My now 90 year old aunt taught me to hand piece when I was 15 and she taught me to use 1/4" seam allowance.
I think that that was probably used from the beginning bore out of necessity. A much larger s.a. on small pieces would have been difficult to get to lay flat (remember we have electri iron and they might have finger pressed) and all he s.a. would have distorted the block. Also, the limited access to usable fabric probably forced a very conservative approach its use.
Those women were no different from us. Through trial and error they problably figured what worked best and the 1/4" s.a. for piecing became a standard.
I think it is important to remember that all this "rules" are really just guidelines. The people who write the books are offering us lots of options. It is our responsibility to determine which work best for us. We are very fortunate to have so many options.
My grandmother wore out scissors, used newspaper (if she was lucky enough to have it) for templates and wore out a treadle machine, which was probably near impossible considering how many of them are out there for us to enjoy.
Sometimes when I am using a rotary cutter, I think of my granny sitting by the Warm Morning heat stove and rug hooking by kerosene lamps because her newly acquired electric had gone out again.
I am seeing more and more template quilts in magazines again. Just shows us that what is old is new again. There was probably something soothing about sitting by that heat stove in the evening and tracing templates onto fabric and then cutting them out. I love this memory. How fortunate that we are able to quilt for pleasure rather than out of necessity like those quilters who helped to perfect the art we enjoy so much.