Donated quilt top captures a small piece of church history
Published 8:55 am Monday, March 2, 2020
Another square from the donated quilt which includes the name "Howard" several times.
The quilt top or spread donated by Hazel White Hester to the Elizabethton-Carter County Public Library.
Center square of donated quilt top denoting church as Bethany ME Church.
One of the squares in the spread showing some of the embroidered names, many of whom lived in the Hunter community.
Joe Penza proudly shows of the spread donated to the library by Hazel White Hester, which she won in in 1932 at a cake walk at the Hunter School.
Several days ago Joe Penza, archivist at the Elizabethton-Carter County Public Library, received a surprise visit and gift from Harry (Bud) White of Lawrenceville, Ga. The gift — an embroidered “spread” or quilt top, his sister, Hazel White Hester, now 93 years old, won at a cakewalk at the Hunter Elementary School in 1932.
The quilt top contains 30 large white squares, each containing a bouquet or basket of embroidered flowers along with numerous stitched names, many of whom lived in the Hunter and Elizabethton communities at that time. Many of the families have members still living in the community.
In the center block of the spread is an outline of a church, which is similar to the original Hunter Methodist Church, but the name embroidered in the block is Bethany M.E. Church, which puzzled Bud White, since he had always known the church as Hunter Methodist and could not find anything to connect with it the name of Bethany M.E. Church.
Bud, who will soon be 89 years old, and sister, Hazel, and their parents, Dan and Ollie White, attended the Hunter Methodist Church when they were very young. “We only lived about four miles above the church. However, later my parents began attending the Baptist church at Hunter,” Bud shared. He and his sister attended Unaka Elementary School, but attended high school at Elizabethton. “My parents moved to town where we attended Elizabethton High, but later moved back to the homeplace on Stoney Creek,” he continued.
Hazel moved to Lake Murray, Fla., to be near her daughter, and after her daughter’s death, moved into an assisted living home. She has kept the treasured spread all these years.
“She had kept the spread packed in a cedar chest. Recently she called me and shared that she wanted to donate it to the church, and asked if I could take care of that for her. She sent the spread to me, and I had the opportunity to visit Elizabethton a few days ago. After repeated calls to the church and pastor with no response, I visited Sycamore Shoals Park, and they suggested I donate it to the library, and I think that was a wise choice,” Bud said this week.
White said he was told the original idea for the spread was a fundraising program for the church and people donated to the project to have their names listed on the spread, which became a prize at the local cakewalk.
One square had as many as 22 names while others have a lesser number of names. They included surnames such as Ritchie, Carrier, Danner, Nave, Williams, Buckles, Milam, Grindstaff, Combs, Bowers, Morrell, Hamitlon, May, Shull, Richardson, Rasor, Howard, White, Sharp, Holly, and Crumley, just to name a few. The quilt contains approximately 300 names.
One must remember that in 1932, when Mrs. Hester won the spread, it was at the height of the Great Depression, and money was hard to come by, so probably names were purchased on the spread for a dollar and even less. Churches as well as other organizations did whatever they could to raise funds.
More than one person embroidered the names on the quilt, as the stitches indicate as many as three or four persons may have done the stitching.
Penza at the library was elated about the gift and is proud to show the spread.
Research from Frank Merritt’s Early History of Carter County reveals that Bethany Methodist Church (South) at Hunter was dedicated April 27, 1879.
Another item in the book dated 1924 notes: “Methodist Church, Hunter work progressing slowly because of weather; to cost church $5,000. Rev. G.W. Matney, minister. Dedication set for Sunday, July 24.”
An excerpt from the Holston Conference history page noted: “From 1865 two Holston Conferences covered essentially the same territory — Holston Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church (ME, sometimes called the northern church) and Holston Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, sometimes called the southern church).
The Methodist denomination split in 1844, partly over the issue of slavery. There were no “northern churches” within Holston between 1844 and 1865, but some members left the “southern” church and many congregations were unsettled.”
In Merritt’s “More History of Carter County,” he noted that some newspaper references in 1879 indicated the Hunter church was growing and strong at that time. An insert noted that the Rev. J.R. Hughes closed a revival on the creek, a time of refreshing, indeed. Several conversions and six new members for the Bethany Methodist Church.
His article notes that in 1877 the membership decided to build a church on a lot donated by Mr. and Mrs. A.D. Frazier, a one-room frame building about 30 by 40 feet with a belfrey in which a bell was later placed. Some of the earliest members were Mr. and Mrs. Frazier, Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Hamilton, Mr. and Mrs. J.P. Ritchie, Mr. and Mrs. Allen T. Carriger, Mr. and Mrs. William Crumley, Mr. and Mrs. William Peters, Mr. and Mrs. Ed Speer, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Frazier, Mrs. Rebecca Lewis, N.R. Campbell, and Sherman Bowers.
Some of these family names are embroidered on the spread donated by Mrs. Hester.
The 1917 Singletary Memorial Elizabethton directory also contained a Hunter Bethany Bethany Director which named Mrs. Pearl Taylor, Mrs. E.M. Frazier, and Miss Grace Morrell as stewards; R.M. Cass, William Peters, and J.E. Morrell as trustees; Eugene Nave as secretary; and Mrs. Rebecca Lewis, Mrs. Pearl Taylor, S.S. Bowers, and Miss Grace Morrell as Sunday School teachers.
One of the better known pastors in the earlier years of the church was the Rev. G.W. Matney, who served the church from 1923-34. Merritt’s history indicates that the Rev. Matney was instrumental in securing donations to pay for the new building (which indicates, this building was different from the original building constructed in the late 1870s). Land for the new church was donated by Thomas J. and Margaret Hamilton Frazier.
Matney was followed as pastor by the Rev. Harry H. Leonard, who served from 1934-43. Rev. Leonard, eager to see the Hunter church become a “station church” instead of a preaching point on the circuit was active in adding four Sunday School rooms, central heating, and in starting the first parsonage.
Merritt’s history also noted that “a beautiful feature of the 1923 building, and still loved today are the lovely stained windows given in memory of various church members.
Conference history noted that in the late 1930s and early 1940s, that ME was dropped from the church names when the North and South divisions of the church united and became one congregation again. Thus, this probably was when the name of the Bethany M.E. Church was officially changed to Hunter Methodist Church.
Today, the church is a member the Three Rivers District of the Holston Methodist Conference and is served by Leann Crandall, pastor, and James Berry, Associate Pastor.
