More about Susan McCord

Susannah Noakes was born October 7, 1829 in Indiana (probably Decatur County). She was known as Susan. At the age of 20, she married a school teacher from Ohio, named Green McCord. They moved to Iowa to begin farming, but soon returned to Indiana. They bought 80 acres of land in McCordsville, a town which had been founded by a relative of Green McCord. Susan and Green spent the rest of their lives on that farm.

Very little is known about Susan McCord. Like most women of her time, she did not leave behind diaries and writings which would tell us what her life was like or what she thought of the world. While we do have some information which has been passed on, most of what we can know about Susan, we must extract through what she did leave behind: her quilts.

We do know that Susan McCord gave birth to seven children. We know that as a farm wife, Susan was responsible for raising them. She was also responsible for taking care of the household: the cooking and the cleaning, the sewing and the laundry, and many other tasks which we still do today. Only she did not have the benefit of many of our modern appliances. And she was also responsible for tending to the dairy and the poultry. It was up to her to see that the cows and the chickens were taken care of.

Reminiscences by her family have helped us learn other details. Susan was an active member of the McCordsville Methodist Episcopal Church. She enjoyed gardening and practiced homeopathic medicine, using tree barks, roots, and plants for healing. And she spent time making decorative items for her home, including knitting accessories, embroidering bed linens, making decorative wreaths out of human hair, and of course, sewing quilts. These items, called "fancy work" saved them money, by adding personal and artistic additions to the home, without having to purchase expensive store-bought goods.

We know a little bit more about Green McCord due to the town records. Green was a prominent community member. He served in the Civil War, was an elder in the church, and was described as a staunch Republican. The family lived in a log cabin on their property. At some point, however, they managed to build a frame home. A 1902 history of the county called the new McCord home "...a paradise (compared to the log home) and a pride to the surrounding country, all the result of (Green's) personal labor and indefatigable industry."