More memories from Pieces A’Plenty, Historium’s new book of quilt stories

The Ozark County Historium’s latest publishing project, Pieces A’Plenty: Quilts and Other Comforts, is 142-page book of stories and full-color photographs about quilts with links to Ozark County - and the quilters who made them.

One of the entries in the book is this story by Frances Johnson of Gainesville, who shared her family connection to a cherished double wedding ring and the two grandmothers she was named for.

<strong>A quilted heirloom</strong>

My maternal grandma, Laura Frances Anglin Taylor, was born in Baxter County, Ark., on June 10, 1872, and was raised at Oakland, Ark. She married William Wilkins Taylor on July 14, 1887; he had moved to the Ozarks from Taylorsville, Ill. They had 12 children, six of whom died at young ages from sickness. Three girls and three boys survived; there were two sets of twins, and one of each set died.


Canzada Taylor Jenkins, my mother, kept Grandma in her home after Grandpa died and the building of Bull Shoals Dam backed up the lake and took their farm and river-bottom land. They had lived on the main road in Oakland.

Quilts like this Double Wedding Ring were made and used more in Grandma’s day. I feel blessed to have this one and will be proud to hand it down to one of my children.

Grandma raised geese and picked the feathers to sell; she would put a stocking or length of hose over their heads so they couldn’t bite her. The feathers were used to make pillows and feather beds. Oh, they were nice for sleeping on cold winter nights!

I still have feather pillows made with feathers of the geese she picked. In more recent years, I had them cleaned and reticked in Springfield; however, we don’t use them anymore.


On my grandparents’ 180 acres of bottom land on the White River, corn and cotton were raised. My mom would tell us about how they picked cotton wearing their big straw hats and long sleeves in the hot sun. Most people lived on what they raised from their vegetable gardens and fruit trees, as well as chickens and hogs for meat - and catfish from the river.


Grandma’s brother, Early Anglin, in later years grew watermelons and cantalopes on the bottoms. They were the best you ever tasted! We would go down once a year from our home near Pontiac and camp out for a couple of nights on the river with extended family members. That was such fun – it was our vacation!


I have such good memories of both of my Grandma Taylor as well as my Grandma Mary Elizabeth Walker Jenkins. They both lived with us for many years at the farm near Pontiac until their deaths and they were very special to me. Being named for both of my grandmas in an honor and means the world to me.

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<em>Pieces A’Plenty is $50 each and is available at the Historium or by mail (add $5 for postage per book). Make checks payable to OCGHS and mail to P.O. Box 4, Gainesville, MO 65655. For more information, call the Historium at 417-679-2400, or contact Susan Ault at 417-679-4253 (papajohn@ozbb.net) or Janet Taber at 417-265-3372 (janettaber@gmail.com).</em>