Can you tell us about a family heirloom you have passed down?
One of my older sisters had a Bible that belonged to our paternal grandmother, and I have a daughter named after that grandmother.
After receiving the Bible in the mail, tonight I presented it to my daughter. My grandmother received it in 1909 from her mother when she was seventeen years old, and by coincidence, my daughter is seventeen.
The back binding is completely worn away, and my grandmother used simple masking tape to hold the front and back covers on. That tape is still there, though the glue has long since lost its ability to hold anything.
Thumbing through the treasure, we found pressed flowers, a Christmas card, and a torn page held in place by pieces of postage stamps. We also found a blank page on which my grandmother inscribed the birth dates of her husband and all her children in exquisite penmanship.
My grandmother died 37 years ago at the age of 84. I remember her cooking mostly, and occasional odors will wrench me back to her kitchen in the tiny house she lived in with its odd bathroom that had been added to the house well after its original construction.
There was a barn in back, which we emptied after her death. It blew down in a big wind not long after that. The contents had literally held it up for years.
The root cellar held jars of preserves that were 20 years old or older at the time. I kept some of the jars: an antique Folgers coffee jar with mountains silhouetted on the glass and the original paper wrapper still in place. There was also an antique Crisco jar with its paper wrapper, too.
Tonight, I feel my grandmother with me. Her Bible is now tucked safely in a chest with my daughter’s embroidery supplies.
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7 Answers
When my dad died, my mom gave me one of his old watches for my son. It wasn’t all that special, but it was from his grandad and he treasures it.
My wife passed on some of the family china and crystal to my daughter. When he lost his foot, my mom gave my son one of his grandfathers walking canes. Nothing fancy, just one he had used a bit.
What a treasure. I have a few pieces that I plan to pass on to my nephews. They have some things that were my father’s.
I was just contemplating our family bible the other day. I haven’t seen it since I was a kid, and I’m not sure where it is now. It had a family tree going back several generations. My father’s family came to the New World and New England in the 1500s or 1600s. However, our branch of the family tree was highly dysfunctional and there aren’t many of us and we almost never talk. I don’t personally have much interest in genealogy, but I wondered whether others might and could benefit from the information in there.
More sentimentally valuable to me are some jewelry items from my mother’s side of the family.
Wow. That was a wonderful story @Hawaii_Jake. Thank you for sharing it with us.
My mother’s Shaker rocker [that had come down from her family].
my dad’s sterling silver ID bracelet that his mother had made for him when he went to the European Front in WWII—his name on the front—his military ID on the back. I wore it in times I faced adversity.
My grandfather’s old Gillette double-edge razor. Silver-plated with an elaborately decorated handle and a screw-off head. In a metal case lined with purple plush with the Gillette logo and patent engraved on it.
My other grandfather’s briar walking stick [or shillelagh as he called it, although he never used it to beat anyone around the head as far as I know].
I haven’t passed it on yet but I’ve got a Masonic parade sword. It was my great, great grandfathers. It’s old as dirt.
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