Family quilts hold Sisters Country history

The making and giving of quilts has a long history here in Sisters Country. On July 14, during the 43rd Annual Sisters Outdoors Quilt Show, two historic quilts loaned by the Deschutes Historical Museum in Bend will be exhibited by the Three Sisters Historical Society in the community room of the Sisters Library.

One of the earlier families to come to Sisters was John B. and Elizabeth Berry Fryrear, for whom a local road is named. They came from Linn County in the Willamette Valley, and filed a claim for 160 acres east of Camp Polk along Squaw (Whychus) Creek.

John and Elizabeth both contributed a great deal to their neighbors in Sisters Country. Elizabeth acted as a midwife for the birth of many new babies in the Sisters area. There is a story about John building a fireplace at the Graham waystation to warm travelers who stopped there. By the time he had completed the project there was two feet of snow on the ground, so he made himself a pair of skis and skied back to his own ranch.

This occurred during the winter of 1883-84, right after the Fryrears settled in the area, that saw six feet of snow accumulated on the ground for three months. When spring finally arrived and the snow began to melt, many of the local settlers discovered numerous horses and cattle that had died in the extreme weather.

John and Elizabeth had three sons - William, John F., and David - and one daughter, Susan. An infant son, Benjamin, died a few weeks after his birth in 1858. Father John died in 1919 and was buried in Camp Polk Cemetery where the Fryrear family graves can still be seen today. Elizabeth spent her later years living in Sisters where she was cared for during her last illness by Kate Rockwell, more famously known as Klondike Kate. When Elizabeth died in 1926, she was buried beside her husband, John.

William (Will) Fryrear married Etta Belle Taylor and they had four children - Eva, Josie, Sterling (Sterlie), and Mary. Sadly, Josie died at the age of 10. In 1913, Etta was given a quilt that had been created by a group of 30 early pioneer women of Sisters and Cloverdale, perhaps to celebrate her 50th birthday.

The Friendship Quilt is made up of 30 squares, each 13 inches, forming a patchwork design, with five rows across and six rows down. The multi-colored cotton and silk squares each contain the embroidered signature of the quilter who made it, thus recording the names of friends and neighbors of the Fryrears.

In 1984, Etta's daughter Mary donated the quilt to the Deschutes Historical Museum in Bend. The museum has generously loaned the quilt to the fledgling Three Sisters Historical Society so it can be displayed in its hometown.

Granges, organized in the U.S. in 1867, played an important part in the early social life of Sisters, and in 1923 the Cloverdale Grange was built with Arial Lin (A.L.) Goodrich as its first master. Today, Goodrich Road east of town bears his name.

His wife, Helen Adelia Decktow Goodrich, quilted square No. 4 in the baby quilt made for Viva Lucille McDaniel, who was born October 11, 1934 and received the quilt in 1935 at six months of age. Viva's parents were Marion Jake McDaniel and Clara Belle Moore McDaniel who lived off Cloverdale Road. Her father, Marion, was employed at Sorenson's Service Station on Cascade Avenue at the time.

Many of the quilters lived across the highway in Plainview, but, according to Viva's descendants, they were all members of the Cloverdale Grange, or relatives.

The patchwork design is made up of 41 squares, each 13 inches, with six rows across and seven rows down. Like the Fryrear quilt, the Cloverdale Grange Quilting Circle quilt is made of multi-colored cotton and silk with many unique stitching patterns. Most of the squares are embroidered with the quilters' signatures.

The baby quilt was donated to the Deschutes Historical Museum by Rodney Fosback, Viva Lucille's son, and his wife, Jackie, residents of Eugene, who are coming to Sisters on Quilt Show day to see the quilt on display.

Three Sisters Historical Society will have color booklets available detailing each of the quilts, with snippets of information on most of the quilters, as well as photos.

Historic quilts that have been preserved and handed down through generations contain the history of many families in a colorful art form that provided warmth and comfort for the ancestors.

Sisters Library at located at 110 N. Cedar St.