What is the one family item you wish you had? - just for a bit of fun

[josey]

Am I allowed 2 things?

The art nouveau watch stand belonging to my grandfather (b 1883 died 8 years before I was born) - I remember it on my parents' sideboard as late as 1980. Only pewter but a beautiful graceful lady holding her arms in the air holding a hook onto which the pocket watch was hung.

The family bible from my mother's side destroyed in WW2.

[jaybelnz]

My grandmother was a very tiny woman.  When I was about 11, and pretty  tiny myself, my granny was clearing out a cupboard. She pulled out a dress, brown and white striped, it rustled. She told me it was silk!  It had leg o mutton sleeves, a high frigidly neck, lots of little pearly  buttons right down the top front, and the stripes in the bodice were diagonal, coming to a peak at the waist? She told me to try it on, I did, and it fitted me perfectly!

Then she told me it was her wedding dress!!  I can see it now, but only in my mind!

After she died, I was clearing out her things, was that dress anywhere??  NOOOOO! Nada.. Gone!
There were about 6 Woolworths pink" suits of armour!  This is what I called the lace up boned corsets she wore!  How on earth did anyone wear those awful things day in and day out?  Beats me!  She didn't need to pull anything in, their was nothing of her! 

And summer in NZ is not exactly cool! I don't want to see the corsets again, but that silk dress??? Oooooh yes please!
 
Jeanne 

[ankerdine]

Whata lovely story Jeanne.

Why don't you try drawing and painting it. Research the style and colours here or on Google. Perhaps with the aid of folk on here superimpose a photo of your grandmother. You may be able to create something tangible with which to remember that lovely wedding dress.

Just a thought.

Judy

[jaybelnz]

And yours is a lovely thought Judy!!  As useless as I am at drawing, (can't even draw a stick-man), I really like your idea.  It's just transferring what I can see quite clearly in my head onto paper that's the challenge. 

Maybe if I look around, and get an outline of the shape of the dress, I might be able to put something together mmmmm.  Shouldn't be too hard to find a photo of one of that time that is similar! she married my Grandpop in Glasgow, 1914.  Mmmm. I like it!!

By the way, in my previous post, I notice that I have given her dress a "frigidly" neckline, lol  typo - oops, that was supposed to say "frilly".  Now that I come to think of it, it was more of a ruffle!

And another by the way, I noticed the name Williamson Ayrshire in your surname list. This little Watson grandmother of mine was married to Robert McAughtrie, whose grandmother was a Mary Williamson married to a Thomas Houston.  They lived in New Cumnock in Ayrshire, although Mary W had been born in Ireland.   Wouldn't it be funny if ......

Anyway, I will certainly give your idea a lot more thought!  I'll be researching 1914 dresses for a while, and the photo board on here will be a great place to start flicking through old photos!  A nice little change of direction might unfry my brain from trying to find an Irish great great grandfather and his two sisters a mother.. 

. . Jeanne

[ankerdine]

Hi again

Do try and create something. There are amazing people on here who do wonderful things with photos. Don't hesitate to ask for help.

My gtx2 grandfather was a John Williamson who came from Ireland c1830 and settled in Stranraer, Wigtownshire. The Williamsons, the Marshalls and the Watsons were tinklers during the early/middle part of the 19th century.

All this talk has reminded me of a basketweave holdall which was in our loft when I was a child. In it was a multicoloured silken shawl with long black fringes hanging all around. I wonder if an ancestor wore it when she told fortunes?! 

Judy

[g eli]

I am torn about this one thing.It is in the hands of a history centre and therefore probably available to be seen by all, but I would love to have the daybook of my OH's 3Ggrandfather.
He was a builder and it covers his day to day work, estimates on buildings etc. It would give me a much clearer picture of day to day life.
Liz

[bibliotaphist]

Mine would be the family recipe for sausages, assuming it was ever written down. My grandfather and several of his cousins were butchers all from a long line of butchers, and apparently they were all well-known for a particular type of sausage with a very distinctive recipe using a secret combination of spices. None of them seem to have passed the recipe on to the next generation!

[Clarkey500]

So many really interesting items! 

I've thought hard and decided as one of my ancestors, Thomas Crump, was an Ivory Turner - I would love some of his work.

Also as this was such an interesting thread, I made an article about it on my website. Where I've put more information about Thomas. www.findingmypast.weebly.com 

[marcie dean]

So many really interesting items! 

I've thought hard and decided as one of my ancestors, Thomas Crump, was an Ivory Turner - I would love some of his work.

Also as this was such an interesting thread, I made an article about it on my website. Where I've put more information about Thomas. www.findingmypast.weebly.com  :)depends whether they were babies all born on the same day , o9 people of varying agesbeing christened? more info, more info 6 is sextuplets so what would 8 be?