Show us and tell us about an heirloom, a special photo, a valuable document, or a significant person that is a very special part of your family history. Don’t be shy now, show us what you’ve got!
I have two items to share:
1) Fireplace tongs. At first glance, they don't look that special. They were used to start every fire as I was growing up, and I knew they were old. I think I knew they had been in the family multiple generations. But I didn't know the details. I may have been told them at some time as a youth, but I didn't retain the knowledge.
They come through my maternal grandmother, and they were forged in Pennsylvania. This is the extent of our definite knowledge. However, research shows that our lineage was last in Pennsylvania in the early 1800s.
The tongs were possibly forged by a 3rd great grandfather, William Denyer, either in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, or Philadelphia. He would have passed them on to his son, Ebenezer Denyer, who would have passed them to his daughter Margaret Denyer, who passed them to her daughter Myrtle Van Every, my grandmother. So I am at least the sixth generation to have started a fire with these tongs.
It's possible they come from the family of William Denyer's wife, Elizabeth Sliver, in which case they could date back to the 1700s.
2) The second item is a family heirloom of which I am proud. However, it is not something I can easily photograph. Though it's part of one of the first photographs I ever shared on this blog. My middle name. Cruvant.
I wasn't always as proud of it as I am now. It's unusual, as a middle name. The family name of a paternal great grandmother, it derives from the Lithuanian city, Kruvandai.
Photograph of modern day Kruvandai.
Source: photogalaxy.
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1 comment:
Growing up I always wished I had a really different and cool middle name like yours. Louise is just so...well Louise-ish.
Sheri Fenley
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