Aunt Betsy
On my loom right now are table runners that I’m weaving in a type of goose eye twill. The pattern is based on a diamond patterned tablecloth owned by the Keim family who lived in Berks County’s Oley Valley. The family traces back to Johannes Keim, who came to Pennsylvania searching for good soil to farm. When he found it, he returned to Europe to start a family and then returned with them to the Oley Valley in 1707.
“Aunt Betsy” tablerunner
Two centuries later, the household had dwindled down to five unmarried sisters. The last one to die was Elizabeth in 1911. She had never traveled by car or train in her entire life, preferring to stay close to home. Her estate included a whopping 65 tablecloths — including the one I’m replicating here and calling “Aunt Betsy” in her memory.
By most accounts, the family was mysterious. During an audit of Betsy’s estate following her death, a probate lawyer — exasperated by the complexities of entire ordeal — said “this estate is as peculiar as the Keims themselves were.” Indeed, they were fairly isolated and kept modern conveniences at a suspicious distance. The Keims preferred to stick to the old ways and traditions on their 300-acre farm.
Elizabeth “Betsy” Keim, 1829-1911
A lasting remnant of the Keims on the Oley Valley landscape is the home that Johannes Keim’s son Jacob built in 1753. It still stands along Keim Road in Pike Township and is a designated National Historic Landmark, being a significant example of German colonial architecture. Betsy’s ghost is allegedly still lingering around there.
Keim Homestead, Oley Valley, Berks County
