Sometimes the hardest part of producing a new design is coming up with a name. I had really been “stuck” trying to name my new huswif. I had been calling it Unnamed Huswif, but knew I certainly needed something more fitting. The other day I came up with Mrs. Waddelow’s Huswif. (Don't you love the name "Waddelow"? I know it makes me smile whenever I say it.)
Mrs. Waddelow was indeed a real person. In fact, she was my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother. We know very little about Amy. We don’t even know her maiden name. Amy is believed to have been born in England around 1610. She later moved to Accomack County, Virginia where she married Nicholas Waddelow who had also been born in England.
Accomack County is on the Delmarva Peninsula and was so named because Delaware and parts of Maryland and Virginia are there. The peninsula is almost 180 miles long by 60 miles wide at the widest point. It is bordered by the Chesapeake Bay on the west, and the Delaware River, Delaware Bay, and Atlantic Ocean on the east. Many also call the areas of Maryland and Virginia that are on the peninsula the “Eastern Shore” because they are east of the Chesapeake Bay.
Amy and Nicholas Waddelow had three daughters, Patience, Temperance, and Comfort. Descendants have lived in Accomack County to this day.
Of course, I don’t know if Amy ever had a huswif, but I would like to think she did. Surely she could have needed one to hold her needles, threads, and scissors.
My inspiration for Mrs. Waddelow’s Huswif came from some of the old huswifs I’ve seen. Typically they are made from a variety of printed-cotton fabrics, most likely leftover scraps. The inside of my huswif uses five different fabrics. There are four pockets--three flat and one gathered--plus some thread rings. Many old huswifs also had printed-cotton fabric on the outside. Instead, I chose to use linen with a simple embroidered floral design worked with one overdyed thread color.
And now you know, “the rest of the story” of Mrs. Waddelow and her huswif, and I find myself longing to go back to the Eastern Shore.
Mrs. Waddelow was indeed a real person. In fact, she was my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother. We know very little about Amy. We don’t even know her maiden name. Amy is believed to have been born in England around 1610. She later moved to Accomack County, Virginia where she married Nicholas Waddelow who had also been born in England.
Accomack County is on the Delmarva Peninsula and was so named because Delaware and parts of Maryland and Virginia are there. The peninsula is almost 180 miles long by 60 miles wide at the widest point. It is bordered by the Chesapeake Bay on the west, and the Delaware River, Delaware Bay, and Atlantic Ocean on the east. Many also call the areas of Maryland and Virginia that are on the peninsula the “Eastern Shore” because they are east of the Chesapeake Bay.
Amy and Nicholas Waddelow had three daughters, Patience, Temperance, and Comfort. Descendants have lived in Accomack County to this day.
Of course, I don’t know if Amy ever had a huswif, but I would like to think she did. Surely she could have needed one to hold her needles, threads, and scissors.
My inspiration for Mrs. Waddelow’s Huswif came from some of the old huswifs I’ve seen. Typically they are made from a variety of printed-cotton fabrics, most likely leftover scraps. The inside of my huswif uses five different fabrics. There are four pockets--three flat and one gathered--plus some thread rings. Many old huswifs also had printed-cotton fabric on the outside. Instead, I chose to use linen with a simple embroidered floral design worked with one overdyed thread color.
And now you know, “the rest of the story” of Mrs. Waddelow and her huswif, and I find myself longing to go back to the Eastern Shore.
12 comments:
What a cool way to represent your family history! I am looking forward to seeing it come to fruition.
What a great name and what's more you didn't even make it up! I can't wait to see your new offerings because, as you know, I am a WMN ADDICT!
Lots of Love
Patti xxx
Great name with your history! I'm sure she'll be devine!
Fabulous name and even better that it was inspired by a woman that has a story...a real story! I look forward to seeing and stitching the design.
hugs
-missy-
Ah the Eastern Shore! I just love it there! Thanks for sharing the story Ellen, and I can't believe you have traced someone back that far! Love the names of the daughters too!
Wow, that's so cool! How wonderful to know your ancestry so far back! I can't wait to see the huswife -- I love huswifes!
Thanks for the family history! I love the daughters' names!
It's pretty easy to trace family history when a family stays in the same county for hundred of years.
Aren't those old names wonderful?
I hope to post a photo of my huswif soon...first we need to write the assembly directions and do the product cover.
Good Morning, Ellen! My cousins live on the "Eastern Shore" of Virginia in the town of Onancock....Very close to Parksley and Olney, if you are familiar with that neck of the woods! I grew up going over there for several weeks during the summer! It's very restful there! I'll have to ask my cousins if they know any of the Waddelow's. -Holly Rison
Hi Holly.
Don't know if you remember for past correspondence that my mother was from Parksley. My aunt still lives there, and we were back there in August for my uncle's funeral. Some of us had lunch one day in Onancock. Tom and I love it there.
Doubt that there are any Waddelows on our side, since Nicholas had three daughters and therefore no one to pass on the name. His daughter Patience married a Nock. Her granddaughter married a Justis (Justice). There were then 5 generations of Justis, until my grandmother married a Watts.
I've inherited some old books on Eastern Shore history and really need to find the time to delve into them.
Hi, Ellen. I am looking forward to seeing the finished huswife! You go, girl!
William and Patience are responsible for me, a direct discendent. Our branch moved to Maryland, around Crisfield, then to Delmar. We are now in South Carolina.
It's a small world.
William H. (Bill) Nock
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