Running head: TEXTILE INFLUENCE IN THE JASON HARTLEY FAMILY 1

Textile Influence in the Jason Hartley Family

Katelyn Hartley

Brigham Young University – Idaho

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Frieda Dietrich Tillack was born August 16, 1876 in Berlin. She is my 3rd great aunt.

When Frieda was 17 years of age her family met missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ

of Latter-Day Saints. The missionaries would hold lessons in her parent’s home and in a

rented town hall. Police were constantly after the missionaries. One night Charles Tillack

and his mission companion were teaching the Dietrich family and several others in a rented

hall. The missionaries had received word that the police were coming to arrest them.

Charles Tillack helped his companion to escape, but was unable to get out himself. One of

the women in attendance put her shawl around his head while another spread a blanket

over his knees. When the police came in they thought it was only local people gathering so

they left. This was the first time Frieda and Charles met.

After studying with the missionaries for some time Frieda believed what the

missionaries were teaching and applied for baptism. She was the first of her family to do so.

After her baptism Frieda’s one thought was to immigrate to Salt Lake to be with the saints

in America. Three years after her baptism Frieda had enough money saved for the journey.

Frieda was extremely sea sick while traveling. When she arrived in New York she took a

train to Salt Lake. The entire trip

took six weeks. While working in

Salt Lake Frieda again met

Charles Tillack. It was not long

until the young couple was

married in the Salt Lake Temple

on December 16, 1897.

Charles and Frieda Tillack

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I find it intriguing that my great, great, great uncle Charles was protected from a

group of police officers because a lady wrapped him in a shawl, disguising him as a woman.

This simple article of clothing protected my uncle from persecution. Historian Mimi

Matthews (2015), writes that, “their were no fashion accessories as versatile and

ubiquitous as the shawl” (para. 1). It was common in the 19th century to see a woman,

regardless of status, wearing a shawl. The empire-style gowns of the time were lightweight

and offered minimal protection against harsh weather, because of this shawls were

considered a necessity in any women’s wardrobe (Matthews, 2015, para. 2). Shawls were

made from various fabrics “including silk, lace, muslin, and cashmere wool” and mohair

(Matthews, 2015, para. 1).

The Shawl by Charles Sprague Pearce, 1900. Portrait of an Unknown Woman

by Alexander Molinari, 1800.
(As cited in Matthews, 2015)

Silk, a natural protein fiber, comes from silk caterpillars. Kadolph (2013) describes

silk as “a beautiful, luxurious fiber. It has a combination of properties not possessed by any
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other fiber: dry tactile hand, unique natural luster, good moisture absorption, lively

suppleness and draping qualities, and high strength” (p. 69) A Chinese legend explains that

silk was discovered in 2640 B.C by Empress His Ling Shi (Kadolph, 2013, pg. 69).

Lace, is “an openwork fabric with complex patterns made by hand or machine. Most

commercial lace is raschel knit, but lace is also made by weaving” (Kadolph, 2013, pg. 197).

Lace was very popular in Europe during the 16th – 19th centuries.

Muslin fabric is a “medium-weight, balanced plain-weave unbleached or white fabric

of carded yarns” (Kadolph, 2013, p. 300).

Cashmere wool, a natural protein fiber, is removed from the cashmere goat.

Cashmere goats are “raised in China, Mongolia, Tibet, Afghanistan, and Iran” (Kadolph,

2013, p. 68). The inner coat of the goat produces very fine fiber. According to the protein

fiber presentation done in class, cashmere has soft hand and beautiful drape. Due to the

high price of cashmere, it is often blended with other wool fibers.

Mohair, a natural protein fiber, is removed from the Angora goat. Mohair is “very

resilient and strong” it insulates well, and is ideal for drapery (Kadolph, 2013, pg. 67).

Literature of the 19th Century helps us understand how a shawl was designed and

worn. The following quotation is from the 1806 edition of La Belle Assemblée (as cited in

Matthews, 2015, para. 3)

“Large shawls of silk or mohair were also much worn, and in various shapes; some in
the form of a flowing mantle, appending from the shoulders, with a hood; others à la Turque;
others again square. But the most elegantly simple style of either the shawl or Egyptian
mantle that arrested the fancy, were those of plain or japanned white muslin, with a large
Egyptian border of deep green, in tambour or embroidery.”
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Cited in Matthews, 2015.

The 1855 novel North and South by Margaret Gaskell (as cited in Matthews, 2015,

para. 7) shares this description:

“[Margaret] touched the shawls gently as they hung around her, and took a pleasure
in their soft feel and their brilliant colours, and rather liked to be dressed in such splendour—
enjoying it much as a child would do, with a quiet pleased smile on her lips.”

While shawls were part of every woman’s wardrobe in the 19th century, war

between France and Germany in 1870 caused the shawl weaving industry to fall (Kadolph,

2015, para. 10). While the industry suffered, shawls were still an important part of

women’s fashions in the 20th century. Matthews finishes her article by stating, “even today,

shawls and wraps have their place in the wardrobe of any well-dressed lady” (2015, para.

8).

I would like to turn back to the life of Charles and Freida Tillack. In the spring of

1899 the young family was called to help colonize the North West Territories in what is

now Southern Alberta. They were to make their new home in a new town called Stirling.
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After receiving their call the young couple sold all the belongings they could not take with

them and in two weeks loaded their things in a boxcar. They arrived the 15th of June 1899

and unloaded their things on the open prairie that stretched as far as they could see in.

This was a new experience for the young couple. As they began to unload their

belongings a thundershower came and soaked everything that was not covered. They

barely had time to set up their tents before the storm struck. They lived in their tents all

summer, the weather was hot most of the time. Water had to be hauled in a barrel from a

near by slough that was full of bugs and had to be boiled before they could use it. They

were fortunate that they were able to keep a cow for milk. They had no way to keep the

milk cool and as a result the milk soon went sour and was made into cottage cheese and

with some meat and bread without butter. This was their main source of food for the

summer. When winter came Frieda was often left alone with their young daughter Rosie.

Once she was left waiting for her husband to come home from work. The weather turned

cold and it began to snow and with the wind whipping the tent it was hard to keep warm.

Frieda had very little coal to keep the fire going and her young daughter to keep warm. The

coyotes were howling out on the prairie and the temperature four below zero it was a night

Frieda would not soon forget. Charles built a

one-room house for the family to live in and

they moved in the 23rd of December. The

weather had turned very cold at this time

with a temperature of thirty-five below zero.

The Tillack Family with 4 of their 11 children.

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In her later years Frieda wrote a poem describing her life. Her faith and humility during

time of trial is evident in the words of the poem:

I thought to make my life a pattern fair

Woven in colors bright so all would blend in ever pleasing hue
With here and there a brilliant spot then grey toward the end
But now although the loom is but half done
The threads are tangled in a hopeless knot
The colors washed away with tears
And one design is but a helpless blot.
My pattern fair are dreams of yesterday
My faulty work half done I may not leave
I dare not cast my loam of life away
And yet with tangled threads how can I weave
A master weaver wouldst thou take the skeins
That I may weave with what remains
A humbler pattern at thy feet today.

Frieda in her later years

Frieda’s comparison of a woven fabric to her life is inspiring to me. Her likening of a

master weaver to Jesus Christ shows that she understood the Atonement. She knew that

Christ would be by her side through times of struggle and joy, or in her words a “helpless

knot” and “colors bright”. Constructing this paper has taught me that textile influence is

everywhere. From a shawl saving my 3rd great uncle from persecution, to my 3rd great aunt

comparing her life to a woven tapestry. It goes to show that there are no small things in this

life.
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References

Kadolph, S. J. (2013). Textiles: basics. Boston: Prentice Hall.

Matthews, M. (2015, July 29). Shawls and Wraps in 19th Century Art, Literature, and
Fashion History. Retrieved March 18, 2017, from
https://mimimatthews.com/2015/07/29/shawls-and-wraps-in-19th-century-art-
literature-and-fashion-history/