Article from
Woodford County Journal, Roanoke Review, Minonik News Dispatch
A Cover Story
JW Shults
Woodford County Journal
June 17, 1999
Lakeview Museum in Peoria has a display of Jacquard coverlets, bed covers produced by professional weavers, some of which come from Woodford County weaver Gottlieb Hohulin.
Hohulin, a Goodfield native that also farmed and served as a minister, produced many coverlets, about 30 of which have been documented by the museum.
The museum also has searched for biographical information from all the weavers in the display (18 weavers have work displayed ranging from the years 1841 – 1871).
The information was easy to obtain from Gottlieb’s great grandson Bill Hohulin of Goodfield has spent a lot of time digging through family history.
“I am just a novice historian so I would ask my uncles questions,” said Hohulin. “Stories about Gottlieb came from what they knew”
Born in Teningen, Germany in 1834, Gottlieb learned to weave linens from his father. Weaving can be trace back in the family to the 1600’s.
His parents died when he was young, and that left Gottlieb free to pursue a life America.
“I think that left him somewhat independent,” said Bill Hohulin
As a young man he served as a bell ringer in the Lutheran Church, but later became involved with the Evangelisch Tauf (Evangelical Baptists).
“He became involved with what was the founder of the Apostolic Christian Church, Samuel Froelich,” said Bill Hohulin.
While there is no direct evidence to suggest that Gottlieb suffered from any kind of religious oppression, it is easy to make that assumption. Froelich, with whom he was associated, fled Germany to live in France. The rest of Gottliebs’s family remains Lutheran to this day.
In 1859, Gottlieb immigrated to America, where, through his contacts Froelich, he settled in Montgomery Township.
Along with him on the trip were two sisters, Anna Maria and Julianna.
“We know that only one of his sisters made it here,” said Hohulin
According to Hohulin, when Gottlieb was asked about the other sister he merely responded, “Julianna got lost”
“She may have actually gotten lost” said Bill Hohulin. “Or she may have decided not to go to America.”
In 1860, Gottlieb married Augustine Wenger. They had seven children: Julia, Hannah, Joseph, John, Samuel, Timothous and Elizabeth.
“He was a devoted evangelist/missionary kind of person,” said Hohulin. “I have heard storied from other states as far away as Oregon that he would be there in the winter teaching.”
In the summer, Gottlieb would work a 120-acre farm to support the family. In the winter he would travel and teach. Somewhere in between, he found time to weave.
Weaving a coverlet could take a lot of time.
First, the Jacquard loom would have to be setup, which could take two weeks. After the loom was ready, the weaving itself would take between 12 and 15 hours per coverlet.
The loom was a huge device that would require storage in a two-story building because of the height. Gottlieb weaved in a barn in Goodfield where the corner of Fisk and Harrison streets are today.
The woven coverlets were made of cotton and wool. The Jacquard feature on a loom worked by having punch cards which allowed some needles with colored wool to push up through the holes, while other needles would be stopped by the card. The cotton would then be woven through the raised wool to create the design.
The design found on coverlets depend upon the weaver that created them.
Almost all of Gottlieb’s coverlets contain a large center medallion with other design patterns like flowers working throughout the piece.
“To add the center medallion would require much more detail,” said Hohulin.
Also original to Gottlieb’s work is the lack of naming and dating the coverlet in the bottom corner as done by most weavers.
“One things about his faith is that it promotes humility,” said Hohulin. “That could be an expression of his humility.”
Instead of the name and date, Gottlieb would often reserve that corner for a bird on a limb.
Of the 30 documented coverlets woven by Gottlieb, 28 are still within the family.
“Who knows if we will find them?” said Katherine Molumby, the collections manager for the coverlets at Lakeview. “Some have been thrown away, others have fallen apart.”
However, more of Gottlieb’s coverlets have been documented than any other weaver at the show.
“I think basically it is because of the family and their willingness to share information” said Molumby.
Originally, when Bill Hohulin started contracting family, he was unsure how many coverlets existed.
“It was like the Hohulin floodgate opened,” said Molumby.
Making documentation easier is the fact that much of the family has remained in the area.
At the end of his life, Gottlieb ran the fence machine at the Hohulin Brother’s Fence Company, the business started by his sons Sam, John and Tim.