Tag Archives: Doc Stout

Crazy Quilt: Emeline Cochran Stout

Emeline Cochran Stout (1826-1905)

People have many ways of keeping their memories.

One of the true treasures that I inherited is this embroidery-enhanced crazy quilt, made by my great-great-grandmother, Emeline Cochran Stout, that must have reminded her and her family of many good times. Emeline was the mother of my grandfather, William Cochran (Doc) Stout, who was her oldest son.

crazy quilt

Emeline Cochran Stout’s crazy quilt.

Besides loving her first name, I am fascinated by her life, and of course the sewing skill she demonstrates in this crazy quilt.

Emeline’s father William Cochran, was known by the title of Colonel because of his service in the War of 1812. Emeline’s mother and  father moved from Pennsylvania to Guernsey County, Ohio, where she was born on January 9, 1826. She was one of the Col.’s thirteen children and was born to the first of three wives, Martha Henderson. Her mother must have been glad to see a girl, after having four boys. And by the time Emeline was 12, she had four younger brothers.  As the only girl in the house for a very long time (there were younger sisters), it is no wonder she would become a good seamstress. Her mother would need her help, and probably happily taught her the stitches she later used in the crazy quilt.

crazy quilt stitches

Variety of stitches in Emeline Stout’s crazy quilt

In 1844, Emeline (18) married Isaiah Stout (22), a farmer whose family came from New Jersey. I remember their wedding date because it is the same as mine–June 11. Emeline and Isaiah lived in various houses in Guernsey County, but settled in one in Wills township, one mile west of Middlebourne.

Emeline Stout Circa 1860

Emeline Stout Circa 1860

While they lived in the big white clapboard farm house,  Emeline gave birth to eleven children,  three of whom died before reaching the age of five. (There might have been a fourth infant death.)

Her mother died when Emeline was 27, the same year that she lost a two-year-old son. Emmeline could look out from her farmhouse windows and see the final resting place of many of her family members in the Stout cemetery, including Emeline’s mother and father, grandchildren and children, and Emeline and Isaiah’s infants (or very young children) who died in 1851, 1871 and 1872,

My great-great grandmother outlived her husband and toward the end of her life lost her eyesight.  Oh, dear, I am making her life sound very depressing, but I do not think that was the case. Despite the fact that she lost children–a not uncommon occurrence in the 1800s, she had many children who grew to adulthood and some lived nearby.

She was very fortunate to live near the Cochran family, and to have most of her daughters remain close to her as well.  One of her sons, George, became a doctor and lived on a neighboring farm. Her son, William Cochran Stout, also a doctor, lived close enough for visits. Frank, a lawyer in Omaha visited by train with his wife and children. The visits appeared in the local newspaper under personals.

Two sons went West at young ages to make their fortunes. And how proud she must have been of the extraordinarily successful careers of all four of her sons who managed to get college educations and become self-made leaders of their communities.

Emmeline Cochran Stout, maker of the crazy quilt

Emmeline Cochran Stout

After her husband died in 1872 (the same year she lost a 5-year-old daughter, so perhaps an epidemic?) she began the common widow’s practice of living with her children or grandchildren.  My mother said that at one point she lived with mother’s grandmother and grandfather (Hattie and Doc William Stout) in Killbuck when she was losing her sight.

I will pursue more about Emeline’s birth family (the Cochrans), and about her husband and children, but now, let’s focus on the crazy quilt she made late in her life.

According to Wikipedia, crazy quilts “created a stir in the 1880s when it became quite a fad in the United States. The Japanese Exhibit in the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition inspired the crazy quilt with its asymmetrical art. “

Emeline must have had to work hard to do all the stitching in this embroidered quilt, since her eyesight would surely have been fading.  But in the tradition of our pioneer and farm foremothers, there were scraps of fabric aplenty, and no need to let them go to waste, when you could make something serviceable.

Emeline Stout's crazy quilt

Crazy quilt with variety of delicate stitches on white silk

Ribbon in crazy quilt

“Doc” Stout’s Holmes County Centennial Ribbon, 1888

This quilt was not only serviceable, but it was a family record as well, with pieces of children’s clothing, at least one wedding dress and even a badge awarded to my great-grandfather “Doc” Stout for his participation in the Holmes County Centennial celebrations. (  Read more at this link.)

Only the best fabrics went into the quilt–velvets and silks and satins and a tiny piece of fake fur.  But also liners from hats, clothing labels, and ribbons from special events. How I wish I knew the history of other beautiful pieces here, like the cut velvet, or the sheer fabric with a hand-painted flower.

 

 

Painted piece of crazy quilt

Painted piece of Emeline Stout’s crazy quilt

My mother, Harriette Anderson Kaser, did identify for me the wedding dress of Hattie Morgan Stout who was married before it seemed necessary for brides to wear white.  I have other scraps of that emerald-green silk, so I know that it was very precious to her. These pieces of green silk with a pattern embossed, are scattered throughout.

crazy quilt with pieces of wedding dress.

Pieced squares of Emeline Stout’s quilt. All the green’s are from Hattie Morgan’s wedding dress.

Emeline made nine squares and when they were sewn together the outside edge of the quilt was 70″ x 70 1/2″. Apparently she never finished it, because there is no batting or backing. The blue satin edging was added by my mother, some time in the 1970’s.

crazy quilt pillow

Crazy quilt pillow by Emeline Stout

My great-great-grandmother also made a pillow cover in similar style, with perhaps fancier embroidery, although the embroidery on the whole quilt is creative and delightful. Not only are the seams between pieces decorated, but plainer pieces have designs added, and sometimes flowers twine up the edge, or embroidery enhances a pattern already on the cloth.

So many memories here–and most of the specifics are lost in time.  But although it is more contemporary, and I would not have chosen to add it, the bright blue border that my mother added has meaning as well. It was material that I had used to make myself a long formal gown when I was in my twenties. Now THAT is crazy.

Blue dress source of border for crazy quilt

That’s me in the blue satin dress in the middle of the front row. Scottsdale Jr. Woman’s Club 1967

Relationship:
Vera Marie Kaser Badertscher
daughter of Harriette Anderson Kaser
who is the daughter of Vera May Stout Anderson
who is the daughter of William Cochran Stout
who is the son of Emeline Cochran Stout

Sources:

My cousin Larry Anderson and his wife Judy found that property and the Stout graveyard on the farm and recorded and photographed the tombstones there

The Household Guide and Instructor with Biographies, History of Guernsey County, Ohio (1882) by T. F. Williams. Page 520 sketches the life of William Cochran, and says that Emeline and her husband had twelve children, four of whom died before 1882. There seem to be some discrepancies in that record, but I have confirmed  eleven children, and know of three infant or young child deaths, so there could well have been eight living in 1882, and an additional infant death.  Many people writing about the Stout family have misinterpreted the entry to indicate that Emeline and Isaiah had two sons who served in the Civil War. This is not correct, and I believe those two men were actually Emeline’s brothers.

Notes on Research

Oral history from Harriette Kaser Anderson.

Emeline’s crazy quilt and family photographs are in the possession of the author. The pillow cover has gone to live in Massachusetts with Emeline’s 4x great-grandson and his wife, Kenneth Paul and Ashley Badertscher.

United States Federal Census Reports: 1850, Liberty, Washington, Ohio; 1860, Oxford, Guernsey, Ohio;  1870, 1880, Wills, Guernsey, Ohio.

Ohio, County Marriages, 1774-1993, Guernsey County, Isaiah Stout and Emeline Cochran, 11 June 1844.

Find a Grave, Emeline Cochran Stout

 

More Places to Find Food and Family Stories

I hope you’re enjoying Ancestors in Aprons, for whatever reason brings you here–family stories, recipes, food stories.  I also want to let you know  some other sources of family stories  that I’ve discovered.  I think you might enjoy these TV shows and a web site.

Learn More About Seeking Family Stories

Family stories

“Genealogy Roadshow” on PBS goes to the source. Credit: Courtesy of David Bean
Producer: Krasnow Productions

Did you see the television show, Who Do You Think You Are?  The TLC cable channel brings the drama of a search for family stories of celebrities.

And on September 23, PBS debuted a new show, Genealogy Road Show. (It may come later in some markets, so check with your local PBS station.)  Modeled on the popular Antiques Road Show, experts travel from city to city and work to solve nagging questions about ancestors and family stories that are brought by people in the audience.

I wrote about these two shows for the website Reel Life With Jane, and you can see the article and get more information here, including links to both shows.

Explore How The Foods We Eat are Influenced by Where We’re From

If you find, as I do, that your ancestors come to life in your kitchen–through handed down recipes, cooking techniques and implements–I’m sure you’ll enjoy a website dedicated to family stories and food facts, American Food Roots.  You can find lots of food for thought (pun intended) on this site, but of course I like the “My American Roots section where people tell an interesting story relating their family and food.

Meanwhile–have you read my family stories about the

Community band Kaser trombone

Trombone of Clifford Kaser

 

Trombone that changed my mind about my paternal grandfather?

 

 

Maude Bartlett's tea service

Aunt Maude’s tea service

 

 

 

About my Great Aunt who entertained a Queen?

William Stout diploma

William C. Stout’s diploma

 

My great grandfather’s questionable education?

 

 

Sarah Anderson Cherry Pudding

Cherries for Cherry Pudding

 

Have you tried our family recipes for cherry pudding,

 

 

 

Making Canned Food--Re Peppers

Grandma’s Red Pepper Jam

 

 

red pepper jam,

 

 

pie crust ventsor perfect pie crust?

The Girl on the Bridge: Hattie Stout, Teacher, Traveler, Suffragette

Harriette (Hattie) E. Morgan Stout (1842-1928)

Married William C. Stout in 1872

Hattie Stout

Harriett Emeline Morgan Stout

And who was that girl on the bridge that captured the newly minted Doctor Stouts attention when he rode into Killbuck for the first time? She was a school teacher who had been raised by a single parent–Mary Morgan. What happened to her father is definitely one of the more interesting of our family stories, so do keep on reading for the next few weeks until we get to Jesse Morgan.

Although I keep calling Hattie “the girl”, she was well past girlhood–in fact probably considered an old maid.  Unfortunately, my mother’s many stories about Hattie Morgan Stout did not include any information about the part of her life between childhood and when she married Dr. Stout at the age of 30. So I’m left wondering if she had loved and lost–perhaps in the Civil War? Or had she been so engrossed in her teaching that she did not have time for courting? Or, more likely, was there no one who came around that met her rigorous intellectual expectations?

Who was this woman of quick intellect who loved to read and travel, worked hard to keep a proper house and yet yearned to try new things? (She smoked a cigarette in the 20s just to see what all the fuss was about. She cut her hair short when others still wore theirs long.) She became a shrewd businesswoman managing farm and urban property.

 Here are some of my mother’s stories about her Grandmother, Hattie. Hattie grew up in Killbuck and went to Keene Academy to study because there was no public high school in Killbuck.  Her mother had attended and taught at Keene, near Coshocton, Ohio.

She worked as a teacher from about 1858 until she was married, teaching spelling, reading (we still have a McGuffey Reader), algebra and Latin among other things, from the time she was as young as 15. (You only had to pass eighth grade to become a teacher.)  As a very young girl and standing about five feet tall, Hattie Morgan had to maintain discipline and teach classes that included hulking farm boys as old as 21. (You can tell how short she was, in this picture taken in her older years.)

Hattie Stout at church picnic

Hattie Stout center, to the right of the woman with arm resting on stomach. Killbuck church picnic. That’s Maude on the far right in black, probably in 1910, the year Carlos died.

Hattie liked to say that none of the boys she taught died in the Civil War. She taught roughly from 1860 to 1871, and when the war started in 1861, thirteen boys went straight from her classes to the army. The school janitor, who never learned to read, was one of the boys that went to war, and my mother and uncles teased their grandmother that he was her “best pupil”. 

Teachers were highly respected in those days, and part of their payment was lodging in the home of a pupil. Hattie probably boarded out with some of the farm families. She taught at Stillwell, somewhere outside Clark, Dowdy Creek, and in Killbuck and in the area of Coshocton. 

After she married Doc Stout, he set up his office in Killbuck in her mother’s house, with their apartment over the office and all three children (William M, Maude and Vera) were born there.

Mary Morgan's house

Mary Morgan’s Killbuck house with Doc Stout office on right. Circa 1880

Two or three years later, they were able to build the big house on the site of Mary and Jesse Morgan’s old house.  Update:  According to plats of the time, Mary and Jesse did not own the property where Doc Stout built his house. This erroneous information came from a newspaper quote from Bill Anderson at the time the Doc Stout house was moved.

Wherever Doc Stout was seeing patients in the little office next door, Hattie was Doc Stout’s assistant.  She kept not only their house, but his office clean, including all of his equipment. Unusual for his day, he insisted that everything be sterilized. She read all his medical books and journals so she would understand what he was doing. And as I mentioned in my article about Doc Stout, she cooked and made up beds for patients who came and spent the night.  At times, particularly in the winter, Doc Stout, bear skin rug tucked over his knees, would drive his horses off into the countryside to see a patient and might not come back for days, leaving her to manage at home.

When people could not afford to pay the doctor in cash, they would give him food.  Grandma Hattie told my mother that many times she had to cook things she didn’t want because people had paid in produce.

Doc Stout was firmly against liquor, but Grandma Hattie kept a jar of fruit marinated in wine. He ate it happily and did not catch on.  Mother told a story about the “medicine” Grandma Hattie’s gave her for a stomach ache. It warmed her stomach and made her feel better, and she told her brother Bill about the yummy medicine that Grandma was spooning out.  Bill started moaning that he had a tummy ache.  He came back to his sister and said, “That stuff was AWFUL!”  Grandma had given Harriette a little brandy, but fearful of turning the little boy into an alcoholic, she gave him castor oil instead.  It definitely cured his “tummy ache.”

Hattie read everything she could get her hands on.  Just like her mother, Mary, she subscribed to Eastern magazines. When her son, William Morgan Stout, settled in New York City I’m sure she was sorry to see him go, but on the other hand–she could visit New York. And he could send her copies of the New York Times. She liked to work the crossword puzzles ( an addiction that my mother inherited). She also subscribed to the Literary Digest, founded in 1890 and famous for its political polls in the early 20th century. People in Killbuck, including the postmistress, waited for her magazine to come in so that they could borrow it when she was through.

 

Hattie Stout

Dr. George Stout, Maude Bartlett, Hattie Stout, Mrs. Geo, Carlos Circa 1890 Florida (?)

Hattie also liked to travel, and accompanied the doctor on many of his trips to conferences. They even lived “out West” in Kansas City for six months before returning to Killbuck.  

 

Hattie Stout in Buffalo

Hattie Stout and Maude Bartlett in Buffalo Circa 1910

When Maude’s husband died, Hattie went to Buffalo to live with her daughter for some time. She also traveled to New York City to visit with her son.  Hattie may have gone to Colorado Springs to visit her half-sister Malvinia. The family took expeditions by car to Guernsey County to visit the Stout relatives after Doc Stout died. When Vera and her husband Guy moved to Columbus and Harriette started at Ohio State University, 

“Grandmother Stout came to visit. She wanted to do two things—get her hair done and go to an Ohio State football game. She had never gone to a football game before, and she was the kind of person who always wanted to try new things. So Vera talked the beauty shop into giving her an early appointment on Saturday so that she could get to the game afterwards.”

Hattie often told my mother that she wanted to live long enough to see women get the vote. “If she had lived in a big city, she would have been marching with the Suffragettes,” my mother said.

The Nineteenth Amendment, giving women the vote,  was ratified in August 1920. Although she had to wait until she was 78 years old,  I have not doubt that Hattie Stout proudly cast her vote for Ohio’s candidate for President, Warren Harding, in November.  (Nor do I doubt she railed at him as his administration turned corrupt).

My Uncle Bill (her grandson) was a dedicated radio builder and operator in the early days of build-your-own radios. So I can imagine the family clustered around a static-filled radio listening as the presidential election results were broadcast for the first time in history.

UPDATE:  Hattie died in Buffalo New York on January 24, 1928 where she had been staying with her daughter Maud Bartlett.  She was ill for at least six years (mentioned in a letter from her son Will) and a family feud developed over her treatment. Apparently she refused regular medical treatment, and Will blamed Maude for influencing her to use alternative approaches.  I wonder what her husband Doc William Stout would have thought.  According to an obituary, her body was transported back to Killbuck for burial, and that is where her tombstone stands today.

Hattie Stout 1921

Harriette Morgan Stout, January 1921, two months after she voted for the first time.

What a lot she saw in her lifetime! From horse and buggy to cars and motorized streetcars. From debating politics in her own home, to reading the New York Times and exercising her right to vote and hearing the results on the radio. And she never missed an election until she died in 1928.

A woman who loves to read and loves to travel and try new things.

A woman who is fascinated by politics.

A woman who believes women should have equality.

That’s Harriett E. Morgan Stout–but it could also describe the women who follow her. In fact, I combine the loves of reading and travel in my web site A Traveler’s Library, which I think Hattie would have enjoyed.  Yep. We’re related.

How I Am Related

  • Vera Marie Kaser (Badertscher) is the daughter of
  • Harriette Anderson (Kaser), who is the daughter of
  • Vera Stout (Anderson), who is the daughter of
  • Harriet “Hattie” Morgan (Stout).

Notes on Sources

The rich anecdotal history comes from various conversations with my mother, Harriette Kaser Anderson as she identified family photos and told me family stories, particularly during the 1980’s and 1990’s.

United States Census: 1950, 1960, 1980, 1900, 1910, Killbuck, Holmes County, Ohio; 1920, Buffalo Ward 20, Erie County, New York.

New York Department of Health; Albany, NY; NY State Death Index; Certificate Number: 1250 and Ancestry.

Ohio, County Marriages, 1774-1993, Ancestry.com, “Helty E. Morgan” and William C. Stout, Holmes County, Ohio 16 Sep 1872

Find a Grave: Harriet E Stout

U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007, Ancestry.com Harriett E. Morgan, Spouse William C. Stout

Buffalo Evening News, 24 Jan 1928, Found at http://fultonhistory.com