Lizzie Lisle Marries a Civil War Veteran

 

Collection of the National Museum of American History

Quilt attributed to Lizzie Lisle (1836-1913), donated by

Lizzie's grand-niece Lois Marmon Flannery (1900-1986) with 

another (see below.)

Lizzie Lisle grew up in Cadiz in eastern Ohio

The second quilt Lois Marmon Flannery donated in 1938 was a Turkey red and white

hearts & darts. 

"FLANNERY, Mrs. J. P., Baltimore, Md.: 2 bordered appliqued quilts made between 1866 and 1870 by the lender’s aunt, Lizzie Lisle (Mrs. Eden Randall), of Cadiz, Ohio (144535, loan)."

According to the report she loaned the pair of 

applique quilts with the information they were made

 in the late 1860s in Cadiz.

Lizzie would have been in her early thirties right after the Civil War.

Perhaps living at home with her parents after the war as she is shown in the 1860 census

in Harrison County.

According to the museum's captions: "Elizabeth (Lizzie) Lisle [was] daughter of John Lisle (1803-1890) and Elizabeth Johnston (1811-1889). Members of the extended Lisle family were early settlers in Jefferson & Harrison Counties in Ohio."

Local histories tell us that Lizzie might have arrived in Harrison County at the age of 3 with her parents. Father John, born in Ohio, descended from Scottish immigrants, was married in 1831 by a Presbyterian minister to Eliza Ann Johnston (Johnson) daughter of Robert Johnston. Eliza (1811-1889) and the Johnsons seems to have been Swedish immigrants. Lois Flannery was granddaughter to Eliza Johnson Lisle's sister. While Eliza lived in Ohio her sister, grandniece Lois and other family members lived in the Dakotas and the Northern plains.

1880 Census 

At some point between the censuses of 1860 and 1880 Lizzie went west to Jasper County, Iowa, about 30 miles east of Des Moines, where she taught school. At the age of fifty she married for the first time to 45-year-old Eden Randall (1841-1934) who had been born in Delaware County, Ohio.

Living in Indianola, Iowa when the war began, Eden joined the 3rd Iowa Volunteers (Company G) early in the war and was imprisoned for six months after the battle of Shiloh. Returning to battle he was wounded in the face at Vicksburg in the summer of 1863. He went home to Keokuk, Iowa to recover.

He wrote his own obituary published in the

Altoona Herald-Mitchellville Index in January, 1934.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/76720514/lizzie-randall

Lizzie's grand-niece attributed both applique quilts to Lizzie and thought they might have been made in the five year period after the Civil War.

The two quilts have some style in common: The use of solid fabrics rather than prints; Turkey red on a white background. Both are appliqued and quilted with a similar diagonal square grid as filler quilting. Could Lizzie living in Ohio have made both after the Civil War? Cotton fabrics, probably still somewhat scarce, were cheaper than they'd been during the war.

But the more complex quilt does not look like an 1870s applique.

As far as pattern--- and border style enclosed in sawtooth triangles

I'd say the design was related to Maryland quilts like this one made for

Matilda Jones Swope of Liberty, Frederick County, Maryland with blocks dated 1844-1847.

DAR Museum Collection

That rather quirky geometric shape has lately

been called The Apple Pie Ridge pattern in Virginia. 

DAR Museum Collection

A more elaborate version date-inscribed 1851 attributed to 

Eliza and Sarah Waring of Anne Arundel County, Maryland.

Without any other information than the photo I'd

guess Smithsonian's quilt is 1845-1860 from Maryland or Virginia's eastern shore.

Read more about the pattern:

https://encyclopediaquiltpatterns.blogspot.com/2020/11/kansas-pattern-or-apple-pie-ridge-star.html

To add to the puzzle Ohio's Kent State Museum owns this quilt credited to Cadiz, Ohio

and date inscribed 1859

Now what are those initials?

L ? L? or maybe D

The applique is not nearly as skillful

as the Smithsonian's...

Their other quilt is much simpler

and not so well stitched.

Based on style (red  & white) I'd guess after 1880. Based on

pattern I'd think it might have been made east of Ohio--- New York/ Jersey/Connecticut/Pennsylvania area where these hearts and darts were popular.

Read more about the border on the red & white quilt here:

https://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2021/02/a-lincoln-drape-border.html

I enjoyed spending some time looking for Lizzie Lisle Randall although I was disappointed to
never find a portrait. And the more I looked at the pair of quilts Lois attributed to her great-aunt
the less I believe Lizzie made them.

Wilma Richter of Little Rock, Arkansas was brave enough

to draft a copy of Lizzie's blocks and stitch a complex design

with a different border. Leah Sample quilted it.

I tried drafting a version of the pattern but I couldn't fit the berries into

the drawing. I should have started with a bigger block.