they were really soldiers in Hull’s army. As I quilted, my husband was away and I imagined what it would have been like in 1812 to wait for him to come home.”

Meszaros, a stay-at-home mother of six, fashioned her design after the Clarke Family Quilt in the book “Massachusetts Quilts” and used fruit, floral and foliate motifs inspired by “Quilts-Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum.” The quilt’s batting is wool, typical of the 1812 time. She says, “The last stitch went in the I day I shipped the quilt to the show.”

Show manager Lynette Lundy-Beck notes, “This show inspired people to learn more about the War of 1812, its battles, the soldiers and their loved ones, and about the quilters’ own families. This show is indeed a storytelling event that interprets the travel themes for the Great Lakes Seaway Trail in many interesting and personal ways, and that is what makes this quilt show unique among quilt shows and tourism showcases.”

Markham Quilt Guilt Display at the 1812 Quilt Show

The ladies of the Markham Quilt Guild near Toronto Ontario had a great display of quilts at the Great Lakes Seaway Trail War of 1812 Quilt Show!