Narcissa Benson (1828-1881) was the second of the eleven children of Silas and Nancy Miller Benson. She remained single throughout her life, and in 1878, following the death of her thirty-five-year-old sister Margaret Benson Nesbitt, Narcissa became the guardian and caretaker of Margaret’s three small children. Narcissa died in 1881, at the age of fifty-three. In a will executed before her own death, Narcissa bequeathed to each of these children $100 and "a nice bedquilt and counterpane."

Aunt Narcissa's Quilt [ca. 1880]