Aunt Mary's Table Cloth

I am a researcher and admin for a Facebook group that returns family heirlooms to descendants at no charge, descendants who didn't even realize these things were missing. There are likely thousands of family photos, jewelry and other miscellaneous items that have passed through the group and found their way back home. This week I saw a post from a woman who had bought a beautiful table cloth at a local estate sale and she was hoping to find the family of the person who made it so that she could return it to them. It was white and done with an long gone art called drawn work. When it was first taken home and inspected, the purchaser found a note tacked to the cloth that said it had been made by the persons Aunt in the early part of the 1900's when she was in her 70s. I was able to find through research, that the woman who made it had no children but she had several siblings who did, a descendant of one, I was luckily enough to get on the phone.

She was the elderly Great Great Grand Niece of the woman who had made the table cloth so many years ago. She was in tears, happy tears, so thrilled to be able to have it returned to her so that it could stay in the family. Being the genealogist in her family, she was able to tell me that her Great Great Grand Aunt was born on the Oregon Trail in 1846, while her parents were marching West, her arrival was during a thunderstorm and a buffalo stampede, if you can imagine that. Family lore said her laboring mother was stretched across three chairs and gave birth in the pouring rain, everyone drenched to the bone, it is amazing the baby lived. What a story, she also told me that her Aunt was not able to have children, but that everyone loved her and she was like a Mother to all of her Nieces and Nephews. I hope Aunt Mary is smiling down knowing that her beautiful table cloth is back home again where it will be treasured.

Curious as to where all these lost items come from? They are purchased through auctions, online, at estate sales and even found in the trash or on the side of the road. Often people don't take the time to look at what they are throwing away when clearing out a loved ones home after they pass or go into a nursing home. Sometimes there are no family members in the area and things just end up at the Goodwill. Luckily there are people out there who have a passion for saving these things so that other family members can enjoy them.