Quilt

Artist/Maker
Fries, Lisetta Vogler
Place Made
Salem North Carolina United States of America
Date Made
1873
Medium
cotton
Dimensions
LOA 88; WOA 72 1/2
Accession Number
Q-111
Description
MAKER: Lisetta Vogler Fries made this quilt for her daughter Mary Fries (Patterson) who married Rufus Patterson. Mary Fries was the great aunt of Mrs. Davis.
A second quilt was made for Emma Fries (Mrs. H.T. Bahnson-grandmother of Mrs. Davis).
Our quilt probably came from Chapel Hill, the home of Mary Fries Patterson’s son, Drew Patterson.
There is also a third quilt like ours currently owned by Mrs. Davis. (Above information came from Mrs. Archie K. Davis).

DESCRIPTION: Piecework; album type with quotations. Quotes in each block from Bible, Shakespeare, etc. Multi-colored, predominantly brown. Lining dark brown mingled.

History
Quilts made by Lisetta Vogler Fries and Elizabeth Hauser Shore
Johanna M. Brown

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
As the tradition of friendship album quilts made its way through America, it grabbed the attention of the women of Salem, North Carolina. One resident of the Moravian community, Lisetta Fries, made —or had made —an album quilt for at least four her seven children between ca.1870 and 1876. Three of these descended through the families of the recipients whose names are included among the quilt inscriptions: Mary Elizabeth Fries Patterson (1844-1927), Emma Christine Fries Bahnson (1852-1945), and Henry Elias Fries (1857-1849). None of the inscriptions on the blocks of the fourth surviving quilt indicate for whom it was made.
Three of the existing quilts are thought to be the work of Lisetta Fries who not only carefully stitched blocks of fabric in what is now called the Roman Cross pattern to assemble the quilts, but also inscribed the muslin center of each block with a Bible verse, poem stanza, or literary quote, many of which appear on multiple quilts. The remaining surviving quilt that descended in this family is pieced in the Wheel pattern. It has an accompanying note which discloses, “Quilt made & given to Henry E. Fries 1871, by Mrs. Elizabeth Shore, ‘Aunt Betsy’—texts and quotations written by his mother Mrs. L.M. Fries—“. An inscription on the quilt itself notes that while the quilt was made in 1871, Elizabeth did not present the quilt to Henry until September, 22, 1876, his nineteenth birthday.
Lisetta Vogler Fries was the daughter of Salem silversmith John Vogler and his wife Christina Spach Vogler. Surviving family records suggest Lisetta was a strong, talented, capable, generous, and compassionate woman. Even after the early death of her husband, industrialist Francis Fries (1812-1863), she continued to manage her household with benevolence and precision. Elizabeth Hauser Shore ( ca. 1812-1888) moved from the Bethania area to Salem, North Carolina, in 1848. Her husband had died in 1841, and her two surviving children were nearing adulthood. She began working for the Fries family for $1.00 a week in January 1855, just one month before the birth of Lisetta and Francis Fries’s fifth child, Francis Henry Fries on February 1, 1855.
“Aunt Betsey,” as she was called, helped Lisetta keep house and care for her youngest children including Henry Elias Fries (1857-1849), the person for whom she made a quilt. Although only one of the quilts that descended from the Fries children is attributed to her, Aunt Betsy may have contributed to the assembly of the other quilts as well. Though the pattern of the quilt made by Shore differs from those attributed to Lisetta, both women used several of the same printed fabrics, and many of the inscriptions appear on multiple quilts including the one made by Elizabeth for Henry and inscribed by his mother. Though she may have influenced the choice of quotes, Elizabeth did not contribute to the physical writing of the inscriptions because, according to Census records, she could not read or write.
In the thirty three years that Elizabeth Shore worked in the Fries household, she and Lisetta formed a bond that transcended the lines of employer and laborer. In describing Elizabeth’s life, the author of her Lebenslauf wrote, “For the last thirty three years, she has been a member of this family, beloved for her faithful service and enjoying a comfortable old age among those whom she had nursed in their infancy and helped to care for in their childhood.” The legacy of Lisetta and Elizabeth’s friendship and affection for the children they raised together lives on not in footprints in the sand, but rather in fabric stitched together and inscribed with words meant to inspire.

Artist Biography
ARTIST BIO: Lisetta Maria Fries, m.n. Vogler was born on March 3, 1820 in Salem, North Carolina to John Vogler and Christina, m.n. Spach. She married Francis Fries on May 24, 1838. She passed away on October 23, 1903 in Salem, North Carolina.
Credit Line
Wachovia Historical Society Collection