A Quilt with New Castle County Roots

Since I had just recently come across a picture on the delightful MCH History blog of the house built by Aquilla Derickson, I decided to take some new photos of the the old family quilt that has ties to New Castle County. This quilt was created for (or by) Mary Anne Gregg, the sister of my great-great-grandmother, Amanda Gregg. It was worked through the late 1840’s, with Mary Anne’s own square being dated 1848. Sadly, Mary Anne passed away in October 1848, at age 19, so the quilt becomes a poignant documentation of a short life. What makes it such an interesting piece is that there are dozens of squares on the quilt, naming her various relatives and perhaps a few friends. Altogether there are 40 named square on the quilt, arranged in alternating rows, with Mary Anne more or less in the center.

Spread across my dining room table, you can get an idea of how big this quilt is, apparently designed for a very large bed!. The light-colored squares are where the signatures appear.

Though Mary Anne and her family lived in Kennett at the time the quilt was made, a large part of her family lived in New Castle county, mostly in the Hockessin area.

Mary Anne’s parents were both Greggs, which caused me quite a bit of confusion when trying to figure how this line goes. Her mother Hannah’s sister Margaret was the one who married Aquilla Derickson. Her aunt and uncle along with several of their children appear on the quilt.

More than just a nice old quilt, though, this piece provided some desperately needed clues when I was trying to find my ancestors. Though my mother had done some research on her father’s Reynolds lines, she had never worked on the Gregg connection so I was starting from scratch on that side. And though I knew from an old family Bible that my great-great grandmother was Amanda Gregg, I couldn’t find her parents for the longest time. Most Gregg researchers told me that the best source of information on the line was the book about William Gregg and his descendants, written by Hazel Mae Kendall Middleton, but that particular work assigned the wrong set of children to Amanda’s parents, so it was no help at all. When you look at the names and titles on the quilt, you can see why it proved so valuable of a resource – the missing links were there!

Here’s a row by row listing of the names, with the names linked to my online database where applicable:

Row 1

Rebecca Hoopes
Susan Dixon
Uncle Beeson Gregg
Uncle Eden and Aunt Rachel Gregg

Row 2

Mary H. Marshall
Cousin Simon Johnson
Uncle Harmon Gregg
Uncle Samuel and Mary Gregg
Uncle Joseph and Aunt Eliza Jane Gregg

Row 3

Joel and Phebe Pennock 1847
Aunt Elizabeth Gregg
Sister Amanda Gregg
Uncle Samuel and Aunt Jane Brown

Row 4

Lypia P. Wilson – Hockessin
Uncle John and Sarah Anne Gregg
Mary Anne Gregg 1848 – Kennett
Grandparents Solomon and Mary Gregg
Cousin Mary Derickson

Row 5

Aunt Elizabeth B. Gregg
Sister Louisa Gregg
My Parents: Isaac and Hannah W. Gregg
Cousin Bayard Derickson

Row 6

Aunt Sarah Gregg
My Brother John Gregg
Grandparents Benjamin and Mary Gregg
Cousin Margaretta Derickson
Cousin Sarah Ignew

Row 7

Uncle Gilpin and Aunt Edith Stidham
Uncle Walter and Aunt Pathenah Calvert
Cousin Elizabeth Derickson
Margery Gregg

Row 8

Uncle Aquilla and Aunt Margaret Derickson
Uncle Labon and Aunt Mary Ann Pierson
Cousin Calvin Derickson
William Miller – 1847
Cousin Sarah Gregg

Row 9

Uncle Bayard Gregg and Aunt Emma
Cousin Joseph W. Derickson – 1847
Cousin Anna Eliza Gregg
Sarah W. Pennock