Civil War Handkerchief Quilt
Susannah Johnson Justice (ca. 1813-1887)
1875
Campbell Township, Ionia County, Michigan
Cotton
68” x 70”
MSUM 7030.2; Gift of Mildred E. Sussell
Photo by Peter Glendinning, all rights reserved Michigan State University Museum

Family history records that Susannah Johnson was born somewhere in Pennsylvania, moved with her parents to Ohio, where she married John Justice. After his death, she married his younger brother, Jeremiah who served in the Civil War and died shortly after the war. About 1867 Susannah moved with her children to Campbell Twp., Ionia Co., Michigan.

In 1875 she used a large handkerchief, reported to have been carried by her husband in the Civil War, in this quilt to commemorate her country’s centennial and as a memorial to her late husband, Jeremiah Justice. The quilt was passed down through four generations of Susannah Johnson Justice’s family, treasured first by her daughter Nancy Cummins, then J. Elizabeth Cummins Potter, Maude Potter Shores, and Mildred E. Sussell, who donated it to the MSU Museum.

Susannah Johnson Justice