Hmm -- there is a distinct cut-off of information on my family at the times that ancestors came to this country - mostly they were teenagers coming alone (or eighteen year olds immediately after their wedding in one case) or with a few other family members. Somehow they didn't leave us with much information about the people and places left behind. I have tried with limited success to figure some of that out along with help from an elderly aunt.
Some parts of my family have been here longer but all came by about the middle of the 19th C. The only arts or crafts I know about are my mother's interest in weaving and knitting - though she was more into sports - and her mother quilted. There were photographers and daguerrotypers in my paternal grandmother's family but I am not aware of any fiber artists. (I tend, not surprisingly, to have more information on the men than the women) DH's mother and her grandmothers were knitters - her family was Norwegian and brought that style of knitting along with them. DH's paternal grandmother was a quilter from the Appalachian tradition. Each of my children has a quilt that she made - plus my daughter has two baby quilts made for her as she was the only great granchild that DH's grandmother lived to see.
I think the fiber traditions in my family were closely related to use in their own homes - adding beauty to the everyday things that were used everyday rather than as a craft that was intended to produce items for sale to others although there is some evidence that one great-grandmother did take in sewing to help support the family during difficult times shortly after moving to what was then Minnesota Territory.
I do think that DH's grandmother encouraged respect for the handcrafts of women and was proud to give her quilts as gifts at weddings, births etc. I think she would like to know that her baby quilts have been passed along to great great grand-daughters and maybe someday will go to their children.
It is interesting to learn more about the family members who came before us and to speculate on what we share with them in terms of talents and interests.
Judy