Colville Washington Signature Quilt

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I recently purchased a Signature quilt in Fife, WA that appears to be part of Colville, Washinton history. The quilt consists of 30 blocks. The center block says Colville Chapter - 514 W.O.T.M. - Jan 26. 1934. There are 29 embroidered signatures, one on each of the other 29 blocks.

At the moment, I suspect that W.O.T.M stands for Women Of The Moose. According to their website, the Moose organization is a fraternal order first founded in the late 1800s but "reinvented" about 1906 to "provide protection and security for a largely working-class membership" in case the bread winner died, i.e. the husband.

The women's auxiliary was formed in 1913. The focus of the group changed a bit after WWII. There are still many active chapters across the US today. I am in the process of trying to track down whether or not there was once a chapter in Colville, Washington.

Some of the embroidery on the quilt is difficult to read so the spelling of the names on the quilt are subject to interpretation.

The names are as follows: Ruth Harner, Julia Pool, Grace Wennmans, Mrs. Bloom, Ena Miller Boletta M. Elwood, Mrs. Sarah Lewis, Olive Vine, Annie Skeels, Maud D. Moser, Madge Dunham, C. M. Clark, Lillian Carman, Mrs. W. H. Hoeft, Flora Carman, Ethel Thomas, Emma Nelson, Evelyn Bennett, Alice Knapp, Claire Curry, Mary Anderson, Dora Campbell, Edna Moore, Susie L. Noble, Jeanie Nugent, Carrie Carman, Lena Artman, Lena Montgomery, and Mrs. Benedict.

The earliest published version of this pattern that Barbara Brackman could find is called CRACKERS-#2380 and can be found of page 300 of her book Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns. Barbara states that it appeared in Woman's World in 1931.

I would love to be able to document any information about the women listed on this quilt and discover why the quilt was made. If you recognize any of the names or can help shed light on this quilt's history, please email me.

I look forward to hearing from some of you!

Karen Alexander

PS:  Colville is a city in Stevens County, Washington, and is the county seat. The population was 1,803 in 1930 and then only 4,988 at the 2000 census. In 1825 the Hudson's Bay Company established Fort Colville near the Kettle Falls fur trading site and named for Lord Andrew Colville, a London governor of Hudson's Bay Company. 

Eventually the Oregon boundary dispute arose as a result of competing British and American claims to the Pacific Northwest of North America in the first half of the 19th century. Once the boundary was set at the 49th parallel in 1846 and Washington Territory officially separated from the Oregon territory in 1853, Hudson's Bay Company, being a British company, withdrew from Fort Colville and moved to Canada. 

In 1859, the US Army, at the direction of the War Department, established a new Fort Colville about 1.5 miles NE of the current city of Colville. That fort was abandoned in 1882 and the city was moved to the present location on the Colville River Valley.

The post was called Harney's Depot at first, then Fort Colville. The town of Colville was founded in 1882 when Fort Colville was abandoned.  

As an aside, while trying to trace down Colville, Washington, I discovered there is a Native American Reservation of this name in the southeastern section of Okanogan County and the southern half of Ferry County.

The Stevens  County Museum houses a very extensive collection of native American artifacts of tribes from all parts of the nation as well as all local tribes.