MetaChat - Cherished posessions

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05 November 2006

Cherished posessions I'm not talking about people we all know that we have special folks in our lives. Let me tell you a story...→[More:]
Years ago, as a child, I used to visit my mother's parents in the beautiful state of Maine every year. Every visit, I would spend time with a family geneology book, compiled in 1895 by one of my grandmother's relatives. It visited the family tree back to the 1600's (although the line has a few question marks as to names at this point, especially wives names). I even hand copied the "pedigree" on a poster board so I could have it at home. Upon my grandmother's death, while the family descended to "help" my grandfather clear out some of her things, the book could not be found.
Bad feelings ensued, with one of my aunts as the likely culprit, but the matter was dropped. Of course, she didn't seem any more innocent years later after my grandfather passed on, when she stole one of her sister's inheritances (all the family photos and paintings, from the 1800's through modern times). Imagine my shock, when a year later, another aunt (my mom was one of five girls and one boy) casually asked me if I'd like the family history book!!!!! A couple of my aunts and my uncle had traveled to Canada to scatter my grandparents ashes, and had visited her sister, who had the book in question!! It seems that some time before her demise, my grandmother had it sent to her sister, who then thoughtfully asked if I might like it. It is the most precious possession I have, along with my grandfather's thesis for his PHD, typed up by my grandmother and bound like a book. I couldn't believe it was given to me!!!!!
So I'm asking you all to share anything that means a lot to you, no matter how small an item. Please share your stories.

post by: redvixen at: 17:01 | 8 comments

Wow, redvixen. That's really cool. I don't have anything like that. What I do have is a couple of dishes left from a toy china tea set my sister gave to me when we were small. She spent her birthday money to buy it for me, which may be the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me.

I also have a glass Christmas ball with the Campbell soup kids on it. It was most likely a freebie my grandmother had sent away for. My grandfather found it a few years after she died in a box labeled "For Rossi, Merry Xmas, xoxo." I still cry every year when I take it out. Christmas presents from beyond the grave tend to have that effect.

posted by jrossi4r 05 November | 19:18

Oh, jrossi, that's so sweet! And that's exactly what I was looking for.

posted by redvixen 05 November | 19:28

Those are both sweet stories... wow.

Mine is not quite as cool, but I have a sofa and a few other pieces of furniture that my maternal grandfather bought in the early 1940s as furniture for a lake house. My mom and my uncle (twins) used to sleep on this sofa in the 40s and 50s, one at each end, during their naptimes. My brother and I would do the same thing in the 60s and 70s, if we were home sick from school. I have some great photos of my brother, who's in his late 30s and has a family of his own, playing on this sofa when he was 5 with a kitten that lived with us for almost 20 years and is still part of our family folklore. My grandfather died when my mom was only 6, but my grandmother left me this sofa (and the rest of this furniture) in her will when she passed on, when I was about 15.

My parents divorced (acrimoniously) after I was an adult, and without my knowledge the sofa was stored in a barn for over a decade. I finally managed to rescue it, and have it somewhat restored, and get new cushions made for it (since it's really just a wooden frame with springs, and doors and shelves on each end). Here's a picture of it as it looks now:

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That bookcase next to it is another piece of the furniture that came with the set... I also have an end table and an awesome corner table, but there are a set of twin/bunk beds, a dresser and a chest of drawers that got lost in the various family shuffles. None of that matters to me, though... it's just the couch, because my brother and I grew up on it, as did my own mom and uncle.

posted by BoringPostcards 05 November | 21:06

After my father died and my sister and I were clearing out his house (hovel), we found this little book. My sister wanted to burn it, but I saved it.

It belonged at one time to the Mundy family, who lived at Markeaton Hall in Derby, from the 1500s, until the family died out in the 1920s. The Hall was donated to the town, along with acres of parkland and became Markeaton Park, where I spent hours as a child. The Hall burned down in about 1965, but the Orangery remains.

I have no idea how my father came into possession of this book.

The inscriptions in it date from the 1600s, just a few lines on a few pages, and there are three signatures - Mary and Anne Mundy, from 1763, and Charles Godfrey Mundy, written in pencil, probably from the early 20th century. Some pages have been torn out, I suspect by Master Mundy, as they precede his scribblings.

I don't think it's worth anything in monetary terms, but I think I may eventually donate or will it to Derby Museum, which is strong on local history.

posted by essexjan 06 November | 13:08

Cool stories, bunnies!

EJ, I don't understand you're sister wanting to burn the book. There are other ways to dispose of it, donating for one, as you mentioned. Weird. Anyway, I can't imagine touching let alone possessing something that old.

At our last family reunion (2005) my mother's younger sister gave me my great-grandmother's (maternal line) hope chest. The chest itself is really cool, but in it is a treasure trove of old family linens including a quilt my mother remembers sleeping under as a girl (my g-gm made it), an unfinished quilt top, doilies, lace to be added to clothes, a beautiful lace blouse that was my grandmother's as a girl (my g-gm made it), a beautiful scarf, tableclothes and napkins. There are lots of stuff I don't remember because I've only looked through it once. My mum has had it in her house (storing it for me) until I can take possession of it. Now that I have a house, I'm looking forward to reclaiming it soon.

I'm not sure why I'm the one who got the chest and it's contents. I have two other female cousins it could have gone to (I don't think my brothers or male cousins would be interested). I can only hope one of my nieces is interested in it when it comes time to pass it on (I don't have and won't have any children of my own). Some of it is, I believe, or will be, museum quality but I'd rather keep it in the family.

posted by deborah 06 November | 15:55

What a great thread this is - I missed it earlier. That is so cool about the Campbell's Soup ornament!

I have all 4 of the books my mom taught me and my 3 sisters to read with. They have amazing graphics. Below are the cover and inside 1st pages of the first book.

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posted by chewatadistance 07 November | 09:59

Wow, chewy, that cat drawing is amazing.

posted by essexjan 07 November | 13:06

Essexjan, what a cool find! In my newspaper today, the library in Metuchan, New Jersey, found a 370 year old book in their basement files! Apparantly, it had been donated "by a resident decades before" but sat for years without anyone knowing it's significance. It's leather-bound, 1600 pages, titled "General History of Plantes" (sic) printed in 1636. I love this kind of stuff.

posted by redvixen 07 November | 20:33

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