1st item: Cotton red and green floral applique quilt attributed to Rachel Roess of Pennsylvania. The center panel contains an intricately engineered four-leafed plant surrounded by four fylfots expressing good luck, constructed with double green, cheddar yellow, and turkey red fabrics on an embroidered ivory ground with tiny applique touches to the geese, birds, and floral displays. The deep swag border is an original design as well as the quilt's edge, cut to echo the border. Approximately 90" x 88". Circa 1860's. 2nd-3rd items: Cabinet card photograph of Rachel Roess, taken by South Oil City, PA photographer J.W. Sires, and a 1946 photograph of Rachel Roess's direct descendants Lillian Roess Brecht, Elizabeth Brecht McKee, and Katherine (Kitty) McKee, who have all owned this quilt. Note: The quilt was washed in 2001 and was believed by the family to be about 100 years old at that time, however, the style and fabrics are more frequently associated with the 1860s or 70s. Provenance: by descent to Katherine McKee of Nashville (age 85 in 2021), from her mother Elizabeth Brecht McKee (born 1900), from her mother Lillian Elizabeth Roess Brecht (1876-1959), from her mother Rachel Aggers Roess, maker of this quilt. Rachel Roess was born in Chartiers Township, PA in 1844 and died in Oil City, PA 1925, where her husband worked in the oil business.

CONDITION: Expected fabric wear and fading for a quilt of this age. Thinning of the Double Green and Turkey Red fabrics with cotton batting coming through in places. Staining and spotting evident in white cloth. Turkey Red binding is weak and pulling away in spots.