Eunice Edwards…

By Eva Hallam Solberg

Published in the PCN on July 17, 1980

She pieced her first quilt when she was only 11 years old. Every stitch was done by hand. Over the years since then, she had done numerous beautiful quilts, from tiny colorful squares from her own and others’ sewing baskets.

Eunice Edwards was born in Eldorado Springs, Missouri, on April 10, 1892, to Andrew and Lydia Bunker. Her father, a tobacco farmer, died when she was nine years old. About a year later she went to live with her Grandma Rebecca Thedford.

“My grandma taught me how to make quilts. The first one was called an Improved Nine Patch.”

Her grandfather was a Civil War veteran and lived in the state hospital after being severely wounded during the war.

“I stayed with Grandma until I married William J. Edwards. After a few years, rent got so high in Missouri that we could hardly make a living. That’s when we decided to try the West.” They came to Cascade, Montana, in 1910, where Edwards’ brother and sister-in-law had a homestead. His father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. James Edwards, came out then, too, and took up a homestead.

Read the rest of the story in "Looking Back Again: Life Stories from the Prairies of Montana"
Click here to order