A Gift from the Parishoners

This signature quilt is believed to have been made for the Rev. Benjamin Mead Wright, upon his 1896 retirement as pastor of the Kent Congregational Church. The quilt was handed down in his family, where it remained until 2012, when Kent Historical Society board members Dick and Charlotte Lindsey met his grandson, Stanley Wright, in Norwalk.

Mr Wright felt strongly that the quilt should be returned to Kent. The Lindseys agreed to arrange the transfer. It went on display at the Congregational Church in the fall of 2013, and now will be displayed as often as possible by the Kent Historical Society at Seven Hearths.

Square #26 of the quilt is embroidered with the names of may of Frank Seger’s family, including his mother-in-law Desdemona Root Sterry. The signatures are identified by Margaret Smith of the Kent Historical Society:

C.H. Seger — Clinton Hiram
E.S. Seger — Edith St. John, his wife
D.I. Seger — Donald Ira, their son
F.B. Seger — Frank Bloss
M.A. Seger — Mabel Addy Sterry Seger, wife of Frank, or possibly [KHS attribution] Martha “Mattie” Aura Newton Seger (wife of G.L. Jr)
L.E. Seger — Lucy Estrella
H.J. Seger — Heman Joseph (Lucy & Heman are kids of Frank Bloss Seger and Mabel Sterry Seger)
K.B. Seger — Katherine Berry Seger (sister of Clinton, Frank and George Jr). She married John Wesley Chase (KHS: the only Chase on the quilt, I think, if he’s the J.W. Chase in Square # 5)
M.J. Seger — Mabel J. Seger, married Harry F. Newton. She is the daughter of George Sr. and Alzora Hall)
G.L. Seger Jr. — George Lewis Seger, Jr., husband of Mattie
I. Seger — Ira Seger, father of G.L., and of Charles Heman who was killed at the Battle of Cold Harbor in the Civil War.
G. L. Seger — George Lewis Seger, Sr., married to Alzora J. Hall
A.J. Seger — Alzora J. Hall Seger
D.R. Sterry — Desdemona Root Sterry (whose daughter Mabel married Frank Bloss Seger)

In January 2014 the KHS used this quilt and others in its collection as a theme for its “Sunday Series” presentation with quilt historian and author Sue Reich. A good number of Seger descendants managed to find their way to this event.