Block 25. A Stitch in Time

by Terry Thornton

email: hillcountrymonroecounty@gmail.com

A stitch in time. . . Block 25 of the circa 1931 Friendship Quilt in the Museum of the Itawamba County Historical Society

STOVALL, Alvah Mr., Block 25

Alvah Stovall was the grandfather of Jo Nell Wood, current President of the Itawamba Historical Society. Alvah Stovall as the husband of Lonnie Stovall whose name is also on Block 25, and father of Corene Stovall whose name is on Block 23.

The Stovall family lived between Centerville and Mantachie, Itawamba County, in the Spradling House. Many of the Stovalls are buried in Stevens Cemetery, Tombigbee Community, Itawamba County.

Alvah Stovall is listed in Beat 2 census of the county on the 1900 census. He was then 18 years old, single, and a boarder in the household of Abb and Mittie Boren.

The 1910 census of Oak Grove lists Alvie I. Stovall, 27, farmer, with wife Lone, 24, son Quitman, 4, daughter Ernie May, 2, and mother-in-law Dee Walker, 42.

On the 1920 census of Oak Grove, Alvie Stovall, 37, wife Lonie E., 32, sons William Q., 14, Opel, 8, and daughters Ernie M., 11, and Corine, 4, are enumerated.

Burton-Cruber lists the burials of Alvah and Lonie Stovall in the Dorsey Cemetery as follows: Ira Alvan Stovall 1882 - 1964 and Lonie Walker Stovall 1886 - ___.

STOVALL, Lonnie Mrs., Block 25

Lonnie Stovall was the wife of Alvah Stovall also on Block 25 and the mother of Corene Stovall on Block 23. Lonnie Stovall is the grandmother of current Itawamba Historical Society President, Jo Nell Wood. See information about Emma Leigh, Block 23.

SPRADLING, Effie Mrs., Block 25

Effie Spradling was the wife of farmer Esker E. Spradling of Beat 2, Guntown-Fulton Road. The 1930 household consisted of Esker E. Spradling, 32, wife Effie, 33, sons Guy, 13, and Billie, 3, and daughters Rudy, 9, Ruth, 7, Imogene, 4, and Bennie, 1.

TURNER, Minnie Mrs., Block 25

Minnie Flanigan Turner was the wife of Elbert Lee Turner and mother of Bennie Turner named on Block 23. Minnie Turner is listed with her husband and children on the Lee County Mississippi census reports of 1910 and 1920 in or near the Saltillo precinct. In 1920 she was listed as 38 years old.

An online family tree states that Minnie Lee Flanigan Turner 1881 - 1957 is buried at Priceville Cemetery in Lee County along with husband Elbert Lee Turner 1883 - 1964.

No other information was found on Minnie Flanigan Turner.

If you have additional information about any of the names on this quilt square, please post a comment below. Your help is needed to "write" the story of this almost eighty-year old quilt.

A stitch in time . . . The 2010 Friendship-Memory Quilt

The 1930s Friendship Quilt (whose individual quilt blocks are the subject of this series of articles) was made by the members of the Mantachie Methodist Episcopal Church South as a fund-raiser. The quilt, now in the Bonds House Museum of the Itawamba Historical Society, serves as the inspiration for the 2010 Friendship-Memory Quilt being prepared by the Society. You are invited to view the 1930s quilt and other artifacts at the Bonds House Museum and you are invited to participate in the 2010 quilt project. Come by the Society at the Corner of Church Street and Museum Drive, Mantachie, Mississippi, for more information --- or telephone 662-282-7664 for directions and details about the quilts.

SOURCES:

Family information from Memories from Itawamba County: A Friendship Quilt circa 1931 --- A Stitch in Time by Terry Thornton with assistance from Members of the Itawamba Historical Society, Itawamba Settlers, Quarterly Journal of the Itawamba County, Mississippi, History and Genealogy. Winter 2009, Pages 143-61.

Square from 1931 Friendship Quilt photographed by Terry Thornton, September 3, 2009, Bond's House Museum, Itawamba Historical Society, Mantachie, Mississippi.