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Note: Today’s guest post is by Nancy Elliott Mehne, who is the great-granddaughter of American Presbyterian minister Jonathan Edwards.
In 1847 the newly-married minister Jonathan Edwards (1817-1891) and his bride, Eliza Rice Edwards (1827-1880), were presented with a beautiful Baltimore Album–Signature quilt. It was a labor of love given to the young couple as a gift from his congregation, Somerset Presbyterian Church, Somerset, Ohio. A total of 80 different squares were made by 56 women. Each square was signed by its maker with newly-popular permanent brown ink. The signatures represented 23 families.
Edwards had been called to pastor the two small congregations, Somerset and nearby Hopewell, just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio in 1844. He was very familiar with the area since he was born in Cincinnati in 1817. He had made profession of faith in 1828 under the ministry of Dr. Joshua Wilson at First Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati. According to the practice at that time he was expected to memorize Scripture verses. With his quick memory he readily learned 50-100 verses each week and eventually memorized the entire New Testament. As a young man, he was exposed to a lot of the theological issues of the day, was able to receive kind treatment from godly ministers and given the opportunity to further his education even though he was being raised by a widowed mother. In 1832, he became a student at Hanover College, Indiana. In 1835, he began teaching school in Walnut Hills which enabled him to become lifelong friends with the Kemper family and well acquainted with Dr. Lyman Beecher. The following years found him teaching and serving as the head of Bardstown Collegiate Institute while working under Dr. Nathan Lewis Rice. With the development of the Theological Department at Hanover College, Edwards was able to be licensed by the Presbytery of Salem in 1843, ordained by the Presbytery of Cincinnati, and installed pastor of the churches Hopewell and Somerset, Ohio on April 17, 1844.
Eliza Rice Edwards had strong Presbyterian roots. Like others traveling down the Valley of Virginia, both her Rice father’s and her Finley mother’s families became early settlers in the Danville, Kentucky area. She was related to David Rice who had been the original Presbyterian minister into Kentucky in 1784. Eliza’s father, Phineas G. Rice was a long time elder in the Danville Presbyterian Church and her pastor, John C. Young, was President of nearby Centre College. Eliza’s three uncles, Nathan Lewis Rice, John Jay Rice and William Garrett Rice were Presbyterian ministers.
When Eliza was only seven years old, her mother died in the 1833 cholera epidemic and was buried next to the Danville church. Both sides of the close-knit family then lovingly helped her father care for Eliza and her sister, Maria. As Eliza grew up “she was familiar with the fine types of Kentucky society” according to her son. There is a family story that “when Eliza would ‘go calling’ she would pick up the accent of the woman she had visited, so the family immediately knew where she had been.”
The photo of Eliza was taken about the time she married Jonathan. They had four children who lived to adulthood: Effie Edwards, who married Presbyterian Elder Dr. Samuel O. Loughridge; the Rev. Charles Eugene Edwards; the Rev. Chauncey Theodore Edwards; and Dr. Eleanor Edwards, who married the Rev. Walter Scott Elliott and served in China.
Jonathan and Eliza faithfully gave of themselves to the Presbyterian Church and its congregations, colleges, and seminaries. Every night they would sleep under the quilt lovingly made by their first congregation. Two following generations of their descendants also regularly enjoyed it’s warmth. In the early 1900's the quilt was exhibited in a Philadelphia quilt show and was praised as being one of the largest Baltimore Album quilts ever seen. It is still in good condition and safely in the possession of the family. The quilt photos were taken in 1999.
Much of the content of this post is derived from a biography of his father written by Charles.
