I had to quickly finish my Grandmother’s Block for the Pieces of the Santa Fe Trail sew along hosted by Melva Loves Scraps. For each block, Melva shares an excerpt from the book, Land of Enchantment by Marion Russell, who is a distant relative of Melva. The most recent excerpt has a connection to my city, so let me tell you about it.
In the excerpt, Marion tells of her little friend, Zeraldi Mimms, who happened to become the wife of Jesse James later in her life. That’s where the connection to my city comes in. On September 7, 1876, the James-Younger Gang attempted to rob the First National Bank here in our town. The townspeople took up arms and, for the first time in their career, the James-Younger Gang was defeated. Joseph Lee Heywood, cashier at the bank, refused to open the safe for the Gang and lost his life because of his courage to stand against them.
Each year, Northfield has an annual festival (with the exception of 2020) to honor Mr. Heywood and the others who defended the bank and our city. As I write this post Thursday evening, it is “Townie Night” in Northfield, when the locals gather downtown for food and fun before the official start of the Defeat of Jesse James Days tomorrow. If you want to read more about our festival, you can go to this link.
One of the highlights of DJJD (as we locals call it), is the re-enactment of the attempted bank robbery. Since you can’t be here to see it, you can go to this link and watch a past re-enactment. You can watch it from the beginning, or you can move forward to about 3:13 where the re-enactment is introduced. All of the participants in the re-enactment are local people. The entire celebration is run by an all-volunteer staff, and it is one of the largest outdoor festivals in our state.
So that’s the connection with the Pieces of the Santa Fe Trail excerpt, and Marion’s mention of Zeraldi Mimms. I thought it would be fitting to get my Grandmother’s Block done and this post written while the Defeat of Jesse James Days was happening here in my city.
Since I’m sharing hometown connections, I should note that the gold fabric in this block was designed by Margo Krager, who owns Reproduction Fabrics here in Northfield. This is a favorite fabric, and I only have a little bit of it. I think I need to pay Margo a visit!
Grandmother’s Block was delightful to make. It goes together so quickly, yet looks a bit complicated. I could be tempted to make a large quilt of these blocks!
I hope you enjoyed reading about the connection the sew along has with my hometown festivities. Thanks to Melva for gathering the excerpts and sharing them with us, along with designing such fun blocks!
Wendy
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