Treasures from the past

Cleaning out one's parents' house is a bittersweet experience. Memories are rekindled but one lives with the idea that an era is ending.

Sometimes the memories are in photos and I've shared some of those with you. Sometimes the memories are in things. One of the things I found today was my wolf-skin diapers! I know there is a photo of me wearing those things. I don't think I've found it yet. I have found the note where Dad's friend John Merrick sent them to him.

Another thing we've found is a pair of slippers my 4X Great-grandmother wore to a ball attended by the Marquis de Lafayette.

It seems there is no end to the treasures. We also discovered an 1850-era shawl!

Of course there are the usual, long known, antiquities such as another great-grandmother's deed to her Washington, D.C. home dated _____.

Some families don't have such things. My father's family is one such. It seems that one of my Grandfather's sisters was entrusted with the family heirlooms, and their disbursement to the next generation, but died before she could allot them. Her husband sold them to fund a new apartment in Florida! Family heirlooms from the late 1600s on were lost to his avarice.

It is unfortunate, but neither my sister nor I have space for all the things and many will go to auction to pay Mom's expenses. Look at Green Valley Auctions after August 19 for sale details. There will also be many books on weaving, 2 looms, 2 spinning wheels, a drum carder, wool, and numerous pieces of antique furniture.