Locket Belonging to Margaret Thelma Francis, Firstborn of Coman and Lyda Francis

“More recently, I came across a little locket in a box, again, little small jewelry box that belonged to their firstborn child, Margaret Thelma Francis. The locket is inscribed on the front with her initials, ‘MTF.’ The reason they came to Clyde was for Thelma to be able to attend Haywood Institute so that she could go on to Mars Hill College. Unfortunately, she died after her first year at Mars Hill. Thelma was born in 1908 and she died in 1929. I believe that was the last year of Haywood Institute as well. But that's really about all I have about those artifacts that I have saved and treasured and happened to find.

“Mars Hill at that time was only a two-year junior college, of course, and so [Thelma probably studied] general education [at Haywood Institute], but I'm not sure.

“All of this is from my mother's side, my maternal grandparents and my grandmother. As I said, she was Shook from Buncombe County. John Bascom Shook was her father over there, again, a descendant of Peter Shook, son of Jacob. Then later as she moved to Clyde, to Haywood County, and had mother and three other children, mother ended up marrying a Shook from Haywood County who is the descendant of David Shook, another of Jacob's. So I always tell people on my own grandma. [laughter] But anyway, I don't know about that.”

Interview edited for clarity

Submitted by Sharon Shook on July 20, 2022