Cornelia Calhoun's Quilt

John C. Calhoun's South Carolina home Fort Hill, which is part of Clemson University, has shown several quilts over the years. Calhoun was the major spokesman for secessionists and pro-slavery Southerners in the first half of the 19th century. 

He and wife Floride had seven children who survived infancy. I noticed this cut-out chintz applique in a photo, which said  it was made by his daughter Martha Cornelia Calhoun. 

Cornelia's quilt is often shown on a bed in the master bedroom.

This postcard may be from the 1960s or '70s

Cornelia's sister Anna Calhoun Clemson and her husband founded Clemson University

in Clemson, South Carolina, on family land.

The Fort Hill historic home recently posted pictures of the quilt

on their Facebook page. I brightened them up a little so the details

are visible.

Martha Cornelia, always called Cornelia in her family, was born in Georgetown, Virginia,  while her father was Secretary of War under President James Monroe. She was handicapped by deafness and a spinal disorder and used a wheelchair.  Her health was always a concern to her family. Cornelia died rather suddenly at the age of 33 in 1857.

Her chintz applique quilt is done in patchwork style

common in the Carolinas before the Civil War.

The all-over quilting design, concentric quarter circles that we might call fans, was quite popular in the South in the last decades of the 19th century and into the 20th. Is it typical of Carolina quilts during Cornelia's lifetime (1824-1857)? Was her chintz applique quilted before her 1857 death or after? Can't say from the photos and, since I see so few Southern pre-war quilts, I probably couldn't say if I saw it in the cloth.

The Charleston Museum's site is a great place to see South Carolina's antebellum quilts. Search for quilt here: