Westward Ho - from Indiana to Texas

Since September I have looking up names on the two Quaker quilts.  I am now quite certain that Adaline Reeve made the second quilt (1935-1938) and probably made the first quilt (1916). 

The first quilt was a birthday present for Dr. Maria Jessup who turned 70 years old in 1916.  Adaline Reeve considered Maria Jessup to be a good friend as well as a doctor.  Dr. Ria delivered most of Adaline’s ten children; when Adaline’s husband Hadley died it was Maria Jessup’s name on the death certificate.

Adaline Coppock was born 7 December 1860 in Marion, Indiana to Robert and Abigail Coppock. When Adaline was 24 she married Hadley Reeve at the Fairfield Quaker Meeting. Hadley Reeve was a widower with four young children so Adaline gained an instant family. Her own daughter Nina was born the following year, and a new child was added to the family about every two years for the next two decades. Adaline’s last daughter Rachel was born in 1907; her first grandchild Richard was born in 1909.

Hadley Reeve died in 1910 at the age of 61. Adaline was 50 and still had eight children living at home on the family farm in Indiana.

Adaline’s oldest step-son Floyd White Reeve married Ethel Inis Hadley in March 1908. Their first child Esther Reeve was born in July 1909 and their second daughter Mary Louise Reeve was born in Parmer, Texas in Dec 1910. Floyd and Ethel started the westward migration of the Reeve clan to Texas.  They must have written letters home to Indiana telling of the charms of Texas life, because over the next ten years many members of the extended family moved from Indiana to Texas, including Adaline Reeve.

In the 1920 census for Parmer County, Texas, Adaline is living in a home with two of her sons and her youngest daughter. Next door is her step-daughter Mary Florence with husband and three grandchildren; on the other side is her daughter Alice with husband and two more grandchildren. So the close-knit family from Indiana are still together in Texas.

Now, I must admit, I don't know much about Texas.  I grew up in Ohio and I know the east coast pretty well, but not Texas.  So to all you family historians out there, what can you tell me about Texas in 1910 - 1920?  Why would a well established Quaker family from Indiana pack up and move everyone to Texas? If you would like to comment I would appreciate some thoughts.

I am searching for Adaline's motivation.

 

Reunited

Here are two quilts that I have mentioned before.

These two quilts were made by members of the same family.  They both ended up with an antiques dealer, who sold them online to two different buyers.  End of story.


....except that the two buyers were keen quilt collectors and belonged to the same group on Facebook.  And one day the connection between the two quilt was discovered.

What did we do before social media?  But getting back to the quilts....

The first quilt was made in 1916 for Dr. Maria Jessup, a Quaker woman living in Indiana.  It was given to her on her 70th birthday.  Each block was made by a friend or grateful patient, many of them being Quakers too.  Every block has a name, and many have a date of birth - perhaps babies that 'Dr. Ria' delivered.

Maria died a few years later and it seems as if the quilt was returned to the makers.  It then traveled with the extended family to Palmer, Texas in the 1920s, where neighbours from Indiana remained neighbours in Texas.  After another generation the second quilt was made about 1938 - same block, similar colours and many of the same names.

How could you separate two such fascinating historic quilts? This split had to be repaired. 
So Janette McInnes - The Plain Needlewoman - and myself got together to compare notes.

We didn't meet in Indiana or Texas.  We met at Federation Square in Melbourne, cause that where you meet when you live in Victoria, Australia.

And when we said goodbye, both quilts came home with me. I am very fortunate and very excited to have another story to be researched and shared.  Two quilts at once is a bit of a challenge.

Grandmother Adeline Reeve, I'm looking forward to getting to know you.