Sawtooth Quilt Block

    
     I fussy cut this 6" Sawtooth quilt block, and I'm really happy with the way it turned out.  I used more of my wonderful Joel Dewberry Aviary 2 scraps.  The pattern is from The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt by Laurie Aaron Hird.   
     Will Young is the brother of Harriet's Mamma, Alberta Emily Young Woodbury.  Alberta died in 1913, three years before this diary was written. 
     Alberta and Will's parents (Harriet's maternal grandparents), Nathaniel Eaton Young and Mary Ann Peeler Young, arrived in Kansas about 1862-1863 from Greene County, Illinois, north of St. Louis.  Nathaniel enlisted in the 17th Kansas Volunteer Infantry in 1864 at Plymouth, Kansas. http://www.kansasguardmuseum.org/dispunit.php?id=27
     The family moved to Osage County, Kansas by 1870.  When the Sauk and Fox Indian Reservation was opened up for settlers, Nathaniel got a land grant there of 160 acres from the United States government. He built a sawmill and grist mill on the Marais Des Cygnes River near Quenemo. 
http://www.kansasheritage.org/families/young.html          

Tuesday, February 29, 1916 -
"It's turning so cold again when we had hoped it would be nice.  The sun came out today and the snow melted; now it's turning cold again.  Ted and George have gone up after Uncle Will Young.  He came in from Kansas City and phoned about 8:30, so the kids went up to get him.

"Mother has been sewing today, so I got dinner and was busy all A.M.  Then I have been studying all P.M. and some this evening.

"Mr. Hile was here for dinner today, and he said probably Mrs. Hile could come help with the work.  I hope she can for, aside from the fact that we need someone, they need the work.  I think they are not doing very well, and she wants to do something to help out.

"I got up pretty early this A.M. and am about sound asleep now - I don't know why I am so tired."

     I researched the Sauk and Fox tribe who formerly lived on Harriet's grandparents' land 46 years before she wrote this 1916 diary.

     The Sauk, people of the yellow earth, and the Fox, people of the red earth, began as two separate but neighboring tribes in Michigan.  Having similar language and customs, the Sauk and Fox banded together for safety and survival. 
     Forced to leave Michigan in 1804 by the migration of white settlers, they began a succession of moves, living first in Illinois, then Iowa, Missouri, and Osage County, Kansas.  In 1867, the Sauk and Fox Indians signed a treaty with the United States, agreeing to move yet once again to Oklahoma. 
     In November of 1869, the first group left Osage County, Kansas, traveling for nineteen days in seventeen government wagons to reach their new home.  (This was 16 years before Harriet's parents were married and 26 years before she was born.)
     One band of the Sauk and Fox, led by Chief Mo-Ko-Ho-Ko, protested the move to Indian Territory.  For years after the treaty was signed, many of his band kept returning to their old homes in Kansas and Iowa.   http://okielegacy.org/lincoln/sacnfox.html
                
You might enjoy reading my previous post:
http://starwoodquilter.blogspot.com/2011/09/homeward-bound-quilt-block.html