Block 27. A Stitch in Time

by Terry Thornton
email: hillcountrymonroecounty@gmail.com

A stitch in time. . . Block 27 of the circa 1931 Friendship Quilt in the Museum of the Itawamba County Historical Society

FRANKS, Grady Mr., Block 27

Henry Grady Franks 1903 - 1970, was the son of William Nelson Franks and Sara Emma Murphy Franks of Itawamba Country, according to Bob Franks. Grady Franks was married to Georgia Horton Franks.

FRANKS, Grady Mrs., Block 27

Georgia Horton Franks was the wife of Grady Franks according to IHS member Bob Franks.

JUMPER, Eld., Block 27

The Reverend Mr. Leonard Jumper once served in Itawamba County. When he retired from the Methodist ministry in the 1960s/70s, he and Mrs. Jumper lived in Plantersville, Lee County, Mississippi.

On the 1930 census, however, Reverend Jumper, 27, is shown as a Methodist minister living on Ripley-Booneville Road, Beat 4, Tippah County. His household included wife Susie, 24, and daughter Nona W., 6, and Loraine, 1.

The SSI Death Index lists Leonard P. Jumper, born July 26, 1902, died March 18, 1989. His last place of residence was Starkville, Oktibbeha County, Mississippi.

PEARCE, Roy, Block 27

Roy Pearce, age 21, and wife A.B. Pearce are shown on the 1910 census as farmers on Mantachie-Tupelo Road in the Mantachie Precinct.

The Lee R. Pearce, 40, farmer, listed on the 1930 Mantachie census may be this same individual. Then his household consisted of wife Emma B., 35, and son John M., 9.

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

Names are being embroidered on the 2010 Friendship-Memory Quilt, a fund-raiser project of the Itawamba Historical Society. If you would like to participate in this time-honored method of raising funds or if you would like to learn to appliqué or to quilt, contact the Society at 662-282-7664 or come by the Society's office at the Corner of Church Street and Museum Drive, Mantachie, Mississippi.

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.