AncestorNews: Readers’ Family Treasures

AncestorNews: Readers Respond With Treasures of Their Own

Thanks for your responses to my request for family treasure stories. I’d like to share a few of them with you.

• Annette Fulford of British Columbia, Canada, wrote: Among my favorite family treasures is a cameo brooch my grandmother received from her parents about 1920. It was reportedly purchased in Italy when her parents left England to live there between 1920 and 1923. It was a special purchase for my grandmother, who married in 1919 and was now living in Canada. Unfortunately, I did’t know where in Italy my great-grandparents lived, and when I asked family members, none of them knew.

   

  Then in 1998, I came across a family photo of a woman. On the back it read “Ann in the Hotel Garden-Rapallo.” After discovering that Rapallo was on the coast of Italy, I surmised that this was a photo of my grandmother’s sister-in-law Ann Gibson. I sent a copy of the photo to Ann’s daughter in England to ask if my assumption was correct.

  The daughter wrote back and told me that the picture was indeed her mother. She took the photo herself. After WWII her family took a vacation to Rapallo, Italy, to visit the town where her father stayed as a young man with his parents (my great-grandparents). The cameo is beautifultoo beautiful to keep hidden away in a jewelry box. I wear it as often as I possibly can.

   

• Margaret Blanchard wrote: My husband is the youngest of three. His sister, the oldest child, died in 1924 at the age of 18 months. For years, their mother kept the dress and shoes that Gracie wore the last day she played outside. When we received them, they were wrapped in waxed papertiny shoes still scuffed and dirty and a little white cotton dress sewn by hand with love in each small stitch. I have no idea exactly what to do with them. I think it would be nice to display them, but I’m a little afraid to try that.

  I also have a picture of Gracie in a frame that was made by her grandmother. They had no money to purchase a frame so she made one of twigs and vines found on the farm they worked in south Florida. We’d also like to preserve the frame, along with the little dress and shoes.

• Peggy Kaiser wrote: I wanted to send you the pictures of the quilt that I made for my daughter, Sarah, for graduation. I had friends and relatives sign quilt squares with a permanent fabric marker. The secret to writing on fabric is to iron freezer paper on the back. It stablizes the fabric so it’s easier to write on. It was a great way to make a memory quilt with modern conveniences.