Stella and Frank Kappel received this quilt as a wedding gift in 1898 from Mrs. Wilhelmena Kappel. Although we don’t know the maker(s), we do know that “all the material in the comfort was made in the Zoar Community Woolen Mills, operated by Charles Kappel, wife and sons.”

Zoar was a communal society founded by German religious dissenters in 1817. The Zoarites emigrated from the kingdom of Württemberg in southwestern Germany to escape religious oppression, and they settled in Tuscarawas County. The woolen mills where the fabric used in this quilt was woven, was one of several industries through which the Zoarites supported themselves.

Zoar Wedding Comforter, 1898
Maker unknown
Zoar, Tuscarawas County
Wool, pieced and tied
66" wide x 73" long
H8917