Money was hard to come by in 1924 when Fred and Etta Jane (Berkeypile) Brugh were raising their young family in a remodeled log cabin two blocks northwest of the Marshall County Courthouse in Plymouth. He worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad, then the Plymouth Radio Company, while she cared for their four daughters. Frugality necessitated handmade then hand-me-down clothes for Myrtle, Goldie, Hazel and baby Helen.
Fortunately, Etta Jane was a skilled seamstress who could sew, knit, crochet and tat—the nearly lost art of making delicate lace from thread. She even saved the cloth bags flour came in, dyed the rough material and transformed the bags into tiny dresses decorated with embroidery.
Three-year-old Hazel wore a brown sack-cloth dress that miraculously has survived for nearly a century, and now fits her great-great-granddaughter and namesake, Hazel Jane Seltenright of Plymouth. She was photographed wearing the dress on August 12th before it was donated to the Marshall County Historical Society and Museum with a vintage basket of wooden blocks.
Two little girls named Hazel wearing the same dress nearly a century apart are a wonderful testament to Etta Jane’s handiwork. Amazingly, the 98-year-old brown flour sack cloth dress stitched together with love by Hazel’s great-great-great-grandmother doesn’t even look old.
This sweet dress is a wonderful addition to our clothing collection. The tiny hand stitching and embroidery tell the story of a mother’s love for her children, and her determination to be resourceful during difficult times. These are the types of stories we record at the Marshall County Historical Society and Museum. In time, we’ll be telling today’s stories too. Come in soon and enjoy the history of this special place.
Mary Ann (Travis) Wyand Garber is Hazel Brugh’s daughter. She grew up in Plymouth, worked for The Pilot-News in the mid-1970s and now lives in Lebanon.