Reunion adventure takes Staples/Clair family to Washington, D.C.

Extended family members with Hamilton County ties took what they describe as “a trip of a lifetime” last month.

That’s when 25 in the Staples/Clair extended family traveled together to Washington, D.C. to see in person an historic quilt that was made by an ancestor before the Civil War and later donated to the Smithsonian Institute.

Gina Staples Spohnheimer and her aunt, Mabelle Staples Romp of Stanhope, along with their husbands, were in the group of what they term the “Staples branch of the Clair family” that boarded a charter bus in Webster City early on a Sunday morning in September to make the trip to the nation’s capital. Family members ages mid-50s to early 80s came from Texas, Kansas, Utah, Minnesota, Missouri and Iowa to make the trip east.

With a laugh, Romp says she “had no choice of whether we were going. Doris and I (Gina’s mother) were the chaperones!”

“Many of us hadn’t been to Washington,” noted Spohnheimer, who now lives in Ames but grew up in Jewell and was a long-time Ellsworth resident. She took on the massive task of organizing the family trip from the germ of an idea that first came up at last summer’s Clair and Staples family reunions.

She not only contacted scores of family members from all over to ascertain interest in the undertaking, she coordinated dates and found a bus company she worked with on details for the itinerary of all-inclusive hotels, travel, most meals, and Washington tours with a guide.

“These families are large, and they get together every year,” noted Romp, 82, “but reunions aren’t always the best for really getting to know the relatives. The togetherness we had on the trip made it really fun, and everyone was excited to go because Gina got us a bus.”

“We learned lots about each other traveling together like that,” Spohnheimer says. “We were siblings, cousins, aunts, and uncles. We had just two rules: no discussing politics or religion.”

After staying overnight in Ohio on Sunday, the clan and their tour guide arrived in the nation’s capital late Monday, and the next morning they started taking on the city’s historic sites.

Even with a bus driver who took them as close as possible to the attractions, there was plenty of walking to see everything the relatives had in mind. “By Tuesday evening we were a bunch of tired, achy old people!” Spohnheimer says with a laugh. Still, they were ready to do it again the next day.

Wednesday was the highlight of the trip, the purpose of the unique excursion: the clan went to the Smithsonian Institute in their matching shirts to view the quilt that was on display there. “It was different that day. You could feel the excitement going in to see the quilt,” Spohnheimer recalls.

“There was something different about that day because there was something in the Smithsonian that we were connected to,” her aunt agrees. “The curator of the Smithsonian even came and talked to our group.”

The large quilt was made in the early 1840s by Abigail Ann Lane, the second or third great-grandmother of all the relatives on the bus. The top of the quilt, made of 432 silk campaign ribbons from the presidential campaign of William Henry Harrison, has a backing of white muslin. The ribbons were printed by Abigail’s husband, William Bagley Lane and are set perfectly into an attractive pattern.

A great-aunt who had the quilt gave it to the Smithsonian in 1923, and the letter thanking her for the donation is still with the family. According to Spohnheimer and Romp, many of the cousins had heard about the quilt, but no one was really sure whether it actually existed or where it was.

As Spohnheimer puts it is, “Just to find it now at a time when 20-some of us could pause our lives and go see it is awesome. And now we know the quilt is for real. It’s amazing to think we had an aunt back in 1840 who did that.”

Perhaps just as awesome is that this is the first time the historic quilt has ever been on display. It is scheduled to be shown at the Smithsonian only until July 1, 2018.

The family got back on their chartered bus on Friday to head west, returning to Iowa on Saturday, tired yet energized by seeing the quilt and warmed by the quality time they had to spend with their relatives. They agreed that the best part of the trip was being together as well as the significance of being related to the woman who made the quilt.

“This whole thing generates more ideas about the possibility of another family trip,” Spohnheimer concludes. “I think this sets the stage for more family interaction. This is not one and done.”