Rev. Hezekiah Best served as chaplain of the interdenominational Seaman’s Bethel Union Church in Baltimore from 1844 until 1847. (1) When he left, he was presented with a Baltimore album quilt stitched by members of the congregation.
Baltimore album quilts were unique to Maryland and made between the mid 1840s and mid 1860s. The permanent home of this quilt is Lovely Lane Museum & Archives but it was included in an exhibit at the Maryland Historical Society in 2004. You can visit the online exhibit here:
http://www.mdhs.org/QuiltPrj/quilthom.html
Where’s the story, you ask?
On January 19th, 1847, Rev. Hezekiah Best married sea captain Levin Dukes and Susan Tagret/Taggart, parents of Sarah Dukes, most likely in the recently completed structure on Aliceanna Street in Fells Point. (2) One of the squares of the quilt depicts the facade of the church building. That’s as close as we are going to get to a picture of the church where our ancestors got married in the very same year that they married.
That’s the story. And here’s the square and the entire quilt, as well. The images are from a set of notecards being sold at Lovely Lane. Let me know if you want a set! Or contact Lovely Lane directly by emailing lovlnmus@cavtel.net.
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(1) Schell, Edwin. “Preacher’s Collection.” Card File. Lovely Lane Museum & Archives (Baltimore, Maryland).
(2) “Married,” The (Baltimore) Sun, 23 January 1847, p. 2, col. 4.
Family Epic 
It’s beautiful!
Interesting! I was looking for a picture of the church, as the church at the corner of Aliceanna and Bethel was where my great-grandparents were married in 1900 by Frank D. Reynolds. I’m not sure why they married there — my great-grandparents lived (separately) in Federal Hill and there were closer churches — but they had their reasons.