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Friday, January 14, 2011

Let me introduce you to Dorinda.

How did this mystery come about?  I think our inspiration came from our ancestor, Dorinda.  She was an amazing lady who made so many quilts that most of her neighbors had one given to them.  She designed her own quilts, dyed her own fabric from plants near her home, and even grew her own cotton.  She was also a great leader in her community who cared for the poor, sick, and afflicted.  You can learn more about the Dorinda Project that got us all started at this link.

None of us ever knew Dorinda personally because she was gone before we were born.  I also wanted to clarify that Dorine is a descendant of Dorinda so they are not the same person.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

thank you so much for the historical background to such a special lady :) and how wonderful to have one her descendents following in her footsteps! Thank you Dorine, Ann, and Felicity :) Your generosity and kindness do your ancestors and honor :)
Carmen

Ann T. said...

Better thank Marie & Deana too. They spearheaded this whole thing, then got input from the rest of us.

Anonymous said...

Why certainly will do that: thank you to all of you: Dorine, Ann, Felicity, Marie and Deana. What a simply marvelous mystery you all have come up with for us to do! Sorry, Didn't mean to leave anyone out :)
Carmen

Anonymous said...

Just out of curiosity, what part of Utah did she call home? Do you have journals and records from her life? I always find those things so fascinating. I also wish I had such records, but I don't. How many of you are lucky enough to have a Dorinda quilt?

Marie said...

Dorinda was born in North Carolina in 1808. She moved with her famiy to Alabama, then Texas. In Texas she joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) and then she joined a pioneer wagon train and moved to Utah. They settled in Southern Utah in Washington County. When she was 49 or 50 years old they moved to Pine Valley, Utah, which is a beatuiful little town up in the mountains north of St. George, Utah. She lived there until her death in 1895.

A lady from Arizona named Carolyn O'Bagy Davis has compiled Dorinda's history, along with pictures of her quilts, in two books that some of us own. None of our group has a Dorinda quilt. I have seen only one, and it is housed at the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Museum in Salt Lake City.

When Dorinda was 85 years old she sent a quilt to the Chicago World's Fair, where she earned a blue ribbon and fifty dollars. Later the quilt was exhibited at the San Franciso World's Fair.