ROSWELL KILBOURNE, WONDERLUST, RIVER RAT

ROSWELL KILBOURNE, WONDERLUST, RIVER RAT

By Teresa Martin Klaiber, 2020

Growing up in Ashland, Kentucky, my parents and I would follow the ribbon of the Ohio River to Portsmouth, where we were born.  Sometimes we followed the river on the Kentucky side from Boyd County through Greenup County, crossing the bridge at Portsmouth. For variety we crossed the Ashland Bridge and drove through Lawrence County to Scioto County.  Mother would reminiscence about her friend, Betty Bryant, that lived on a showboat and how she loved to swim in the Ohio River.  She would say she could easily be a “river rat.” 

Taking day trips with my paternal grandmother, often lead us back to Burlington in Lawrence County, Ohio where her mother, Clara “Callie” Kilbourne was born in 1870.  My great grandmother lived long enough to hold me and see me learn to sit up before her death in Portsmouth in April 1950.   Grandmother would often point out where the Kilbourne’s resided, in Burlington, in a two-story house, along the river bank.  She told me stories about how the river played such an intricate role in the Kilbourne family life.  When I asked if they were “river rats” she would smile and say, yes, she guessed they really were.

Four generations of Roswell Kilbourne’s fill my genealogical chart.  Roswell (s/o Roswell; Roswell; Roswell; James; Joseph; John; Thomas) was born in Castleton, Rutland County, Vermont about 1800.  The farmers were known for sheep and the first industries in the town included mills.  By the age of 18, according to family, Roswell was working as fuller.  But It appears he had dreams and wonder lust.  When interviewed for a Kilbourne history, Roswell’s brother, Alanson told Payne Kenyon Kilbourne that he had not heard from his brother for more than thirty years, that he had gone to Indiana and talked about going to South America.[i]

By the time Roswell was 19 years old he met Rhoda Snapp, from Hampshire County, Virginia.[ii] This researcher still struggles to find out how they met or where they married.  Roswell and Rhoda purchased land in Vincennes, Indiana where it was paid off by 24 April 1820.[iii] The land lays on the Wabash River in what is northern Vincennes.[iv]  Between 1820 and 1826 Roswell and Rhoda had four children: Joseph, Maria, Roswell and Almira.  About the time Almira was born, in 1826, is apparently the last time Roswell’s brother Alanson had contact from him in Indiana.

The terminus of the Wabash River is the Ohio River west of Evansville.  The Ohio flows into the Mississippi at Cairo, Illinois where it flows pass Memphis, Tennessee.  According to the history of Vigo County the first steamboat arrived in Terre Haute, Vigo County about 1824/25, named the Florence. [v] with Captain Donne.[vi] The 2^nd was the Ploughboy.[vii]  The article on the Ploughboy states it had traveled over five thousand miles up and down the Wabash, Ohio, and Mississippi River.  “By 1829 steamboats including the Victory, William Tell, Criterion, WASP, Virginian, Highlander, Talisman, Monongahela, were all reported as stopping in Vincennes…”[viii] In 1832 the steamboat named Vincennes launched from the town.  The list of more and more steamboats stopping at Vincennes were reported in newspapers that year. 

By 1832/1833 Rhoda was pregnant with her fifth child Rollin.  Family lore states that Roswell Kilbourne was killed in a steamboat accident and buried in Memphis, Tennessee in 1833.  Steamboat boiler explosions and fires were common place.[ix]  1833 was also the year of raging Cholera among the river men in and around Memphis.[x]  Newspapers reported accidents but only in a few cases do articles include a full list of victims. Roswell Kilbourne never made it to South America.

During the Civil War Roswell’s son Rollin stated on his enlistment that he was born in Wayne County, Virginia. Wayne was not formed until 1842 thus his place of birth would have been Cabell, Virginia where the Guyandotte River meets the Ohio, just across from Lawrence County, Ohio.  Further research is needed to ascertain if Rhoda and the children left Vincennes before or after the death of Roswell Kilbourne in 1833 near Memphis.

Rhoda remarried John Cunningham, 29 May 1845 in Lawrence County, Ohio.  He had four children by a previous marriage, all born in (W.) Virginia.  In 1847 the Cunningham’s had one more son Henry born in Lawrence County.  Both families were residing in Fayette township in various households in 1850.

Roswell Kilbourne, son of Roswell 1800-1833 was residing with his sister Almira Kilbourne Carter.  Almira had married John H. Carter the same year her mother remarried.  Almira and John were married 16 December 1845 in Lawrence County.  John Carter, while listed as a farmer in 1850 listed his occupation as “pilot of boat” in 1860.  Almira’s half-brother Henry Cunningham, now 13, was living with them in Fayette Township, Lawrence, Ohio. The township is bordered by the Ohio River.

 John and Almira Carter sold ½ acre of land adjacent the town of Burlington “whereas the county road leaves Washington Street…to the bank of the Ohio River”[xi] to Roswell Kilbourne. The Carter’s along with Henry Cunningham migrated to Linn County, Missouri. Roswell Kilbourne, born 18 March 1822, beside the Wabash River in Vincennes, Indiana, was now the owner of property on the Ohio River.  This certainly qualifies him for the urban term “river rat.”[xii]

Roswell Kilbourne was a carpenter, building and repairing boats along the river, as needed.  He married 10 October 1854 Sarah Jane Adams in Lawrence County, Ohio.[xiii]  Their first-born son, Ira born October 1855 died 7 December 1857.  He was buried in Greenlawn Cemetery, at Burlington, on Burlington-Macedonia Road that runs parallel to the Ohio River.  Five of their eleven children were born prior to the Civil War.  Besides, Ira, Almira, Sarah, Emma and Ida May were all born in Burlington township.  Sarah died 14 May 1864 and was also buried in Greenlawn Cemetery.

My great grandmother Clara told the family that during the Civil War he was held in New Orleans on suspicion of being a northern spy.[xiv]  This compiler is the owner of a letter written the 24^th day of (month unreadable) 1865 from Roswell Kilbourne to wife Sarah Jane.  I have transcribed it complete with mis-spellings.

"Dear Wife, I recive your letter of eight and was glad to here from you but was sorry you was so --- about your money. it did not have time you will get before you get this. It found me well Capt. Warner is hear and has chartered out the boat again an will leave hear for home to morn i will send you more money by him i could not make out all of your letter tell the children i wold like to be with them on Chrismy and see wat the(y) get you must get them something for me and tell me wat the(y) get thenn as maney apples the can eat you never said whether you got more coal or corn. if you have not you will pay for it we will sill sum up red river. Warner is not on the Bostone he said nothing doing up thar so is will fight it out as long as i can and then com home to stay i want you to take good care of yourself an children. So I will close but remain your loving husband. R. Kilbourn. To S. Kilbourn.  I will send you seventy dollars by Cap Warner doe not kep nor move money by you than you want still get all you can of --- but doe not be to hard on him so he will not get mad or he will not pay you.”

While Kilbourne may have been detained at some point, the letter indicates that he is not in prison but earning money along the rivers.

Captain Warner, listed in Roswell Kilbourne’s letter to his wife, was Charles P. Warner who helped build and was the first  Captain of the Mollie Able.  The Mollie Able was built in 1864 with five boilers. She was launched at Jeffersonville, Indiana.  She was in Cincinnati in January 1864 getting her final touches along with Captain Warner. [xv] The usual run was from New Orleans to St. Louis.  The Mollie Able was severely damaged in the Great St. Louis Tornado in 1871 when the boilers exploded,[xvi] [xvii] rebuilt and late in her career ran the Red River. 

The Mollie Able is mentioned in The Rebellion Records: A Diary of American Events Volume 8, edited by Frank Moore, page 79….”April…1864…Just then a steamer…we supposed at first that she was the Mollie Able which the captain of our boat said was due at Fort Pillow …she was one of the boats the rebels had captured, …When we saw her coming we noticed that she was loaded with troops,; whether Union or Rebel we could not tell…The general said to our captain: “Can you run that boat down? He said: If it is the Mollie Able I can run right over her…got nearer, however we found she had Union troops on board…” 

The Memphis Bulletin, 6 January 1865 reported that Captain Warner and the “swift Mollie Able” were leaving for Vicksburg and New Orleans.  This places Warner in or near New Orleans and the subject of the Kilbourne letter.

Edna Ferber mentions a Mollie Able along with a showboat she names the Cotton Blossom in her novel Showboat (page 97).  The Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterways Library contains a picture of the Mollie Able  pushing the Cotton Palace. The actual picture was taken in 1929 for the movie version shot on the Sacramento River. According to one article Ferber’s named boat Cotton Blossom was changed to Cotton Palace because the actual owner of the showboat demanded extravagant fees for the name use in the movie.[xviii]

The Bostone mentioned in Kilbourne’s letter may be the second Bostona. The first one of that name ran from Cincinnati to Portsmouth, was dismantled in 1860 and the machinery used in building the 2nd Bostona. A third Bostona was built in Cincinnati in 1879 according to Marshall University’s digital library. The 2^nd Bostona was on her maiden voyage and was the first on the scene in Memphis when the Sultana exploded 27 April 1865.

Riverboat historian James A. Wallen, a descendent of Captain Julian F. Davey of Ironton, Ohio of the second Bonanza, said that he was aware of at least four steamboats that were launched at Burlington, Ohio: Daniel Webster later known as Oliver H. Perry 1829; Irene 1844; The Billow 1846; and the Red Chief 1857.[xix] 

Of these, The Red Chief was owned by James Schute and Jesse Dillon of Lawrence County, Ohio and was said to be registered with the Confederate government[xx]  It was often in Alabama and New Orleans during the Civil War. By January 1865 she is listed as belonging to the US Quartermaster Department.[xxi] The Irene was a passenger packet that appears to have operated out of Opelousas, Louisiana during the Civil War.

Roswell Kilbourne was old enough to have possibly been a carpenter on any of the last three when they were built in Lawrence County, Ohio. It is believed that he was home on 12 May 1866 when his three year old daughter, Ida May” died and was buried along with her siblings in Greenlawn Cemetery at Burlington, Ohio.  Rhoda was pregnant, at the time, and gave birth to Mattie B. Kilbourn, their 6^th child,  on the 24^th at Burlington. 

Roswell continued his carpentry trade at their home in Burlington in the 1870’s and 1880’s.  My great grandmother, Clara “Callie” Kilbourne (Geer) was born in the house 19 January 1870.  Almira married William Loyal Hardy 17 May 1874 and their first child Fred Hardy Sr. was born in the house 23 June 1875.

It certainly was a full house.  Rhoda and Roswell had three sons between 1872 and March 1875: Frank, Fred and Edgar.  Edgar died of “brain fever” when he was one and was buried in Greenlawn.[xxii]

Photograph donated by Fred Hardy Jr. descendent of Almira “Myra” Kilbourne Hardy. If you look closely you can see the river to the left in background.

The Kilbourne’s moved to Ashland, Boyd County, Kentucky between 1886 and 1887.  But they never left the river.  Their home was as close to the river as possible; 810 West Front Avenue.  At the age of 72, the city directory still states that Roswell Kilbourne is a carpenter.  Sarah Jane died the 3^rd of July 1898 of Brights Disease[xxiii]  On the 6^th of July she was laid to rest in the cemetery at Burlington. 

Clara graduated from Ashland High School in 1889.  She went on to Barboursville Normal School which was later absorbed by Marshall College now University.  She cared for her father while teaching in the Ashland school system.  Roswell Kilbourn died 30 March 1902.  He was buried in his daughter Almira’s family plot near the Weeping Lady in Ashland Cemetery.  The Hardy’s and Clara had Sarah Jane re-interred beside him in the same family plot.

Three months after her father’s death, Clara “Callie” married George Page Geer in the Presbyterian Church at Ashland.  When her husband died in 1913 in Clarksburg, West Virginia he was brought back to Ashland to be buried next to her parents.  My great grandmother continued teaching after the death of her husband, moving to Portsmouth, Ohio. When she died in 1950 she was brought to Ashland and buried beside her husband in the same plot as her parents and sister. 

My grandmother, Clara Page Geer Martin, also a teacher in the Portsmouth, Ohio system, died 10 June 1998, and at her request was buried with her parents and grandparents.  At the age of 70 I often visit my grandmother, great grandparents and great great grandparents place of rest.  My father died a year after his mother and while not in the same plot, is also in Ashland Cemetery, as is my mother who loved the river.  May they rest in peace.  May the history of the river and my families love of the river along with the stories continue to be handed down generation after generation. 

Ol' man river
That ol' man river
He don't say nothing
But he must know something
Cause he just keeps rolling
He keeps rolling along
Rollin' along
He don't plant tators
He don't plant cotton
Them that plants 'em is soon forgotten
But ol' man river
He keeps rolling along
You and me
We sweat and strain
Body all aching
And wracked with pain
Tote that barge
Lift that bale
Get a little drunk
And you land in jail
I gets weary
Sick of trying
I'm tired of living
Feared of dying
But ol' man river
He's rolling along

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Jerome Kern / Oscar Ii Hammerstein

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[i] Kilbourne, Payne Kenyon, The History and Antiquities of the Name and Family of Kilbourn. 1856. P. 188; 280

[ii] Daughter of Joseph Snapp and Margaret Craven

[iii] Bureau of Land Management, BLM Serial #: IN NO S/N, www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch (: , ), Accession/Serial: IN0030_.500 Roswell Kilbourn.

[iv] Terre Haute Tribune 2 Apr 1955. Legal Notice Vigo Superior Ct. to clear title of property known as lot #550 block 35 in Highland Place same being subdivision of S 10 T 12 N Range 9 w on recorded plat.  Both Roswell and Rhoda cited as deft. With address unknown.

[v] http://genealogytrails.com/ind/vigo/

[vi] Snow, John Fletcher. History of Adams County, Indiana. Page 31

[vii] Gilmore, Parker sketch of steamboat 1872 page 20 Dorothy Clark’s Terre Haute: Wabash River City.

[viii] Lawrence Lore. Blog. Illinois Historical Society Blog. 23 Jan. 2013

[ix] NOTE:  History of Memphis Tn by Judge JP Young 1912 p 375...steam boat disasters at or near Memphis...The Helen McGregor a Louisville New Orleans packet Feb 24 1830 exploded boilers at landing killing 50 many citizens of Memphis injured; Ap 9 1832 The Brandywine burned just above the city 175 lives lost...May 15 1835 Majestic blew up at Memphis landing 56 killed or seriously injured...

[x] Bruesch, S.R., The Disasters and Epidemics of a River Town: Memphis, TN 1819-1879

[xi] Ohio, Lawrence db, 26-282

[xii] Urban Dictionary: A community of people that live along a river. Known as tight knit community that always sticks together and looks out for its children. Also, spend a lot of leisure time along the river, fishing, boating, ect. People that live along a river are proud to be called "river rats!"

[xiii] Daughter of Solomon and Rhoda Bagley Adams

[xiv] Martin, Clara Page. Kilbourne Family 1550-1980. Unpublished manuscript

[xv] Cincinnati Inquirer, 7 Jan 1864

[xvi] LSU Digital Library. Louisiana State University Digital Library.

[xvii] https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AC3VMY7WJ325WC9D

[xviii] https://steamboats.com/museum/davet-movies1.html

[xix] Wallen, James, Huntington, WV. Correspondence,  to Clara P. Geer Martin. 26 Jul 1978

[xx] Way, Frdk, Way’s Packet Directory, 389.

[xxi] New Orleans Times-Picayune, 21 Jan. 1865

[xxii] Ohio, Lawrence, death register 1-2 entry 515

[xxiii] Kentucky, Boyd deaths 1806-1909; Courthouse attic, sheet 1898 line #2

The Waters Receded and the Music Stopped

By Teresa Martin Klaiber Feb. 2020

Eighty years after the 1937 flood, it was so horrific, no one forgets.  It was late January, cold and miserable when the waters of the mighty Ohio rose over 74 feet out of its banks into Portsmouth, Ohio.  Statistics say that nearly two-thirds of the city residents were forced out of their homes.  Many found the highest point on Waller Hill for safety.  Some of the schools were utilized as refugee housing.    This compiler’s paternal grandmother, Clara Page Geer Martin, who lived on Waller, helped the Red Cross, having set up their station in front of the Presbyterian Church.  She would continue to volunteer for the Red Cross during World War II.

People with second stories rushed to move belongings upstairs.  Katherine Marie Halderman Feyler and extended family were not exempt.  Her mother, Anna Katherine Gorath Halderman was 82, widowed, and lived next door on the corner of 9^th and Gay and needed to be prepared as well.  Katherine’s husband’s dental office was tucked between her parent’s home and 822 Gay Street where they lived. The dental equipment needed to be saved. It was a daunting task to get as much belongings as possible on the second floor from three structures.  Some items were too large and bulky to move.  They did not anticipate the rise to reach the second story. When the water crested it was lapping just about 3 inches from the ceiling.  This compiler remembers her grandparents re-papering the dining room and painting many times and could see the faint water line as it leached onto the new paper even into the 1960’s.   Water collected and remained in the houses even as the flood receded. 

I have mentioned before, my cherished bow front cabinet that was in the house during the flood (Family Heirlooms Have Value…10 October 2015). At some point they could hear clanking as the water stirred and rippled.  As the water level lowered, they discovered a large piece of wood was continually banging against the beautiful bow front cabinet sitting in the dining room.  They had been able to empty the cabinet but it was too large to take up the stairs.  Miraculously the fragile bowed glass was not even scratched. 

Katherine’s daughters, age 18 and 20 at the time, gave vivid accounts of the flood.    As the front door was pried open remaining water, along with pieces of wood washed out.  It was all that was left of Katherine’s baby grand piano. Dramatically she cried “I shall never play again.”  And she didn’t.  I never heard her talk about the flood, nor even knew of her musical background until she went to a nursing home in her twilight years.  She was always a soft-spoken gentle soul.

Kathrine Marie Halderman Feyler

At the age of 18, Katherine attended the Cincinnati College of Music. [i] Today it is the Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati.  By 1916 she is listed as a music teacher on Gay Street in Portsmouth, Ohio.  Daughter, Mary Helen said when her mother tried to teach her to play, she would cry and her mother finally gave up.  Katherine was in a nursing home, with Alzheimer’s disease, for several years prior to her death in August 1980.[ii]  We had gone to visit when the desk nurse said “I did not know your mother played the piano.” Startled my mother told her not since she was very young.  The nurse said Katherine had wandered into the common room, sat down and played a beautiful waltz.  They tried several times afterwards to get her to play without success. 

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[i] Portsmouth Daily Times. Social news’ 21 Dec. 1910

[ii] Ohio, Department of Health, Death Certificate Scioto County, Ohio (15 August 1980); Ohio Department of Health, Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio.

The Mysterious Life of George Page Geer

By Teresa Martin Klaiber, April 2019

My cousins and I adored our Grandmother Page.  Born Clara Page Geer, the daughter of George Page Geer and Clara Kilbourne[1]. She was a strong woman born, as they say, before her time.  She had divorced my grandfather[2], but said she would always love him.  She worked for the American Red Cross with enthusiasm during WWII.  She was a teacher both in public school and at home with her grandchildren.  She loved horses and horse races.  She loved family history and took great pride in her early New England heritage.  She taught me to love research which would define and form, not just a hobby, but, a career in genealogy. Just as I adored her, she would say she had adored her father, as a child.

When I asked her, at an early age, why we called her Page she would smile and say, simply that she was named for her father George Page Geer.   George Page Geer bore the name of the American Progenitor George Geer[3]. She did not know why his middle name was Page, but she loved her name because she loved him. Then her story about her father would unfold. 

She was eight years old when her father had a stroke and she would sit by his bedside while he told her stories about his brothers, a chair factory, and Vermont cooking. She remembered letters from a sister (unnamed) in Oregon but none survived. Her father died before her ninth birthday. 

When asked if there was a picture of her father she replied that the only one had accidently been torn up.  Her most prized possession was a letter dated April 1905 when he wrote her in Parkersburg, WV.  He had gone to Clarksburg selling Singer Sewing Machines and preparing to move there.  He began the letter “My Dear little Pagie” and ending with “…thought good bye darling kisses.”

George Page Geer died 2 February 1913 in Clarksburg, West Virginia, after a second stroke.  Her mother wrote the death date in the Roswell Kilbourne bible along with their wedding date. 

My grandmother corresponded several times with her uncle Gardner Talmadge Geer’s family thru the years.  Grandmother Page knew that there was a brother Silas, the sister in Oregon and thru that correspondence that Gardner Talmadge Geer had “disappeared.”  A copy of George Page Geer’s marriage to Clara Kilbourne stated he was born Plattsburgh, Clinton County, New York the son of Edmund and Almira Bartlett Geer.

A good genealogist works from the known to the unknown with documentation.  Sounds simple enough.  Starting with George Page Geer’s death date 2 February 1913 I searched for a death certificate in West Virginia.  To date no death certificate has been located.  The Clarksburg Daily Telegram did publish his death stating that the body would be taken to Ashland, Kentucky for burial.  As a researcher I checked Kentucky for a death certificate without success.  During that time frame if a body was removed from one state to another there should be a Burial Transfer Form. I found those in mass disarray in the basement of the Boyd County Board of Health. Spending hours of sorting and looking at each one – no Burial Transfer Form survives, if there was one.   The Ashland Cemetery Records show that the burial took place 5 February 1913.  As a child my grandmother and I visited the family plot together many times.

George Page Geer was 46 years old, (born 18 July 1855, Plattsburg) when he married and told the officials it was his first marriage. Besides giving his parent’s names, at the time of marriage in 1902, George Page Geer also stated that he was residing in Parkersburg and a carpenter.  From research I know that Parkersburg Chair Company was in business during the time he lived there but to date have found no employment records.  The first city directory we find shows George Page Geer as assistant manager for Singer Sewing Company.  Singer Sewing Company has no records either. 

Using every conceivable method and sound-x George Page Geer, G. P. Geer, etc. cannot be located on the 1900 census in the United States.  Neither does his brother Gardner Talmadge Geer, whose family states he disappeared and is living in Duluth, Minnesota.  Brother Silas, a carpenter is also missing from the census in 1900 but shows up in Michigan with his wife by 1910.  Without going into research detail, I was able to locate The Oregon sister, Mary Elizabeth Geer Heaton living in Douglas County, Oregon in 1900.

Prior to his marriage to my great grandmother, George Page Geer’s life is a complete mystery.  His parents appear on the 1850 Saranac, Clinton County, New York Census.  There are no existing birth records for Plattsburg or Saranac for 1855.  George Page Geer’s parents show up in Shefford, Canada in the 1861 Canadian Census along with Gardner age 15, Silas 13, Tapher 8, Mary 4 and Philip 2. George Page Geer has been left out of the census.  Tapher[4] and Philip do not live to adulthood. 

Brother Silas was the first to move back to the United States showing up in Afton, Minnesota in 1870.  Father Edmund Geer sold his land in 1868 in Shefford, Canada and by 1872 has a homestead in Morrison County, Minnesota.  By then George Page Geer is 17 years of age and could well be out in the world on his own.  His father states that he has four children in 1872 which would include George Page Geer, but not by name.  George Page Geer does not appear on the 1875 Minnesota state census. In fact, he does not appear in any census located to date.  A mysterious life for 46 years.

I have been able to document Edmund Geer’s life in Canada and his pedigree.  A descendent of George Geer first mentioned in this article, Edmund’s grandmother Sarah “Sally” Swan Geer’s own grandmother was Mary Page Woods daughter of Jonathan Page born 24 June 1677 in Watertown, British America[5] and grandson of John Page born in 1586 in Essex England. Page came to America with Winthrop’s Fleet.

While Grandmother Page cherished her April 1905 letter, I can only imagine what she would have thought of the discovery of a letter dated November 1630 when John Rogers wrote John Winthrop, Jr. that John Page of Dedham, his wife and two children were starving “entreating you for Gods sake to provide such a barrell of meale as this money will reach…”[6] 

My grandmother, Clara Page Geer Martin died in 1998 extremely proud of her New England Kilbourne and Geer heritage but never knowing her own name honored another American progenitor, John Page.  As she taught me, I will not give up.  I will continue to research her father and his brothers trying to unravel the mysteries.

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[1] Clara “Callie” Kilbourne b. 19 Jan. 1870 Lawrence Co., OH m George Page Geer 11 June 1902, Ashland, Boyd, KY

[2] Clara Page Geer m. Henry Kautz Martin 27 Dec 1922, Portsmouth, Scioto, OH. Divorced 6 Jan. 1944.

[3] George Geer b circa 1621 Devon, Eng.  1726 New London, CT.

[4] Named for her grandmother Tapher Thomas Bartlett.

[5] Son of John Page and Faith Dunster.

[6] Massachusetts Historical Society. Papers of the Winthrop Family, Volume 2.

FAMILY HEIRLOOMS HAVE VALUE - MEMORIES ARE PRICELESS

Over the years we have attended many auctions.  Nothing tugs at my heart more than to see family members ruthlessly bidding against each other to purchase a treasured item at an estate sale.  In the heat of the moment it is often hard to remember that it is the memories attached to the item and not the item itself that we are clinging unto. 

Not all cherished items are antique or expensive.  In fact the most cherished keepsakes are often tattered, chipped and worn.  We have been married 47 years. Memories of my wedding and wedding showers flood back this week. 

The house in Catlettsburg, where my husband's aunts honored our marriage with a shower is now gone. Presents were deposited each gaily wrapped.  I could not help but notice that one present was wrapped in wrinkled paper and no bow.  The ladies would rearrange and kept tucking this package behind the more elegant gifts on display.

Finally the last present was handed to me.  I opened 4 pressed glasses, chipped and worn little dessert bowls.  Julina Sexton Horton Klaiber beamed and said "them is desert dishes" and went on to explain that she had used them many years and wanted us to have them. Julina was 91 years young that day.  I cherish them and use them every year especially during the holiday and smile each time I look at them.  No typographical error this lovely little lady called them desert dishes which makes me think of tropical sandy paradises that she never laid eyes on.

Among my treasures is the bisque cake topper from Howard Clayton and Katherine Marie Halderman Feyler's wedding that took place on 30 November 1918 in Portsmouth, Scioto County, Ohio.  It once had a dome to cover the bride and groom in period dress.  With the help of descriptive social page articles that announced the event I can envision the day.  It now is protected in the bow front cabinet in my living room. 

The bow front cabinet sat in the dining room of my grandparents on Gay Street when I was a child. It had gone thru the 1937 flood and was never refinished!  But with a few wood chips looks fine.  My mother said as the water receded they heard clanging and found a log moving back and forth hitting that glass.  It was not even cracked. My mother got it and took it to her home on Jomar in Ashland.  My parents brought it to me when we lived in Ohio.  As they moved it out the door a large table umbrella, propped up on the wall next to the door slid over and hit the glass.  Once again not even a chip to the glass.  I held my breath over the years with teen age boys thinking as the keeper of this wonderful piece I don’t want to be the one that damages the glass, after those stories!  Now my grandchildren peer thru the glass at the treasures.  Little hands leave finger prints that I hesitate to remove because it awes me that they are touching an item from their 2^nd great grandparents that went thru the flood of all floods and survived!  My youngest son wants the cabinet and it will be his to continue the story.

A few years ago my husband carried my Ginny doll to an antique show; past many people and booths to have her restrung [I was unable to attend].  She is now whole again thanks to his time.  When I gaze at her I am transported back to a house long ago in Ashland, Kentucky and childhood memories come alive. I would sit cross legged in my tiny bedroom on Algonquin for hours dressing and redressing her. Mother taught me to take excellent care of any doll’s hair and today she looks like she did almost 60 years ago.

We have more valued treasures.  Hubby has his father's leather football helmet.  John Henry Klaiber played for a short time on an early Boyd County team.  We also have a picture of the team with him in helmet. 

Henry and Page Geer Martin's cherry gate leg table with several leaves hosted many family events. These included my great Grandmother Clara Geer until her death the year I was born in 1949, my father, uncle, cousins and friends.   Special events were documented with photographs.  My father was adamant that it be used in my house. It was a catalyst for his memories.  I am so thankful.  Now memories are being created around that table for a 6th generation and yes documented with photographs.

Will my descendants care about these physical items?  Will they have memories from sitting around our family table?   I hope so.

Estates are divided and sold.  Natural events destroy items.  But memories can be preserved.  Oral history pass stories and memories along.  Sometimes the stories are veiled by exuberant family members exaggerating to make the tale livelier as they are handed from generation to generation.   Not everyone can have the table but photographs can be digitized and shared so that each and every person in the family has a visual that will trigger their own memories. 

Just the other day I purchased a lot of books for winter reading.  I thought it was all novels until I found the priceless worn bible tucked among my reading material.  A beautiful story unfolded written in 1949. 

"Mrs. Joyce Stephens Feb 8, 1949 age 16. This bible was presented to me when I married Cecil M. Stephens. There was a $100.00 bill enclosed. My parents, Eva and Boyce McMillon gave all of us $100.00, if we did not smoke, drink alcohol nor coffe. I failed on the coffe. I used the $100.00 on supplies (lumber, etc) for our first home. Dad also gave us 2x4/s from his saw mill.  Trees were from the property on East Main (old Merritt property)."

Hubby and I could not let this wonderful bible story alone.  A little research showed that this lady lost her husband last year but was still living.  Obvious that after such a loss and cleaning out, the bible got lost in the shuffle.  I hit social media genealogy walls.  Within minutes I had 3 cousins from across the United States wanting that bible.  Within three days, one of the cousins, visiting from Florida was on my doorstep to retrieve it.  The joy of getting that bible back to family is beyond words or money. We never sell things like that even though we own a antique store Deliverance Farm Cabin Antiques.  We always try to get the item back to family members as a heart warming gift.

We are given the best device in the world to preserve memories.  The power of the written word.  Today we can combine that power with visual photography and sound bites.  Genealogy programs allow us to "attach" each digital item with the individual that once owned a physical item or was involved in the activity that created a special memory.

Yes, it is wonderful to have a physical item but so deeply sad if that item is fought over and family ties wounded. It is just stuff and we can't take it with us. But we can hold tightly to the memories.