LINGERWOOD, N.D. (AP) - Shirley Elsner of Lidgerwood, North Dakota, has a mystery on her hands - one she has no idea how to solve since it goes back more than 80 years.
It doesn’t help that the women involved in this puzzle have passed on, so there is no one to ask how 15 quilt blocks that apparently started in Lidgerwood in the late 1920s ended up in a variety store in Lewiston, Montana.
The quilt blocks now sit atop Elsner’s dining room table. They are spread out to read the names of each woman who hand-stitched or wrote their names on the colorful 12-by-12-inch quilt blocks.
Having a box of antique quilt blocks by itself isn’t all that mysterious since quilting was a common occurrence in North Dakota years ago, as women often gathered in quilting circles. The purpose of this quilt, though, will never be known as it wasn’t finished, and all 15 quilt squares ended up at The Variety Shoppe in Lewiston, where they were sold in 1979 to Barbara Bowler of Billings, Montana, about 50 years after being pieced together.
Elsner said she didn’t even know the quilt blocks existed until she received an unexpected phone call from Bowler recently. Bowler had been researching the names of the women who stitched the blocks and everything kept coming back to Lidgerwood. Elsner said Bowler worked with a church group of quilters, so decided to call a church in Lidgerwood to get the pieces back home. She ended up calling Holy Cross Lutheran Church, and someone answered the phone because there was a funeral that day. Elsner took the message and called Bowler back, and so began what can be dubbed, “The Mystery of the Quilt Blocks.”
There are several clues that are difficult to piece together. Some of the pieces are dated 1929, others 1930. Elsner pointed to one block that was dated 1931, so they were stitched in a three-year period, the Wahpeton Daily News reported (https://bit.ly/1qYw29P ).
Some of the names are familiar, such as Ercink, Quammen and Jerezek, while others are unknown to the people who live in Lidgerwood today.
LaVonne Guenther is embroiled in this riddle as well. The actual material is unique and seems to be more of a fancy silk. “All of these ladies would have worn cotton house dresses. Where did they get the silky fabric?” Especially considering the country would have been in the midst of the Great Depression and money would have been tight in 1929.
The patterns on the individual squares have a similarity, but are not identical. Guenther said it could be considered a crazy quilt, of sorts. The individual pattern pieces also have different sewing stitches. For many the sewing is different on all sides of the same fabric piece. There are chain stitches, French knots and some even are detailed like small flowers to stitch the fabric together. These same stitches can be found in each quilt block, so there is a corresponding theme there.
“It’s almost like they are some type of sampler and the ladies were learning different sewing techniques,” Guenther said.
Bowler included a hand-written letter detailing how she acquired the quilt squares. They went antique shopping and saw these 15 quilt squares at The Variety Shoppe in Lewiston for $45. She purchased them, then put the box away and it sat unopened and unused since 1979.
“At this time I’ve hesitated to complete the quilt for fear of ruining their historical value. Plus, I’ve always wondered about the women and thought the blocks really belonged to the families of the women who created them,” Bowler wrote.
A few weeks ago Bowler researched the names. She searched the less familiar names. After narrowing the search, Bowler found 11 of the 14 names and some of their information. The names date back to a U.S. Census conducted in 1930.
“We know their story from 1979 to now, we just don’t know what happened prior to that,” Guenther said.
Both Guenther and Elsner have theories about how the pieces ended up in Montana. Guenther said it is possible one of the ladies had them in her possession and maybe they became part of an estate sale. Elsner said her theory is that one of the quilter’s children inherited the pieces so to speak, and then moved to Montana.
The women who sewed the quilt blocks are: Thresa Honl, Mae Bonzer, Mae Ercink, Mildred Johnson, Esther Boxeth, Chris Jerezek, Stella Nemetz, Emma Rue, Rosella Johnson, Bertha Boxeth, Louise Quammen, Fern Bonzer and Dorothy Quammen.
Elsner and Guenther consider the quilt to be part of Lidgerwood’s heritage. It is planned to have the blocks sewn together, without backing, so it can be displayed for the public.
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Information from: Wahpeton Daily News, https://www.wahpetondailynews.com
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