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The Story of a Quilt Top
by Virginia Parsons Rahal
Clara Peters' grandmother was Sarah/Sallie Clay, daughter of Mitchell
Clay and Phoebe Belcher.
In June of 1995, Irene Bailey Tinney gave her niece, Wanema Parsons
Brooks, a quilt top belonging to Clara Peters. She gave it to Wanema
because she is the only grandchild of Clara's son, John Bailey, who
was old enough to remember him. John Patterson Bailey II died before
his other grandchildren were born or old enough to remember. Probably
because his mother died when he was a child, he made a great effort
to keep with him items that had been hers.
John and Clara Peters Bailey
It isn't known when the quilt top was made by and/or for Clara.
Family tradition dates it to a few years after the Civil War on the
occasion of her leaving Pearisburg, Giles Co. VA, to go to Putnam Co. WV,
but it more likely dates to some time before the 1856 marriages of Clara
and her sister Martha since their maiden names are on the quilt top.
The piece was never quilted perhaps because in 1855, Nancy
Bolton Peters, Clara's mother, died as a result of childbirth at 45 years,
and there was a newborn baby for the sisters to care for. Both sisters were
married the next year and soon had families of their own, and before very
long the Civil War had commenced.
The following names are signed on the quilt:
Mary E. Peters, (Clara's
sister)
T. J. Peters, {This may be Clara's
uncle, Thaddeus J. Peters.}
Jane Key, (Clara's first cousin)
Clara J. Peters, (Irene Bailey
Tinney's grandmother and the subject of these notes)
M. M. Moser, (?)
Martha L. Peters, (Clara's sister)
Sarah A. Snidow, (Sarah A. Snidow,
born about 1833, may be the daughter of John S. Snidow and Mahala Lucas.)
Virginia W. Peters, (?)
Sarah Bailey, (May be the daughter
of Braxton Bailey and Nancy Oberstreet. She married Alfred Bailey, the
brother of Clara's husband John Patterson
Bailey. Sarah died before 1860 when Alfred married Elizabeth French.)
Louisa Gordon, (Her
brother, Richard Gordon, married Clara's sister Mary after the Civil War in
1866, and Louisa Gordon married James Dennis in
1867. Louisa may have been a young girl when she participated in making the
quilt top since her square is not as perfect
as the others.
Nancy Smith (?).
Information, research and picture
courtesy of three 8th great-granddaughters of John Clay, the immigrant:
Helen Wanema Brooks, Virginia "Ginny" Rahal, and especially
Barbara "Bobbie" Watson who recreated the quilt.
Beverly White, Barbara "Bobbie"
Watson, Virginia "Ginny" Rahal, and Helen Wanema Brooks 2001
These women, Virginia, Barbara, Beverly and Helen, who were
so gracious to alert us to a wonderful family story and allow us to use it in our first edition of
the newsletter, want to extend a hearty "Hello" to all the great
"cousins" they met at the recent Clay Family . Update:
Barbara is recovering nicely from her recent knee surgery.
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