quiltersmuse.com Blog

Last year, my son made an amazing discovery! After tracking the geneaology of every ancestor in our family tree, he learned the story of the our first Irish ancestors who emigrated to the United States when they were young. Patrick Grace, most probably from County Kilkenny, was born in 1841. It seems that after he worked for a time at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, he made his way to the northeast, eventually settling in the Blackstone Valley where textile manufacturing work was plentiful.

Patrick worked in a felt mill in that area, but after he married Ann McNally, the couple relocated to Lawrence, Massachusetts for a time, following mill work there. Later, they moved back to Blackstone, Massachusetts and that is where they settled for the rest of their lives. James Gorham notes that the death certificates he has accessed indicate that many family members succumbed at an early age, due to medical problems brought on by adverse working conditions in the mills. The worst problems were caused by exposure to the toxic fumes of rubber mills but with their poor ventilation, airborne cotton linters and other occupational hazards, textile mills offered both a hot and a dangerous line of work.

James Gorham (my son) stands at the McNally family gravestone in Blackstone, MA. The monument to his great-great grandparents, Patrick and Ann (McNally) Grace, who are buried in the same cemetery, is among the missing, a situation he would like to rectify.

The plot thickens! Last year, James showed my husband and I the McNally family gravestone. He was able to determine that Patrick and Ann Grace (my great grandparents) were communicants of St. Paul’s Church in Blackstone and they are both listed as being buried in the church cemetery. After wearing his shoe leather thin, walking and scanning all of the gravestones, James was unable to find a headstone for the Graces. After further inquiry, he contacted the church and learned that many of its records were lost when the church burnt to the ground in the (1920s). During World War II, the cemetery was untended and the grave markers in the oldest section were lost. That is where it is assumed my ancestors are buried.

James would love to be able to purchase a stone on behalf of the folks who sought a better life here in America. Donations from family members or any other willing party will be gratefully accepted. At the moment, he has raised $250 dollars, a sum that falls far short of the amount needed to buy any kind of grave marker. We hope that by this coming Spring, he will have donations sufficient enough to purchase a monument. It would be very pleasing to honor these poor immigrants who lived and died while building the America we know today. I am proud of these Irish ancestors and can only imagine how difficult it was to leave such a beautiful country as Ireland to work in the sweat shops of America.

Patricia (Grace) Cummings
pat@quiltersmuse.com

Press Release

Lecture Series – October 23,2011
All Girls Allowed Speaks Out on
Human Rights and Gendercide
Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum

67 East Road, Adams, MA – 3:00 pm, Sunday, October 23, 2011

Adams, MA – Brian Lee, Executive Director for the Boston-based education and advocacy group All Girls Allowed will speak about human rights and gendercide in China at the Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum, 67 East Road, Adams, MA, 3:00 pm, Sunday, October 23, 2011. Lee will speak as part of the Birthplace Museum’s 2011 lecture series. The public is invited to attend free of charge.

China’s one-child policy, instituted 30 years ago, has been the subject of protest by human rights groups principally because of its enforcement through gendercide, the systematic killing of young girls and mothers.

Lee will share the group’s mission: to restore life, value, and dignity to girls and mothers while revealing the social injustice of China’s inhumane policy. Lee says, “I mainly want to convey just how tragic the situation is for girls and mothers in China, and also paint a picture of hope that something can be done to make a difference, and that Americans can be a part of that.”

In addition to discussing the work done by All Girls Allowed and its many supporters, Lee will talk about the book published this month, “A Heart for Freedom: The Remarkable Journey of a Young Dissident, Her Daring Escape, and Her Quest to Free China’s Daughters,” by group founder Chai Ling. Ling was the commander-in-chief of the student protesters at Tiananmen Square and witness to the massacre of thousands of Chinese civilians in the 1980s. Ling was hunted for ten months by Chinese authorities, escaping imprisonment and fleeing to the U.S., where she earned degrees from two Ivy League schools, started a family, and began a number of successful businesses. A two-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Ling created All Girls Allowed in June 2010.

Signed copies of the book will be for sale after the talk.

About All Girls Allowed

Through education, advocacy, strategic partnerships, and legal defense, All Girls Allowed strives to end gendercide, educate abandoned orphans, rescue trafficked children and defend mothers. For more information, see http://www.allgirlsallowed.org

For more information, contact the Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum, 413-743-7121, info@susanbanthonybirthplace.org or visit www.susanbanthonybirthplace.org

About The Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum and Gift Shop:

Fall/Winter (Columbus Day-Memorial Day): 10:00 am – 4:00 pm, Thursday-Saturday.
Spring/Summer (Memorial Day-Columbus Day): 10:00 am – 4:00 p.m., Thursday-Monday.
Call to arrange private tours: 413-743-7121.

Admission: $5.00, adult; $3.00 student or senior citizen; free, children six and under.
The Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum was recently restored, and opened in spring of 2010.

I am beginning to think that the FATES are trying to undermine my efforts once again. They will not win! For a considerable number of months now, I have been preparing for one day: August 16, 2011. I have made five quilts, collected about thirty images (mostly of museum-held Civil War quilts), and prepared a two page reading list that I arranged to be duplicated for the audience.. We have ordered and received a Civil War outfit for both Jim and I. I have practiced some musical selections and have purchased, borrowed or read no less than thirty books pertinent to the subject I’ll be addressing. I’ve had my guitar restrung and polished up, and have practiced singing some songs! I made bookmarks to promote the American Quilt Study Group to make people aware of the group’s national seminar and publications. I have purchased a new brooch that is wide, and suitable to wear with my homespun dress.

Jim’s uniform pants are now shortened to size. I made about four phone calls to the “sutler” to find out where Jim’s brogan shoes were and why they were delayed. They arrived last Friday, finally! As for my own “get-up,” I had to have the “hoop” not only shortened considerably, although I am 5′ 8″ tall, and I had to have it taken in at the waist – twice, which meant a number of trips to the dressmaker!

We went to Walmart and bought name tags for everyone so as to make socialization a bit easier, knowing what a friendly group of people historians and quilters can be! We are told that refreshments will be part of the equation. All in all, we have spent months preparing for this one 45 minute to 1 hour presentation. On Friday, I realized I have a sore throat

I have laminated book covers of new books that will be published by friends of mine on this same topic in the near future. I arranged for an article about a rare historic quilt to be published in the Aug/Sept issue of The Quilter magazine, and my editor has been kind enough to send free copies for all of the attendees of my lecture. I have gathered up display items pertinent to my talk and found a “table covering” that is suitable to lay them on. I’ve asked Jim to bring along a photo stand so I can hang one of the quilts I made. I have sent out invitations and done a lot of PR work and, for my efforts, it seems that many people plan to attend this event. We bought new batteries for the microphone set up and tested it, inasmuch as we had to order a replacement unit when the first one we bought failed to function.

A friend will be bringing her wonderful appliquéd reproduction quilt top. I rode up to the town with another friend so that she will know “the way” when it comes time to drive there herself. I have made countless phone calls to arrange various details and engaged in e-mails, tweets and Facebook posts.

On Friday, I came down with a sore throat. Today, I have the sniffles. My fingers are crossed that I will make a miraculous recovery in the next couple of days. If anyone asks me if I am planning to give more talks, the answer will most likely be, “No!” And people who don’t give presentations don’t have a clue as to the amount of work that can go into one measly little hour! I am looking forward to this day and I WILL be there? Is the universe listening?

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications