Belle, You family history is indeed interesting. Your Grandfather's Mason funeral sounds so nice. My husband has his Mason apron around here but he refuses to tell me what a person does with it. I would guess that it's for when he dies. We did not pay his dues this year, so I'm so he will not have a Mason funeral. I take it that it was your Grandmother's hat that got sold by mistake at the millinery shop? It had to be quite nice & well made for them to sell it. What is a 'log cabin' quilt? I enjoy going to some of the quilt shows around here because many of the women quilt. Don't know if I have seen that kind before. We have a quilt rack at the bottom of our bed & we have several quilts on it which were made by relatives in our families. Your stories are very enjoyable. Thank you. ~J in AZ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Belle Shepherd" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, January 24, 2010 4:52 PM Subject: [SOUTHERN-CHAT] More of Belle's story.. > Grandpa died in May 1925, still in office as Sheriff. He was a Mason > as were his brothers and father. He was buried with alll lthe Masonic > honors from his Lodge and a marble slab with the Masonic emblem , name > and dates covers his grave. Several of his kin are in the same little > churchyard.Many years before 1925, his ancestors had given the land and a > sum of money to build the little First Baptist Church in that small > Community. > > Soon after he died rheuncle, wife and daughter moved into their own little > house not very far away from the big house. One of the cooks went to work > for another family nearby. Not so many folks coming and going. > > Grandma and my mother had little to do about the house so they sewed and > sewed and shopped and shopped. My mother made many of her own clothes , > made dresses with matching bloomers for me and little coats with matching > tams which I hated. I still dislike anything on my head. > She loved hats and often made her own if she couldn't find a suitable > one in the few shops around. Those were the days when she and other > ladies wouldn't leave the house without their hats, purses/handbags and > gloves. > On one shopping trip she went into a millenery shop, sat down at one of > the vanities, removed her hat and gloves, leaving them on the vanity with > her purse, walked around the shop for sometime checking out what was > available. She went back to thevanity, the purse and gloves were > stillthere but her hat (one she had made)was not there. She looked all > over the shop but couldn't find it, finnally a clerk came up asking what > was the problem. When told she started shaking and crying and said she > was so sorry but she had sold my mother's hat. > > Grandma sewed and sewed, sometimes clothes for the household help but > mostly on quilts. She made many in the 'log cabin' pattern. I have one > unquilted top that she made about 1900. Her brother was a salesnam for a > mercantile company selling yard goods to stores. He gave Grandma some of > his sample books which had good sized swatches of materials inthem. She > used the material samples in her quilts. > > Enough for now, > Best regards to all, > > Belle > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message