1875 - 1888 Mary Ann Bishop's "Ocean Wave" Pieced Quilt

Object Details

Bishop, Mary Ann Gotschall

Description

This “Ocean Wave” quilt was begun by Mary Ann Bishop of Wilkesville, Vinton County, Ohio, in 1875 and quilted in 1888. Roller-printed cottons with a few woven checks and plaids were pieced for the patterns that set off the quilted plain, cream-colored cotton centers. A saw-tooth strip of red cotton appliquéd to the 6-inch border frames the “Ocean Wave” pattern. Quilted, at 9 stitches per inch, with straight lines on the pieced sections, the feathered circles and feathered leaves provide a surface texture to the quilt. Two gradually curved S-shaped wooden templates, also donated to the Collection, were used for pencil marking the quilting pattern.

Mary Ann Gotschall was born July 7, 1819. She married Hiram H. Bishop (1818-1897) on January 31, 1842 in Harrison County, Ohio. He received his medical training at Starling Medical College in Columbus, Ohio in the late 1840s. Lyne Starling (1784-1848) was the founder of the hospital and medical school, a new concept at that time of providing medical education and patient care in one facility. During the Civil War, from June 1864 to March 1865, Hiram was contracted as an Acting Assistant Surgeon at the Totten General Hospital, Louisville, Kentucky. In March of 1865, when he left, the hospital had over 6,500 patients and fewer than 100 surgeons.

Mary and Hiram reared four children; John (b. 1843), Naomi (b. 1845), Mary (b. 1848), and Luie (b. 1860). Mary Ann died March 9, 1915, and is buried in the Wilkesville Cemetery. Mary Ann Bishop’s quilt in the “Ocean Wave” pattern is one of three quilts in the Collection that were donated by her granddaughter, Maude M. Fierce, in 1936 and 1937.

Location

Currently not on view

Credit Line

Gift of Miss Maude M. Fierce

1875-1888

ID Number

TE.T07851

accession number

141189

catalog number

T07851

Object Name

quilt

Physical Description

fabric, cotton (overall material)

thread, cotton (overall material)

filling, cotton (overall material)

Measurements

overall: 83 in x 76 in; 212 cm x 192 cm

place made

United States: Ohio, Wilkesville

See more items in

Home and Community Life: Textiles

Textiles

Domestic Furnishings

Quilts

National Museum of American History

subject

Quilting

Record ID

nmah_556325

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a3-d02c-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa