Evening Star - 1900

When Anna Bales married Henry Arnett in 1900 they likely had no inkling that the handmade quilt they received from Henry’s Aunt Margaret as a wedding gift would continue to be admired over a century later.

Margaret Arnett, the quilt maker, was born in Germany in 1844 and emigrated to Wisconsin with her family several years later, settling in Wisconsin.  In 1867 she married Jacob Bastian and together they had five children.  Margaret’s younger brother, George, was the father of Henry Arnett who received the quilt as a wedding gift.

The original quilt contained eight pounds of wool batting, which made it very heavy.  Margaret added the extra batting because the newlyweds were moving to a house that didn’t have a reliable heating source, perhaps only a wood stove or fireplace.  The heavy quilt would provide the extra warmth they needed during the frigid Wisconsin winters. 

Anna and Henry’s daughter, Gladys, remembers the quilt being used in later years for company that stayed overnight.  After Gladys acquired the quilt in 1970 she took it apart and used the batting to make several new quilts.

Anna and Henry Arnett

Anna was born in 1877 and Henry in 1876, both in West Bend, Wisconsin.  After their marriage in 1900 the couple farmed in the area but after less than a decade they moved “up north” to Taylor County.  The move was not easy for the family, who had three children and were expecting a fourth (and later had two more).  The “wooded” land they purchased had been cut over prior to their arrival, resulting in loss of timber to build a house and income to support the family.  Several challenging years of farming the land convinced Henry and Anna it was time for a change. 

After a number of moves for the family around central Wisconsin and a series of jobs for Henry, they decided, in 1921, to settle in Wausau.  The first home for the family of seven was a hotel room in the heart of downtown Wausau. They later moved to a house on the southeast side of town where they remained for almost 50 years.  Henry died in 1959 and Anna in 1973.

In 2008 Gladys, Henry and Anna’s daughter, who had long before moved away from Wausau, donated the quilt to the Marathon County Historical Society so it could be returned to its roots.

 The Quilt

This quilt top was originally part of a quilt with a heavy wool batting, designed to help keep out the cold of a Wisconsin winter.  Seventy years later the quilt was taken apart and the batting used in other quilts.

The fabrics in this quilt are mostly from cotton shirting material, probably left over from making clothing.  Margaret Bastian, the quilt maker, had a lot of fun with plaids and stripes, varying the direction of the patterns within each block for the most interesting effect.

The quilt top was constructed with blue sashing between the star blocks.  It was made in vertical columns and then sewn together.  Note that the second column from the right does not match the others at the top.  If you look closely you can see that blocks vary a little in size.