“Made 1845 Grandma Runkle & Eve”
This exquisite Blazing Star quilt is part of the “These ARE Your Grandmother’s Quilts” exhibit at the Iowa Quilt Museum in Winterset, Iowa, which runs from December 20, 2022-March 12, 2023.
It was probably made by Christiana (Mark) Runkel, great great grandmother of Guy Kidney, and her sister Eve Mark in Pennsylvania. (The name has been spelled Runckel, Runkel, and Runkle.)
Nicholas (1716-1774) and Elizabeth Runckle were German immigrants in 1743, arriving aboard the Loyal Judith, settling in Berks County, Pennsylvania.
Their son John Runckle married Maria Catharina.
John and Maria’s son John Runkel, who was baptized in 1779.
That John Runkel’s son Henry married Christiana Mark, who most likely made the quilt with her sister Eve Mark. Christiana (Mark) Runkel is most likely the “Grandma Runkle” on the embroidered tag on the back.
This visually stunning treasure is exquisitely hand pieced, appliqued, and quilted. It was brought to Carroll County, Iowa, after the Civil War by veteran Amos Mark Runkel, son of John and Christiana.
After his first wife died in childbirth in 1873 with their seventh child, Amos Mark Runkel (1836-1914) and most of his children came west to Carroll, Iowa. In 1882, he remarried Margaretha Lange Daniels, a German immigrant and widow with six children, who ran a brewery in Carroll.
Together, Amos and Margaretha had two daughters, including Guy’s grandmother, Teresa (Runkel) Walker.
Teresa Walker handed down the quilt to her youngest child, Carol, who is Guy’s mother, now age 99. Carol Walker Kidney Herman gave the heirloom quilt to Guy in 1992.
The Runkle Blazing Star Quilt has been shown at the 1983 Invitational Quilt Show at Iowa State University, in the Scheman Continuing Education Building art gallery, Ames, Iowa. Also at the 1993 Quilt Extravaganza IV at Hoyt Sherman Place in Des Moines.
Information from: Runkel Family Bible, now owned by Guy Kidney
Some Early Lineages of Berks County, Pa., by Beulah Hix Blair, 1959
Also the Findagrave page for Amos Runkel’s first wife
As of April 11, 2023, this 1845 Runkle quilt is owned by the Iowa Quilt Museum.
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