artifacts don't lie' - an archive of international...

ARTIFACTS DON'T "LIE'

Clarita Anderson

Artifacts Don't "Lie" or do they? The majority of decorative arts scholars would answer in the negative, unless, of course, the scholar had evidence of deliberate tampering with the artifact. This paper1 will discuss the exception to the rule and the hazards of relying solely upon the evidence provided by the artifact. Conclusions drawn from artifacts must be reinforced with evidence from other sources. The case in point is the "posthumous" weaving career of Maryland's John B. Welty. Welly's "posthumous" weaving career provides interesting insight into the life of a weaver and the demand for his "Figured and Fancy" coverlets.

For the purposes of this research, coverlets are defined as a decorative loom woven bedcovering used as the uppermost covering of a bed. The coverlet is complete when removed from the loom, with the possible exception of sewing panels together and/or adding or tying fringe.

Coverlets have been generally, though incorrectly, classified as "non- Jacquared" or "Jacquard". The "non-Jacquard" coverlets generally refer to coverlets woven on harness looms without additional patterning devices. The patterns were geometric and based on the arrangement of different size square and rectangular blocks. Examples of geometric coverlets are found in Figures 1, 2, and 3. "Figured and Fancy" coverlets were woven on harness looms which had an additional patterning device that may have been the Jacquard attachment. The patterns of "Figured and Fancy" coverlets were of curvilinear designs that included flowers, vines, trees, birds, animals, buildings, and people. These coverlets are illustrated in Figures 4, 5, and 6. The term "Figured and Fancy" is used here rather than Jacquard. These were terms that the weavers themselves used to describe their product. In addition, it was thought that these terms were more descriptive of the curvilinear designs used in coverlets.

ARS TEXTRINA 7 (1987), pp. 9-30

Fifteen Maryland weavers wove "Figured and Fancy" coverlets. The documented coverlets spanned the years between 1835 and 1879. In Maryland, as in Pennsylvania, and parts of Indiana and Ohio, the coverlets were associated with weavers and/or clients of German heritage. Maryland "Figured and Fancy" coverlet weavers worked in the three western counties of Washington, Frederick, and Carroll. Figure 7 is a copy of an 1838 Maryland map with the location of Welty and other Maryland weavers shown. These counties bordered Pennsylvania and shared their cultural heritage. The weavers estab - lished their weaving businesses in small towns that served many nearby farms. The farmers, apparently, made up a large portion of the weavers' clientele.

Those communities with their strong German heritage provided a ready-made market for coverlets. Every proper German bed2 was adorned with one of these colorful and decorative bedcoverings.

John B. Welty wove coverlets in Boonsboro, Washington County, Maryland between 1835 and 1853. Figures 8 and 9 illustrate the two styles of Welty's coverlets. Thirty-five dated extant coverlets which have been documented support this latter statement. The date, the weaver, and location are based on the information woven into the corner block of each coverlet. No date was included in the corner block of three documented coverlets which are illustrated in Figures 10 and 11. Two of these coverlets were like Figure 10 and were very poorly woven with many mistakes. It was assumed that John B. Welty wove the coverlets that bore his name in the corner block. John W. Heisey, in A Checklist of American Coverlet Weavers , lists Welty's earliest coverlet as 1833. This is two years earlier than this author has been able to document or corroborate.

Boonsboro was considered the most important town in the 6th election district of Washington County. It was situated on the old National Pike Road, eight miles from Hagerstown (the county seat) and sixteen miles from Frederick. The site of the town is on land originally owned by William and George Boone who were supposedly members of THE Daniel Boone family. By 1831, Boonsboro was an important trade center for Middletown and Pleasant Valleys as well as Loudon County, Virginia and Berkeley County, West Virginia. Both counties were part of Virginia at that time.

Welty reportedly learned to weave in Sharpsburg, Maryland, and came to Boonsboro in 1818 as a weaver and dyer. 3 He may have

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responded to the following 1818 advertisement placed by the people of Boonsboro:

...they stood in need of the following mechanics: one whitesmith, one silversmith, one gunsmith, one cabinet maker, and one blue dyer.4

Boonsboro proved an ideal location for a weaver. Besides regular daily stage runs to and from Baltimore where commercially spun cotton was available, a Hagerstown mill spun extra wool for the local handweaving trade.

Welly's extant coverlets utilized two of the most common centerfield designs, "Double Lily and Sunburst" and "Double Rose". His border designs, "Grapevine" and "Bird and Rose Bush" were also widely used. This is illustrated in Figures 8 and 9. He never varied his border/centerfield combination. Welty combined the "Double Rose" centerfield with the "Grapevine" border and the "Double Lily and Sunburst" centerfield with the "Bird and Rose Bush" border.

The next step in the research design was to look for Welly's name in the population census records. Welly's name was found in the 1820 Washington County census,5 where he was listed as head of a household that included three people engaged in "Manufacturers and Trades". His name was also found in the 1830 population census6 which did nol include occupations. The 1840 population census 7 listed John B. Welty as the head of a household that included one person engaged in "Manufacturers and Trades". "Manufacturers and Trades" is assumed to have included weaving. Welly's name was nol found in the 1850 Washington County population census.8 This was puzzling, however, since extant "Welty" coverlels bore dates as late as 1853.

The mystery was further compounded by a December 1983, Washington County exhibition, "The German Heritage". A Welty coverlet was exhibited and the didactic material gave his birth date as 1792 and his death date as 1844. This seemed highly unlikely, if not impossible, given his signed coverlets dated to 1853. Genelogical sources eventually produced both, a December 13,1844, and a January 23,1841, date of death.

A copy of John B. Welly's will9 was located. Il had been written on December 4,1841, and entered for probate (which meant he was dead) on December 28, 1841. Therefore, Welty had died somewhere

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between December 4th and December 28th, 1841. That is twelve years prior to the date of his last extant coverlet.

John Welty was reportedly buried in the Trinity Reformed Church Graveyard, Boonsboro. The author visited the graveyard and located the graves of John B. Welty, his wife Catharine, and their daughter, Cerna. A careful examination of Welty's headstone proved the year of his death was 1841 and not 1844. John B. Welty died on December 13,1841. some twelve years before his last signed and dated coverlet. Figures 12 and 13 show a picture of Welty's gravestone and a close up of the dates.

Welty's will was very unusual for the period on several counts. Firstly, rather than the usual widow's third, "share and share alike", or specific provisions, Welty left his entire estate to his wife, Catharine. Welty and Catharine Blessing had applied for a marriage license on May 4, 1819, in Frederick County. 10 The property, he wrote in his will, had been "acquired by the joint industry and frugality of my dearly beloved wife, Catharine Welty and myself". He also expressed confidence in Catharine to manage all of his worldly affairs. Secondly .whatever remained of his estate after her death was to be "equally divided among my lawful children". Thirdly, he named Catharine the executrix of his estate.

Who wove the sixteen extant coverlets that spanned the twelve years following Welty's death? It seemed quite possible that Catharine Welty continued her husband's weaving business after his death. Apparently, there was still a demand for coverlets and Catharine needed a means of supporting herself and her two small sons. The estate inventories would seem to support this theory. The January 13,1842. inventory 11 of John Welty's estate recorded three looms and apparatus. The inventory of the estate after Catharine Welty's death on October 4, 1854, 12 included what were probably the same three looms.

The 1850 population census 1 3 was searched for Catharine Welty's name. Her name was not found but a Tice and Simon Wealty were listed in the household of a George -rtel (Figure 14), a fifty-five year old weaver born in Germany. He was later found to be George Ortel whose property, at one time, adjoined that of Welty's. The name Catharine with ditto marks was listed below George's name. The ages of Tice and Simon agreed with the available information about John B. Welty in the 1840 Population Census. Though the surname of Tice and

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Simon was misspelled, all of the Boonsboro Weltys had their name spelled Wealty by the 1850 census taker. It is not yet known if Catharine's surname had actually changed or if this had been an assumption on the part of the census taker. No marriage license had been issued to Catharine Welty and George Ortel in Washington, Frederick, or Carroll Counties. 14 It is unlikely, they were married or that the community would have condoned their living together without the benefit of clergy nor would the community have done business with them.

Catharine, who died October 4, 1854, was buried in the Trinity Reformed Church Graveyard, a row away from her husband's grave. Her tombstone reads as follows: (Figure 15)

Catharine Welty, wife of John B. WeltyAge 52 yrs., 10 months, 6 days

Died October 4, 1854

Though not impossible, it would have been unlikely that she would have been buried as Catharine Welty, had she married George Ortel.

Although the role of George Ortel in the lives of the Welty family is not clear at the present time, he evidently created problems for Welly's son, Tiras (Tice) and other community members. In 1858, Tiras and Simon were in the process of selling the two pieces of property they inherited when their mother died. For some reason, not yet known, Tiras was living in a house owned by George Ortel. Ortel, who owed money to Ira Smith, was sued by Smith. Tiras in turn was sued for the quitrent of $10.00 on the house. 15 Upon payment of the quitrent, Tiras and Simon received all the right, title, and interest in the lot in question. This deed seemingly cleared the title so Tiras and Simon could then sell the property to a Lewis Johnson. 16 Ortel was also involved at the time in several other lawsuits about town as well as being excommunicated from his church.

All of the coverlets bearing Welly's corner block had been logically assumed to be his work. The sixteen extanl coverlets woven after his death in 1841, prove otherwise. There are Iwo obvious possibilities; one, Catharine wove ihem, or, Iwo, George Ortel wove them. Welly's will acknowledges that his property was acquired through Iheir joinl industry, possibly implying that Catharine helped him in his weaving business. Thus she certainly may have woven the coverlets. It would have been hard but not impossible work for a strong woman. The

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latest dated extant coverlet was 1853, and Catharine died in 1854. Alternatively, George Ortel may have woven them while working for or with Catharine and the arrangement ceased before or when she died.

The Welty story provides an interesting and unusual example of how the artifacts can provide misleading evidence. Without the population census, probate records, administrative accounts, and the land records, the enigma of Welly's coverlets may never have been realized.

ENDNOTES

1. This paper is based in part on the author's dissertation, "Maryland Coverlets: The Artifacts, Technology, and The Weaver" (Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Maryland, 1985).

2. Alan G. Keyser, "Beds, Bedding, Bedsteads and Sleep", Quarterly of the Pennsylvania German Society 12 (October 1978): p. 18.

3. John H. Bast, Sr., "History of Boonsboro, Maryland", (Boonsboro, Maryland, 1976), p. 8. (Typewritten) This manuscript is owned by Doug Bast, Boonsboro, Maryland.

4. J. Thomas Scharf, History of Western Maryland, Vol. 2, (Philadelphia: n.p. 1882; reprint ed., Baltimore, Maryland: Regional Publishing Co., 1968, p. 1263.

5. United States Bureau of the Census, "Population Schedule of the 4th Census of the United States: Maryland, Washington County (1820)", (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Record Service, Microfilm), p. 60.

6. United States Bureau of the Census, "Population Schedule of the 5th Census of the United States: Maryland, Washington County (1830)", (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Record Service, Microfilm).


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9. "Washington County Wills", Book D, Folio 429.

10. "Index to Frederick County Marriage Records", Book C.

11. "Washington County Inventories", Book L, Folio 470.

12. "Washington County Inventories of Appraisement", Book W, Folio 354.

13. United States Bureau of the Census, "7th Census".

14. "Index to Washington County Marriage Records", "Index to Frederick County Marriage Records", and "Carroll County Marriage Records: 1842-1867".

15. "Washington County Land Records", Book IN 49, p. 42.

16. "Washington County Land Records", Book IN 49, pp. 273-274.

Department of Textiles and Consumer Economics 2100 Marie Mount University of Maryland College Park, Maryland U.S.A. 20742

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Figure 1: Geometric Coverlet (Overshot) The Ken Colwell Collection

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Figure 2: Geometric Coverlet (Overshot) The Ken Colwell Collection

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Figure 3: Geometric Coverlet (Summer and Winter) The Ken Colwell Collection

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Figure 4: "Figured and Fancy" Coverlet (Double Weave) The Ken Colwell Collection

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FigureS: Centerfield: "Double Lily and Sunburst" Borders: "Bird and Rosebush" The Collection of Ross J. Kelbaugh

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Figure 9: Centerfield: "Double Rose" Borders: "Grapevine" The Collection of Betty Can-

Figure 10: An Undated Welty Coverlet(Notice the many weaving mistakes) The Collection of Ross Kelbaugh

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Figure 11: An Undated Welty CoverletThe Collection of Mrs. Richaid Weddle

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Figure 12: The Gravestone of John B. Welty Trinity Reformed Church Graveyard Boonsboro, Maryland

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Figure 13: A close-up of the Welty Gravestone

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Figure 14: Census listing of the George Ortel "household" 1850, Washington County, Maryland Census

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Figure 15: The Gravestone of Catharine Welty Trinity Reformed Church Graveyard Boonsboro, Maryland

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