In 1844 a fire swept through a neighborhood in Petersburg,Virginia,
burning the home of James Boyle. The fire hose was too short to save the house
and outbuildings according to a newspaper account in the Richmond Enquirer.
This sounds like a disaster and if this is the James Boyle who had four seamstress daughters living at home quilt lovers can shudder at what was lost. Quilts? Chintz?
Quilt attributed to the Boyle Sisters of Petersburg #1991.644
Collection of Colonial Williamsburg
The Boyle sisters were professional seamstresses. One of their specialties was chintz appliqued quilts. There must have been many Southern women who made a living stitching chintz quilts but the Boyles are a rare example of professional quiltmakers whose story was handed down with the handwork. The account is in the cataloging data for a pair of quilts at Colonial Williamsburg.
The second of two Boyle Sisters' quilts, #1991.645,
Detail showing an inner border.
"According to family tradition, this quilt was made by the Misses Boyles for D'Arcy and Elizabeth Scrosby Cooke Paul of Petersburg, Virginia. The Boyles were unmarried sisters living on Pine Street who made their living making quilts and sewing.... Family tradition states that D’Arcy commissioned the quilts from two unmarried sisters named Boyle who made their living stitching and selling quilts."
#1991.645 is 116 x 115 inches, a large quilt.
The centerpiece is the popular fruit panel.
#1991.644 is another large quilt of unusual shape,
67 x 107 inches,
and features a different floral panel in the center.
Notice the large bouquet blocks are the same as the
border bouquets in the other quilt.
In the years 1830-1845 when the quilts were made Petersburg was a thriving town on the Appomattox River about 20 miles from Richmond.
Petersburg Courthouse
Mid-19th-century
The Paul family who commisioned the quilts was wealthy. A biography of D'Arcy Paul's great-grandson described them:
"old Anglo-Irish ... magnates and civic leaders in Northern Ireland, whose American branch had come to Virginia in the person of his great grandfather, D'Arcy Paul, founder of a bank and of notable charities in Petersburg."
The Boyles, a family of craftspeople, were not wealthy. They left few records but information at Colonial Williamsburg and other internet sites gives us a view. James and Jane Harding Boyle had six children, five girls and a boy, none of whom married. They appeared to live together supported at first by father James who was a candle and soap maker. He died in October, 1845 and is buried in Blandford Cemetery with the rest of the family.
Burying ground at the Blandford Episcopal Church. No markers
are currently listed for the Boyles but several are listed in the records.
Brother Joseph John Boyle was a carpenter and also must have contributed to the family accounts. Five sisters lived at home: Hannah (about 37 when her father died), Emily (35), Melvina (31), Rosina (27) and Jane (about 22)
From Colonial Williamsburg:
"Family tradition states that D’Arcy commissioned the quilts from two unmarried sisters named Boyle who made their living stitching and selling quilts."
Which two sisters?
"Emily, Melvina, Rosina, and Jane were, at least at one point, mantua-makers, or dressmakers. Their oldest sister, Hannah, kept house."
The quilts themselves give us no clue. Each is inked on the back:
“B. Roper / from her grandmother / E. S. Paul.”
Bettie Roper (1846-1912) was probably named for her grandmother Elizabeth Cooke Paul (1794–1865) who commissioned the quilts.
Detail of #91.645 showing the beautiful buttonhole stitch that
secures the applique
"No other quilts have been identified as the work of the sisters, but the skill in the design and execution of these quilts strongly suggests that there must be more."
I visited Colonial Williamsburg several years ago and took detail photos of the Boyle quilts. I will be looking for more quilts in their style. The small floral bouquet is a clue, something I might be able to see in photographs.
UPDATE: I found two other quilts with the same floral as in the bouquet, both Philadelphia made and both in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Here's one dated 1841:
The white flowers look like dahlias and in the uncut version it's an arborescent print.
The Boyle Sisters' method of working seems obvious in this pair. They used a standard applique block cut from chintz plus showy imported furniture fabrics like the border on the square quilt.
From #1991.645
The Victoria and Albert Museum has a piece of the same print,
which they attribute to 1824 or 1830.
One could imagine a Boyle business model in which British chintzes were stockpiled and spare time spent appliqueing blocks that could be incorporated into various designs. Customers might choose size, fabrics and perhaps a favorite panel.
“B. Roper / from her grandmother / E. S. Paul.”
How many other women bought quilts from professional seamstresses and left them to their children and grandchildren with similar accurate yet quite confusing labels?
Holy cow these are beautiful and balanced in design. And look at the work in the close ups. Just wow.
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