Martha’s Lace Mystery

People create needlework for many purposes, from practical to ceremonial. Items that are preserved and passed down from generation to generation tend to be from the latter category. Through the generations, even when origins may be muddled or lost, the pieces remain, treasured but not always understood. My family on my father’s side came to America in the 1600s. They were Quakers searching for religious freedom in the New World. Through the centuries, they produced samplers, lace edgings, quilts, and shawls. Among the treasures is a sampler embroidered by Deborah Dawson in 1789, along with the marriage contract from Deborah’s Quaker wedding, handwritten and signed by all attendees.

The beautiful and intricately knitted shawl that was passed down to the author’s cousin. The family is trying to determine who knitted the shawl. The author’s great-great-grandmother Martha Moore Thomas Morris is one possibility. About 64 x 63 inches (162.6 x 160.0 cm).

One year, my cousin Martha went through her things and sent me a large box of needlework. Among the items was a large, intricately knitted shawl. Unlike the sampler, the shawl had no convenient signature or date to guide me as to who created it. I showed the shawl to Donna Druchunas, who was intrigued. Together, we consulted Myrna Stahman, who is an expert on lace knitting and shawl construction. She identified the yarn as wool and thought the construction had Shetland elements, but she found it quite original. Donna and I decided to see if we could reconstruct the shawl, so that a new generation could create one like it.

Photograph of Martha Moore Thomas Morris. Photo courtesy of the author

I went back to Martha to see if we could figure out who might have knitted this shawl and for what purpose. There were a few clues. One was that Martha came into possession of the shawl, so the knitter was likely a direct relative of hers, all of whom were staunch Quakers.

The Society of Friends was founded in England during the 1650s by George Fox. The Quakers’ belief in the spiritual equality of women led them to become some of the earliest settlers in the New World. Quaker women exercised more responsibility in the family and in economic matters than was common at the time. Boys and girls were educated alike in all areas, including needlework, and all were expected to be industrious.

Most of my ancestors who came to the New World had already converted to Quakerism before they arrived. Family lore indicates, however, that at least one person probably converted during Fox’s trip to America in 1671 to 1673. In terms of who could have knitted this shawl, the most likely person is Martha Moore Thomas Morris, Cousin Martha’s great-grandmother and my great-great-grandmother. There were numerous needlewomen in the family, but Martha is the only person in my cousin Martha’s direct line who is known to have had the means, opportunity, and skill to create the shawl.

The lace itself is similar to the lace edging on sheets known to have been knitted by Martha Morris. She also had the time to devote to such a project, being the wife of a successful businessman: Aaron Morris owned a company that manufactured wagon wheels in Milton, Indiana. It was common for upper middle-class households to have staff. The woman of the house was expected to devote herself to her children and contribute to her community.

Donna Druchunas’s lovely scarf includes several of the motifs from Cousin Martha’s shawl, including the border and the mesh design.

After Aaron’s death in 1907, Martha Morris went to live with her daughter Elizabeth and son-in-law, Frederick. My grandmother Deborah was born the following year. Martha Morris lived with them until her death in 1922 and presumably had a lot of time to knit. Frederick died unexpectedly in 1920, leaving the three generations of women alone. After Martha Morris died, Elizabeth and daughter Deborah packed up and moved to New York State to live with Elwood Burdsall, Elizabeth’s sisterLouella’s widowed husband. Elizabeth helped finish raising Louella and Elwood’s three sons. Could Elizabeth be the knitter of this shawl? Elizabeth was a prolific knitter but was widely known for knitting argyle socks, not lace.

Martha Morris had the opportunity and skill, but why would she knit such a shawl? Quaker dress is traditionally simple. Materials are of high quality, but Quaker weddings typically did not involve veils or fancy dress. The shawl treads a line, because it is simple in shape, color, and material, but the quality is so fine as to make it exceptional. Of course, although Martha could have knitted the shawl simply as a form of artistic expression, a shawl this large, complex, and time-consuming would have been considered a “folly.” Knitters make such beautiful pieces because they can; nonetheless, projects such as this are generally created to mark a special occasion. It is possible that Martha knitted it as a wedding gift for Artemisia. The bride was not a Quaker, and her wedding to Robert was in a Methodist church, where this shawl would have been considered quite appropriate for a special occasion.

I don’t know if Martha knitted the shawl, but it makes more sense than anything else. It’s a mystery. Inherited knitted objects are often impossible to attribute with absolute certainty. We make our best guesses and appreciate the possibilities and the careful preservation.

Interested in lace knitting? This article and its companion project can be found in the May/June 2015 issue of PieceWork.

Also, remember that if you are an active subscriber to PieceWork magazine, you have unlimited access to previous issues, including May/June 2015. See our help center for the step-by-step process on how to access them.

ANNE BERK was certified by The Knitting Guild of America as a Master Knitter in 2003. Anne has designed for many yarn companies, has taught classes nationally, and has written patterns and articles for many publications, including PieceWork, Sockupied, ColorKnit, and Twist Collective. Interweave produced her intarsia DVDs, Inside Intarsia (2010) and Intarsia InDepth (2012). Her book, Annetarsia Knits: A New Link to Intarsia (Clackamas, Oregon: Double Vision Press, 2014), is a reference book on intarsia. Anne also is an optometrist in private practice in Portland, Oregon.

Originally published October 5, 2017; updated November 18, 2024.