Keepsake Box
Among my mother's things was an old set of boxes with a matching hand mirror, the kind you might find on a bedroom dresser 100+ years ago. For various reasons, I were pretty certain they can from my mom's paternal grandmother whom is my great grandmother Grace. They were all empty except one which contained the above items.
The arrowheads are pretty self explanatory and though I have never found one myself, I am getting quite a collection of them. The Cornell college pin though I wasn't too sure about. Grace had been a homemaker all her life, at least as far as I could remember. Her husband Victor, whom I have written about many times in the past, was a salt salesman for much of his life for the Carey Salt Company. (He is also a World War I veteran who took a camera and came back with 300+ pictures of his time in Europe.) I started looking through my computer files and after a bit, found one mentioning that Victor had attended Cornell College.
The article and many others came from my great great grandmother Elizabeth Cogswell Kuck's scrapbook but few were dated. However this one had a date of 1914. So I'm pretty sure the pin belongs to him. As it turned out, there was another article from his time at Cornell where he was heating up some potassium chlorate and it exploded and badly burned his hand. It was enough of an injury that Victor was denied admission to the army twice before he was finally allowed in to join the military and go overseas to participate in World War I.
Since the Cornell pin belongs to my great grandfather Victor, most likely the arrowheads did as well but I'm unsure as to who the picture pin belonged too and whose portrait is in it. Assuming it too belonged to Victor, the most likely guess would be his mother Elizabeth. The only picture I have of her as a young child is below and I don't see any resemblance.
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| Elizabeth Cogswell Kuck |
I thought perhaps it could be a childhood picture of his wife Grace and have several pictures of her at that age to reference. Again, I don't think it looks like her either. So it is a mystery and probably will remain that way. Heck, it may belong to someone else altogether and just got thrown in there for a convenient place to put it not knowing it being out of context might stump a future genealogist.
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| Grace Smith Kuck |
I suppose I could uncrimp the metal on the back of the pin and see if there is any writing on the back but I'm guessing that unlikely and so won't. Instead, I think I'll put it back on the dresser box that it came in now on display in one of my bookcases downstairs in the family room.
Another interesting mystery with more interesting sleuthing! It's a shame people didn't date and label things better back then. I have a whole family photograph album with very few photographs labeled. Add to that, when I was young enough for my older relatives to be around, I wasn't interested enough to ask.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I have that same problem too. I need to up my game on labeling to try and counteract this.
DeleteWill you put a note in the box as information for others some day?
ReplyDeleteI haven't, but I should. Perhaps even better, I should print out this post and put it in there with them, as well as my great grandfather's box too.
DeleteI ask because my mother has some notes in little stashes here and there.
ReplyDeleteInteresting finds. It's so frustrating to find old family photos and be unable to identify the subject! (Assuming that IS a family photo.) How certain are you that the second photo is Elizabeth Cogswell Kuck? I ask only because the hair seems to suggest it's a boy, and I have old photos of my grandfather as a baby wearing a similar smock-like garment.
ReplyDeleteI would say fairly certain as it is written on the back of the photo. But yes, I have many pictures of males in my tree wearing similar smocks and someone else along the line could have errored in identification but since it comes from my a paternal branch in my tree, it would have to be my great grandmother since it is feminine handwriting. Still possible since this would be her MIL. I have numerous examples of Elizabeth's handwriting though so I should really compare it because if it is her handwriting, it surely would be her.
DeleteI had the same thought as Steve, but if it's labeled.... That's a fancy doll in that last photo! Perhaps she stipulated she wouldn't pose without it. I think my husband has found an arrowhead on our property, or maybe on the farmland we use to own in the Delta.
ReplyDeleteBtw... I went back and checked the tree today and it's a sweet gum. Liquidambar styraciflua.
I thought the same thing about the doll! Thanks for looking at the tree again. I've seen a few sweet gums, but never one with exposed roots like that. It must be like you said due to erosion and not a common thing. I may have to look at that photo further because now you are all causing me doubt!
DeleteI often find old photos with names on them but sometimes the names mean nothing to me. They were probably friends or neighbors of relatives; those stories and connections are now lost.
ReplyDeleteI have too though I have generally been able to find records on them, I sometimes haven't been able to find the connection to my family.
DeleteCool stuff, Ed. Do you have access to those WWI photos? Just curious what Victor took pictures of while he was away.
ReplyDeleteThat actual photo album is in possession of my uncle but I have digital scanned copies of every single one. One of my future projects is to create another album perhaps with words and pictures pertaining to the War from my great grandfather's eyes. To answer your question specifically, there are pictures spanning the whole shebang from his journey over there, lots of camp life pictures, pictures of airplanes they were fixing (he was in an aero repair squadron) to a few pictures of what probably was front lines at one time or another judging by the destruction all around.
DeleteDo you think it is possible that the pictures were gifted to Lizzie and that her name was written on them indicating the picture was FOR her, not OF her.
ReplyDeleteThat is a good thought. I've got numerous pictures of her that I haven't looked at yet, I need to see if any of them have her signature on them.
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