Family Heirlooms - Abundant Genealogy Week 6

Sometimes I forget I have things that once belonged to and/or were made by my parents and other ancestors. I decided to make a list, as far as my memory takes me today, and make more additions later. Now that the list is made I should photograph these things and write about them.

It's hard to say for which I'm most grateful. Some of them in combination speak of one aspect of the life of a family member and are things that were a part of my childhood. Other treasures hold no actual memory of my ancestor and yet our hands meet across time as I touch the same thing he or she touched. Some are more present in my life and are in use often; others are seldom seen. Either way, I'm grateful for all of them.

Heirlooms in my possession either permanently or on temporary loan

• my father's roll-top desk
• several small chests of drawers that my father used for watch parts and other small items with drawers are about 1" high and from 18" to 22" wide (You can see two of them on top of the desk in the photo at the link above)
• small parts, papers, containers, and tools from inside my father's desk
  
• a mending basket and a button basket that belonged to my grandmother
• a pink depression glass lidded jar that my mother used in the kitchen
  
• my grandfather's fedora
• a rocking chair that one of my great-grandfathers made for my mother when she was a child
  
• a framed village scene that hung in my grandfather's barber shop (which my grandmother was going to throw it out and I rescued)
• several journal books that my father kept to record the repairs he made and the cost of parts to make the repairs on houses he rented to others
  
• two rectangular metal baskets my father used to carry tools to make the above repairs
  
• my mother's photo album (on temporary loan, as I understand it)
• my grandmother's photo album (also on temporary loan, as I understand it)
• my grandmother's recipe box and a spelling tablet she used to copy recipes
• several pieces of jewelry from my mother, father, and grandmother
• a metal belt buckle with the letter "G" in its center which my mother once said belonged to my grandfather, Gust Doyle
  
• one of my father's tobacco pouches
• my mother's 1941 black Singer sewing machine (which I still use)
• a double wedding ring quilt made by my great-grandmother (generously given to me by my brother)
• a double- or queen-size Dresden Plate quilt top pieced by my mother
• a single-size Dresden Plate quilt my mother pieced and she and my grandmother quilted
  
• a set of hot-pads crocheted by my grandmother
• linens embroidered by my grandmother
• a family Bible that belonged to my great-grandparents (which doesn't have and never had family information pages)
• ephemera and scrapbooks from my mother
  
• more to remember
  

I have a post in progress about my mother's rocking chair.

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This post was written to participate in Amy Coffin's 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy which is hosted on Geneabloggers. The theme will change weekly and may be posted any day of the week. This week's theme was family heirlooms. (For which family heirloom are you most thankful? How did you acquire this treasure and what does it mean to you and your family?) This challenge ran from Sunday, February 5, 2012 through Saturday, February 11, 2012. I invite you to participate if you'd like.