Someone asked about the history of the LeMoyne Star in the topic containing the beautiful LeMoyne Star quilt.
Since we have one in our family I did some research when we first found the name of this pattern. So here is what I found.

It all starts on a fateful day in 1699...

The first permanent European settlers in the Southeast US were French. The LeMoyne brothers, Pierre LeMoyne, the Sieur d'Iberville, and Jean Baptiste LeMoyne, the Sieur de Bienville, sailed into Mobile Bay in 1699. By 1711, Fort Louis (on the present site of Mobile, Alabama) had been settled as the capital of the French colony known as Louisiana. (1)

"The earliest published date of the LeMoyne star is in a collection of patterns attributed to Joseph Doyle in 1911, according to Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns. The configuration falls into the category of “Eight-pointed/45 degree Diamond Stars”. Doyle called this pattern “Puritan Star”." (2)

No word in what I've found on how Puritan Star became the LeMoyne Star.

Thanks for researching. Love hearing the history.

I love the LeMoyne Star...my very first real quilt. Crazy me didn't have a clue what I was doing but I was in love with the pattern. Did it totally by hand and now just shake my head when I look at it.