Sean C. Morgan
If your last name is Draper, if you are related to the family, if you know the family or if you have information that might help, Wendy Younger would like to hear from you.
On Nov. 12, she received a letter and a quilt square from a Dallas woman who is attempting to return quilt squares, possibly from the World War II era, to the members of families named on the squares.
“I was given 23 quilt blocks, I believe from the World War II era as some of the squares had the year 1942 and 1941 on them,” said Evelyn Bathke of Dallas in a letter accompanying the squares. “They are from Minnesota; Ohio; Kodiak, Alaska; North Dakota; Montana; Seattle, Wash.; and Sweet Home.
“Someone told me years ago blocks were made and mailed to friends and family. I would like to see each block go to the family it belongs to. I don’t want money. I would want one if my family had made it.”
The Sweet Home square contains the embroidered names Eugene A. Draper, Lola, Daisy, Clinton and Frank and an embroidered picture of a child with a Jack-in-the-box toy and a drum.
One of Bathke’s cousins recognized a Minnesota family name. Those blocks went to the appropriate families and were then placed in a local museum, Bathke said.
“There must be someone in your town that will recognize the names,” Bathke said. “I’m sending the block to City Hall as most town business goes through there.”
In addition to the Sweet Home square are several with no states or towns on them. They include the following:
n “Christmas 1942, Happy New Year 1943, Greeting from the Bjerkes.”
n A bird on a branch, with the names Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Bardwell and Mr. and Mrs. Burt Bardwell.
n A lamb on a skateboard, with the Beards, Thomas, Gertrude, Mary, Sylvia, Alice, Arthur, John, Ida, Rose and Daisy.
n A cat holding a ball, with the Ness family, Mervin, Hilma, Richard, Gordon, Karen and Arlyn.
n Three flowers, with Mr. and Mrs. Trubs Brue, Allin, Loyd and Angela.
n A rabbit going to market, with Chris and Johnson, Lena, Mary, John C. Hole, Karen, Mariana, Olof, Agatha, Carrie, Hans, Albert and May.
Bathke asks that anyone who recognizes any of the names to contact her, and she will mail the blocks at no charge. She may be reached by contacting Younger at City Hall in the city manager’s office, at (541) 367-8969.
Younger, the city manager’s assistant, is planning to contact East Linn Museum and Sweet Home Genealogical Society volunteers to see if they have any information. In the meantime, she asks anyone who has information about the Sweet Home block to give her a call.
At this point, she can only speculate about the square, she said. It may be from a “chain mail kind of thing.” She has learned that sometimes people would send a sock, a book or other item to several friends, each of whom would send items to more friends, ultimately with the originator receiving hundreds of socks, books or other items back through the mail.
The squares could be from something like that, Younger said. “Could it be some kind of memorial for World War II? I don’t know what it is.”