My Baltimore Album has transformed itself into --------------------
"Adelsverein"
German ~ Texas Heritage Album Quilt
This post is lengthy but hope it will be an inspiration to delve into your heritage when working on a Baltimore Album quilt.
While working on the BA blocks I chose to personalize the sailing ship with German flags. Knowing the name "Brig Georg Dillus" as the ship of my German ancestors I have 4 added history blocks with information from the Knibbe family's voyage to America during the German Texas Emigrant Co.'s
promise of freedom and land of plenty in Texas. Prince Karl Solms-Braunfels came to Texas to purchase land for immigrating Germans. He purchased land and named the town New Braunfels after his homeland of Braunfels in Germany. While researching Indianola, Texas where the ship landed, the drawing of the sailing ship looked very much like the ship I was working on from Elly Sienkiewicz's book -
Beloved Baltimore Album Quilts.
So I have used the research of genealogy records to record where the Brig Georg Dillus sailed from, Bremen Germany in Sept 1845 and arrived in Galveston December 1845 with 133 passengers. Galveston was the port of record on the ships passengers list. The Knibbe geneaology states that the ship ran aground on a sand barge near Galveston. In order to return to sailing they had to throw all their farm equipment and furniture overboard and eventually landed in Indianola, Texas with only the clothes they had on their backs. Dietrich Knibbe's wife Sophie died on the voyage and was buried at sea. He had a infant baby girl who survived the voyage he remarried a lady who had lost her husband in a cholera epidemic in Indianola, Texas. They had several more children. Thus began the six generations Knibbe-Knibbe-Gerfers-Sotomayor-Kirk-Pollock family.
Wishing you an album quilt journey!
Colleen
