Squares Re-covered Cot Quilt

Maker:

Dennis Cann Family

Date:

1850 - 1890

This cot quilt is made from different coloured printed cottons, dating between the 1850s and 1880s. The wadding is thought to be an old quilt or blanket which was recovered with more recent fabric to make this cot quilt. It is thought to have been made for or by one of Mary Dennis Cann's daughters. Mary, a farmer's daughter from Devonshire, married Richard Cann in 1828 and they had six daughters; Annie, Jane, Elizabeth, Fanny, Mary and Margaret, and one son, John.

Unfortunately, Richard died of Typhoid Fever in 1842, leaving Mary and her children no choice but to leave their farm and move to Hartland village where they ran a drapers and grocery shop. Mary stayed running the shop for the next 50 years before her death at the age of 92 in 1891.

This quilt is one of five in the Collection from the Dennis/Cann family, and it is presumed that the other four quilts were made by Mary and/or her daughters, four of whom remained at home and helped Mary run the shop. Two of the quilts, of which this is one, are cot quilts, presumably made for Charles Tottenham, the son of the only daughter that married.

For the other Dennis/Cann family quilts, please see: Silk Triangles Coverlet, Double-sided Cot Quilt, Diamond Mosaic Coverlet and Mariner's Compass Coverlet.

120cm x 120cm