Ann Otto
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Books

Blog

Family Treasures

10/14/2016

0 Comments

 
If we're lucky, we inherit a special item from an ancestor. As an only child, I'm fortunate to have many, like the chair I recently received   that connects me to the characters in Yours in a Hurry. I also asked friends what heirlooms they cherish.

One Chair Survives
Readers know that the eight children of Adam Milo and Rhoda Anne Terry Hartle were distributed among relatives after Adam and Rhoda died suddenly. Evidently a chair from their mid-1800s dining room set went with each of the children. Recently Henrietta Sanford Spencer, the last remaining daughter of one of the children, died. The chair was given to our family genealogist, Richard Hartle to determine a proper home for the heirloom. The family presented the chair (at right) to me, a descendent of my great-grandparents, Adam and Rhoda. We're all wondering where the others are.
Picture
I also value Anna Hartle Petry's jewelry. I inherited a few 1910's pieces. She must have loved jewelry. She's wearing beautiful pieces in the few photographs I've seen.  The ones below  are from Charles Gildemeister & Sons Jewelers which, according to the San Antonio City Data site, appears to have been in business until the late 1960s.



​



​









​

Picture
Two Harriets
Carol's great-grandfather built a chest with four legs in the late 1800s for his daughter's baby Harriet . Little Harriet died.  Someone in the next generation named their daughter Harriet, and the chest went to her. There wasn't another daughter in the family for some time, so now the chest sits in Carol's home under a mirror as a reminder of past generations. On the chest is a photo of Carol's granddaughter. Our lives and stories intertwine. The mirror was given to Carol by a neighbor. It was his mother's.

A Father's Goodbye
Kathy's dad worked for a power company tearing down buildings. One day he took home a very tall metal library filing cabinet. He was remembered for sending cards to relatives routinely. Years later Kathy and her siblings didn't expect what they found when her dad passed away. They decided to look in the many cabinet file drawers. The first of many notes to his children that they found said, "To Mike. I love you, Dad."
​

What do you cherish? What special item have you inherited?
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

    Categories

    All
    African-American
    Ann Otto Author
    Appalachia
    Architecture
    Asia
    Authors
    Aviation
    Biography
    Blog
    Burma
    California
    Cartoons
    CBI
    Coal
    Food
    France
    Geneology
    Germany
    Historical Fiction
    History
    India
    Influenza
    Iraq
    Japan
    Literature
    Little Cities Of Black Diamonds
    Los Angeles
    Military
    Netherlands
    Nonfiction
    Ohio
    Paris
    Philippines
    Quotes
    Real Estate
    Research
    Thomas Wolfe
    Travel
    Unions
    Women's History
    Writing
    WW1
    WW2

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Books