Itawamba Historical Society: May 18, 2010 Meeting

The public is invited to the regular monthly meeting of the Itawamba Historical Society, Tuesday, May 18, 2010, at 6 PM. The meeting is in the auditorium of the society's complex at Mantachie, Mississippi, on the corner of Church Street and Museum Drive. A light meal will start the program followed by a short business session after which the program will begin.

The program, My Grandmother's Quilt, will be presented by Joe Nell Wood and will feature the names from a circa 1932 Friendship Quilt which belonged to her grandmother. The quilt will be on display at the meeting and a slide presentation of all of the names from the quilt will be shown. Below is shown Mrs. Wood's grandmother's name and block from the quilt.

Some surnames that the research of the names from this almost eighty year-old quilt include (but not limited to): Wood, Wallace, Carroll, Sheffield, York, Whitten, Trammel, Gray, Bean, Armstrong, Duncan, Chatham, Gassaway, Moore, Gurley, McDaniel, Gregory, Loden, Ganaway, Bradley, Jackson, Martin, Clayton, Lesley, Gurley, Wright, Franks, Cayson, Farris, Nabors, Summers, Ballard, Stidham, Bostick, Selby, Wiugul, McMillen, Shields, Crawford, Loague, and Kyle. Many of the surnames are from families centered around the community of Dorsey, Itawamba County where the quilt is thought to have been made.

If you would like to see the quilt and perhaps find your mother or grandmother or great-grandmother's name stitched in thread (and maybe in their own hand) on this friendship quilt, you are invited to the meeting Tuesday evening. Who knows, you might discover one of your ancestors who signed, embroidered, pieced, and then helped quilt this historical artifact.

Other Friendship Quilts are on display at the Society's museum and will be shown at the meeting Tuesday evening. The Itawamba Historical Society's 2010 Friendship Quilt Project includes the location and documentation of locally made friendship quilts as well as the production of a new friendship quilt to be raffled off later this year.