Elizabeth Roseberry Mitchell 1836 Graveyard Quilt Top

One way many women mourned and expressed grief at the loss of a loved one was in sewing. One such woman was Elizabeth Roseberry Mitchell. In 1836, she began stitching a graveyard quilt (also known as a cemetery quilt or a memorial quilt) in memory of her son, John V., who had died in 1836 at the age of 2. She later added her son Mathias (Bub), who died in 1843 at the age of 19, to the quilt.   The graveyard on the quilt top is in Monroe County, Ohio. It was the way she wanted to make sure the family would not forget the location of the graves of their two sons as the family had moved to Kentucky.

Elizabeth was dissatisfied with the quilt top; to her it had “design flaws” and when her family grew larger there would not be room for everyone. She started another quilt using the quilt top as a “practice piece”.  The second, finished quilt is now in the collection of the Kentucky Historical Society’s Thomas D. Clark History Center in Frankfort.

The quilt top is the second oldest textile in the collection of the Highlands Museum & Discovery Center. In addition, both the quilt top and the finished quilt are nationally known to be the only existing graveyard quilt top and quilt of this era.

Please Note: Due to the extremely fragile condition of the Mitchell Quilt Top, it is rarely placed on public display. The most recent public display was in October 2008 and it will be AT LEAST two years, and probably longer, before the quilt top is publicly displayed again. To allow the public to see the quilt top when it is not on display, a full color photograph and description of the quilt top is on permanent display on the mezzanine level of the museum.

The museum has begun a Save Our Quilt Top fund. The purpose of this fund is to allow the museum to preserve the quilt top and provide proper storage and display cases.  Please contact HMDC Executive Director Leigh Ann Heineman for more information on how to donate to the Save Our Quilt Top Fund. In addition, the book Elizabeth Roseberry Mitchell’s Graveyard Quilt by Linda Otto Lipsett is available for purchase in the museum’s gift shop.

Information courtesy of the ABC Quilt Alley