Historic 1888 Shaftsbury Signature Quilt

Quilt Block #6 - Quilt Signers:

Jessie Monroe (Harrington)

Jessie Harrington / Mrs. D Hudson Jessie Addie Harrington was born 1 July 1880 to Leverett N. Harrington and Addie Elizabeth (Whipple) Harrington BLOCK: 15. When the quilt was signed she was about 8 years old. According to the census of 1900 Jessie (19) is living with her father, Leverett (49), and brother, Joel (13) BLOCK: 8 in Shaftsbury. Her mother Addie had passed away 5 March 1889, about four months after her name was placed on the quilt. Jessie has two other siblings, Dennis B. Harrington (1883-1897) and Ida N. Harrington (1884-1931). Dennis dies at 14 from a diabetic coma. Ida Nan never married. She moved to Ypsilanti, Michigan with her Aunt Anna May (Whipple) Dunlap and taught school. She returned to Shaftsbury for her father's funeral in November 1931 and had surgery to remove her caecum at Putnam Memorial Hospital but did not survive.

Jessie marries Charles Andrew Monroe in Shaftsbury on 28 December 1911. He was the son of Seth Warner and Jane (Andrew) Monroe. He was born 22 December 1876. When the quilt was signed he would have been about 12. The census of 1930 shows Charles and Jessie living on Water Street in Shaftsbury. Charles (53) is a Postal Clerk with the Railway Post Office and Jessie (49) is a housewife. Both of their daughters, Jane A. (17) and Elizabeth A. (16) are living with them. By 1940 only Jane (27) is at home.

Charles and Jessie have four children, two pass at infancy and two live to adulthood; Elizabeth Andrew (Monroe) Riley (1913-1975) and Jane (Monroe) Curcuruto (1912-1992).

Jessie passes away first on 19 February 1943 from bronchial pneumonia, along with other chronic conditions. She was 62 years 7 months and 18 days old. Charles dies the following year on 25 July 1944 from an instant coronary occlusion at the age of 67 years 7 months and 3 days. An obituary in the Bennington Banner states he had a heart attack while walking through his wood lot. He graduated from North Bennington High School in 1894 and was a mail clerk for more than 40 years. He had been active in town and village affairs. It also mentions his two daughters Miss Jane Monroe and Elizabeth M. Riley of Bennington. Jane married Phillip Curcuruto before enlisting in the US Navy on 28 December 1944. She passed away 18 December 1992 in Sonoma, California.

Both Charles and Jessie are buried in Center Shaftsbury Cemetery.