Another Lincoln Romance?

[AussieMick]

If you can persevere through the 10 question survey , this link gives some further information . To save you time, I cut and paste it below.
https://napavalleyregister.com/community...3703b.html

( There was a Boyce family in Sangamon https://papersofabrahamlincoln.org/documents/D208349)

"This is the story of Susan Reid Boyce and her hand-stitched quilt made nearly 150 years ago, soon to be on permanent display at the Sharpsteen Museum. History connects us to the past as Susan’s story will show you, from Kentucky to Calistoga, from the making of her quilt to its donation to the museum. During our research, we arrived at a variety of interesting commonalities between Susan, her personal history, her quilt, and Sam Brannan’s Calistoga.

Susan A. Reid was born in 1815, in Mason County, Kentucky, to a well-to-do farmer and his wife. By 1836, Susan and her family were living in Illinois on the Sangamon River where she would experience her first serious courtship. Susan’s father, Lewis, had befriended a young man with whom he felt a political kinship. According to Susan, “They often talked politics by the hour.” This young man was Abraham Lincoln.

In the late spring of that year, Susan and her family had been invited to the home of a neighbor, a Mr. Able, for a day’s social. There were many young people in attendance that afternoon, including Mr. Lincoln. It became evident after a time that Mr. Lincoln’s attention was focused more on Susan than anyone else. Thus began their courtship culminating in a proposal of marriage.

“In those days there were no buggies to speak of, and the way young folks courted very often was to go out on horseback. Mr. Lincoln often took me out horseback riding, and though he was not as ardent a wooer as I’ve seen since he kept his case going pretty lively and pressed me very hard for an answer.”


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Alas, Susan did not love Mr. Lincoln. She refused his proposal and chose to marry another. Susan and William P. Boyce were married in 1839 in Petersburgh, Illinois. (Coincidentally, William was also a friend of Lincoln’s. He had enlisted in the Third Regiment of Illinois Volunteers and took part, alongside Lincoln, in the Black Hawk Wars of 1832.)

By 1850, Susan and William and their three children had begun their journey west first settling in Texas. Following the lure of gold and silver mining, they next lived in Hangtown (now Placerville). Their final relocation would be Calistoga, initially purchasing property in Knights Valley in 1866. Two years later, they moved into Calistoga proper where William had been elected to the office of constable and held the office of deputy sheriff for three consecutive terms.

Both Susan Reid Boyce and William Boyce are buried at Pioneer Cemetery. Susan passed in 1907, but the exact year of death for William is unknown, only that it was many years prior to 1897. Susan lived out her days in Calistoga with her widowed sister, Augusta Reid Benedict.

Now we start connecting to the quilt. This past December, the museum received an email message from a woman, Diane Zagar Gandara, living in Napa. This message asked if the museum had any information regarding Susan Reid Boyce. “I have a quilt in my possession made by Susan Reid Boyce and was wondering if you had any interest?” You can imagine our reaction! This project was handled by board member Bev Barnes, who has brought this acquisition home. (I realize we are supposed to be somewhat mature women, but there was a lot of screaming and jumping up and down on this one.)



The quilt was made in the “Touching Star” pattern as early as 1880. It was passed down to Susan’s daughter Mary L. Boyce McCready, then again passed onto Mary’s daughter Laurence McCready Pittman (Susan’s granddaughter). Approximately six months before Laurence’s death in 1978, confident this family heirloom would be in good hands, she gifted the quilt to her good friend Dorothy “Dotty” Zagar, Diane Gandara’s stepmother and founder of the Santa Rosa Quilt Guild. Dotty stored this quilt for 35 years before she herself passed way in 2013. Upon the death of Gandara’s father last year, Dotty’s entire collection of 63 quilts was passed into Diane’s possession.

As Diane looked carefully and closely at the many quilts, one in particular caught her eye. It was different from the rest, and obviously very old. Turning it over, there was a label attached written by Dotty with the quilt’s history and the name of its maker, Susan Reid Boyce. This sparked Diane’s curiosity and she began researching only to find the rich history attached to this piece. She was also able to locate a descendant of Susan Boyce, a great-great-granddaughter, Diane McBain, living in Washington State. Diane Gandara contacted McBain. They discussed the need for a safe and permanent resting place for the quilt, a place where it can be enjoyed by others and its history shared and appreciated. They decided together the best home for the quilt would be the Sharpsteen Museum."