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

 

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11 thoughts on “Crazy Quilt: Emeline Cochran Stout

  1. Kerry Dexter

    Ohio must have seemed still a bit of the frontier when your ancestors first came there. What changes your great great grandmother saw in her lifetime. Good to think of her hands making th those stitches — and the connection with your dress as well.

    Reply
  2. Paula Price

    I remember I always thought that quilt was so beautiful I was afraid to touch it but did anyway. So many different kind of fabric, so many different feeling sensations.

    Reply
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  4. Colleen

    Beautiful. I love both genealogy & quilting so I doubly enjoy your post & photos! I label all my quilts with my name, date & location for the future.

    Reply
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  6. Joanne Barnard

    Fabulous story and fabulous crazy quilts, Vera Marie. Thank you for bringing these to my attention. I love crazy quilting myself but have only done vests and bags, never a whole bed quilt. That’s a lot of embroidering!

    Reply
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  8. Sally Withers

    Dear Mrs. Badertscher . . . I read with great interest your article on your great, great grandmother, Emmeline Cochran Stout, and her Crazy Quilts. I would like to ask you if she ever signed her crazy quilts, Ma Stout? I have a lovely crazy quilt that is signed Ma Stout and is dated 1902. We live in Omaha and interestingly you indicate that Frank Stout was an Omaha Attorney. Could the Crazy Quilt that I have possibly been made by your Great, Great Grandmother? Hopefully you will reply to this inquiry. I can email you a photo if you would like. Thank you, Sally

    Reply

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