Friday, August 5, 2011

1812 Preserve the Pensions Quilt

How about a 1812 PRESERVE THE PENSIONS QUILT to raise donations for this FGS digitization project? Here's the deal...

The quilt would be displayed at RootsTech 2012, NGS 2012 and at FGS 2012 where it would be given away.
Most states now outlaw or severely limit the use of the term "raffle", so the quilt project wouldn't be called a raffle.
We would each choose from the same fabric collection available through Keepsake Quilting A few fat quarter kits would be available at the 2011 FGS Booth in Springfield.
FAT QUARTER CAROLINA QUILT FABRIC MEDLEY - Product Details
www.keepsakequilting.com

Each square is to be 8 inches square (8-1/2" if you include the 1/4" seam allowance), no other dimensions can be accepted. The pattern for a square may be of each quilter's choice, though we are looking for old-timey patterns that would have been used during the 1812-1900 time period when most War of 1812 servicemen and pensioners' wives and mothers would have been making quilts.

Please avoid fabrics, trim, threads with glitter, sparkles or shiny finish, in order to maintain the old-timey feel of the quilt.

For a block to be added to the quilt, it must be submitted with a .jpg or .png photo of the quilter holding the square and a story about an ancestor who lived in America during the 1812-1900 time period. The ancestor need not have received an 1812 pension, but clearly all residents of the US, regardless of citizenship, benefited from the outcome of the war. Stories and photos in electronic format are preferred, if possible.

The FGS 1812 Preserve the Pensions digitization project is a joint effort of FGS, the National Archives and Footnote.com. FGS is raising $3.7 million dollars to make these images available online for free. Genea-Quilters can help by contributing to the FGS fundraising efforts.
This series consists of approximately 180,000 pension and bounty land warrant application files relating to claims based on service between 1812 and 1815. The files generally contain documentation submitted in support of a claim, such as the original application form, affidavits, and statements from witnesses.

The documents in this collection include full pension application files for soldiers and sailors who served in the War of 1812, as well as for their widows and children, or other heirs. The first applications were filed by servicemen who were disabled as a result of their service, or by widows who lost a husband in the war.

The descriptive pamphlet for the Index to War of 1812 Pension Application Files, M313, published by NARA, provides a great deal of background and explanatory information about the pension files and the acts that provided for them.

We need to know your commitment now, though to decide if we can go through with this project, and will need finished blocks by about the end of October... firmer deadlines to be posted shortly.

3 comments:

  1. Count me in.....
    I will be happy to make at least 2 squares.
    Kim

    ReplyDelete
  2. I would love to participate and would commit two squares.
    Jo

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yeah,you can count me in for one or two as well.....already ordered the fat quarter sampler!!!

    Eric

    ReplyDelete