Saturday, October 19, 2019

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- What Family Heirlooms Did You Inherit or Obtain?

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: 

 It's Saturday Night again - 

time for some more Genealogy Fun!!


Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!):


1)  The NEHGS Weekly Genealogy newsletter asked an interesting question this week - let's use it for our SNGF this week.


2)  What "family heirlooms" did you inherit or obtain?  What are your most cherished possessions that were owned or created by an ancestor or relative?  They could be photographs, letters or documents, a diary, an audio or video recording, books, jewelry, clothing, quilts, needlework, drawing or painting, toy or doll, collectibles, musical instrument, furniture, something else?

3)  Share your cherished heirloom(s) in your own blog post, on Facebook, and leave a link to it in the comments.

Here's mine:


There are so many that I received from my mother's family, mainly because she was an only child and her parents were only children, so nearly everything three generations had were handed down to my brothers and myself.  So my portion included:

*  Oriental furniture collected by my grandmother.
*  Victorian furniture obtained or made by my great-grandparents - a rocker, some nested tray tables, etc.
*  My great-grandmother Della's scrapbook with clippings and photographs.
*  A wealth of photographs, including some cased photos from the 1860s.
*  Several large photographs of the 30th Street house and my great-grandparents marriage certificate on the wall of our hallway.
*  Letters from cousins "back east."
*  Books from the late 1800s, some with my Carringer grandfather, great and great-great grandfather's names inscribed.  My daughter Tami has some of the schoolbooks.
*  Two sets of family Bible pages for the Carringer and Smith family.
*  Two of my grandfather's pocket watches.  They don't keep time well now.
*  My grandfather's drafting set and magnifying glass.  I use the magnifier every day.
*  A photo album from my grandmother's cousin, Bessie (Auble) Pentecost.
*  Many examples of my mother's copper enamel artwork, which are on out living room walls.
*  About 70 50-foot 8 mm movies from about 1940 to 1980 taken by my grandfather and father.  
*  A fine German and English ancestry, with no living first or second cousins!

From my father's side, I received:

*  Three reels of audio tape recorded by my Aunt Geraldine in about 1990.
*  A Union Case (ambrotype) with photos of my 2nd great-grandparents Isaac and Lucretia (Smith) Seaver.
*  Many Seaver and Richmond family photographs from the 1880s and on, some of which are on our hallway walls.  
*  Geraldine (Seaver) Remley's photo albums and college diary. 
*  Marion (Seaver) Hemphill's photo album.
*  A drop leaf table that 2nd-great-grandmother Sophia (Newton) Hildreth passed down - it cost $500 to ship it cross-country and the darn thing had no useful stuff in it at all!
*  A fine New England and English ancestry, with about 20 living first and second cousins.

There are things I wish I did inherit --

*  My grandfather's postage stamp collection - my father sold it piecemeal
*  My grandparents postcard collection - there was a garage sale and I fear the hundreds of postcards, some of them family photos, went to local thrift stores or collectors.
*  The aircraft propeller given to my great-grandfather Henry Austin Carringer when he retired from Rockwell Field in 1932 at age 79.  I don't know what happened to it, and I wish they had kept it!


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Copyright (c) 2019, Randall J. Seaver

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8 comments:

Seeds to Tree said...

Good idea, here's my link.
seedstotree.blogspot.com/2019/10/randy-searvers-october-19th-saturday.html

Jacquie

Diane Gould Hall said...

I also like this idea Randy. Let’s see if I get something together for this week or maybe next.

Lisa S. Gorrell said...

I have written about heirlooms before but thought of a few more.

https://mytrailsintothepast.blogspot.com/2019/10/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-what.html

Janice M. Sellers said...

Since two of my family heirloom were stolen, I really only have one left:

http://www.ancestraldiscoveries.com/2017/08/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-family.html

Liz said...

Loved this idea, Randy!

I was running into Sunday morning, but here's my post:

https://gatapleytree.blogspot.com/2019/10/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-what.html

Lacie Madison said...

Here are family heirlooms I hope to inherit.
My post

Linda Stufflebean said...

Here is my list. Lots of sentimental items! https://emptybranchesonthefamilytree.com/2019/10/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-61/

Matthew Miller said...

OK. I'll play https://matthewkmiller.blogspot.com/2019/10/family-heirlooms.html