The long journey home

GUILFORD — A short time ago the Wayne Bennett family received an email from a young lady in Oak Park, Ill. requesting confirmation that they were descendants of Ruby Race.

Photo courtesy of the Bennett family

BACK TO HER DESCENDENTS — A sampler made by former Abbot resident Ruby Race Stone, left, in 1899 when she was 9, was recently returned from Michigan to her grandson Wayne Bennett of Guilford.

Lisa Keefe Scott’s mother in Michigan had purchased a quilt sample years ago that was made by Race, at the age of 9, and her aunt Clara that was dated March 29,1899 while the family had lived at Cole’s Corner in Abbot.

Scott’s mother had recently passed away and Scott decided to do a little detective work to return the sampler to Race’s family. With help from www.ancestry.com, cousins in Presque Isle and the Monson Historical Society, Race’s handiwork was returned to her grandson, Wayne Bennett of Guilford.

Race lived in the Abbot-area for the rest of her life. She was the only graduate of the Class of 1907 from Abbot High School, she married Gene Stone and had two daughters Opal Bennett and Ellen Merrill. She was a postal employee and served as Abbot’s town treasurer for many years.

It is truly remarkable that this sampler survived for over a century and returned hundred of miles to its starting place.