General Chat

I had some jewellery, but it all got stolen in a burglary. Sue

i have a few bits and pieces ...but what i would like is a photo of my dad !! joyce

My own family's treasures were lost in the London Blitz during World War II. All I have from my deceased parents are photos taken post-war, my father's war medals (probably the most precious to me), and memories - that's why researching my Dad's family history is so important to me. I know very little about his past or his family, but GR and other sites have helped me to contact living relatives I've never known before, so now I know far more. My husband's family have kept lots of old photographs, which are fascinating to see. Some are really beautiful portrait shots, and they're very well-preserved. I also have some of his Grandmother's and Gt-Grandmother's jewellery, glassware and china, so my son will inherit those eventually, if he wants them. I hope he does, because even if he's not interested in them himself, he may have children one day, so they might be. CB >|<

nudged again for new members :-)

Hi Liz, I dig this thread out every now and again, aren't we all lucky? That latest info you got sounds amazing, what a find. :-) Jen

I have my Mum's jewellery none of it worth a lot of money but great sentimental value. But I think my most teasured item is my teddy bear - given to me for Christmas (1948) by my Granddad when I was one month old. It cost him £5 then and took him a year to pay for it! This is the only link I have to a man I adored, plus he was my only Grandad as my other one had died years before my parents were married. Poor old ted is bald and battered but I wouldn't part with him for the world! I've told my kids they must keep him when I've gone or else I'll come back and haunt them! Teresa....Laura's Mum

I have My grandads medals Plot number of his brothers grave in France (killed in WW1) Lots of photos of mums family inc great grandma/grandad My aunts diamond solitaire engagement ring My great aunts book of herbal remedies A copy of my gggg grandfathers will The family register of my gg grandparents & children 3 things I wish I had: Any photos of my dads relations My mum & dads wedding photos The tiny boots & shirt of my mums brother died aged 4 in 1925 - my grandma had kept them in her bedside cabinet until she died but my cousin now has them. Debby

I have my fathers tresured book case with all his books after my mum died my brother hadn't room for it so i had it. It was like a treasure chest i found little notes inthe books where dad had written down his thoughts not only of the books but on life in general old fathers day cards we had sent birthday cards, in the family bible was my mothers parent marridge cert and her fathers birth cert. Thats how i started all this. Gill Bailes

Just thought do have something...... I have my dad's odd ears and dodgy joints... I have my mum's frizzy hair and rather large wotsits... Guess the step parents can't have those LOL ;o)) Julie xxxx

Hi all just today my mum handed me an envelope that her brother sent from england and in it are my grandads Certificate of Service, a copy of the Coldstream Gazette (Feb 1935) his service and pay book and 2 post cards from 1940 they have been sent to me as I am the only one doing our tree. They will all be safe with me. Sal

Jen I have some lovely crochet done by my grandmother doyleys and tablecloth , and beautiful needlework done by my mums sister who died when she was only 28 , I have some postcards sent by my great uncle to his parents from France sadly only months before he was killed and buried in Belgium in WW1 he was 24, I have a letter written by my father to his parents during WW2 telling them that they had just picked up some women and children and one man who had been prisoners of the japanese, and of the dreadful state they were in and how the sailors gave up there hammocks and slept on the deck and bathed the babies in buckets the next day its absolutly priceless to me and my Dad was 20 at the time , I have jewelerry from my mum and nan and crystal and a beautiful old painting that was my grandparents and some old mixing bowls that I can remember my nan mixing the dough for the bread in I also have some silver of hers and and a beautiful desk that my father made its priceless too Lara

Julie, I don't know what to say... :-( Best wishes, Jen

I am sure my step mother and step father have lovely things of my parents but they didn't feel the need to share! Not even mentioned on Dad's grave I am surprised he hasn't spun himself out of there yet!!!! Julie PS Bitter, me? Never. LOL

Margaret, that last breath idea is lovely! Jen

I have my gran's engagement ring; an 1897 silver coin (when my dad and mum exchanged vows they said - with this gold and silver, I thee wed - now I have the silver); copies of all the sketches my granda did, plus an original Valentine's one he did for me in the 80's; my other gran gave me her Wuthering Heights porcelain figurine as a wedding present; my mum's gold necklace with crucifix - passed to me when she got her mums. I also have a copy (sent dad the original) of a rejection letter from the seminary that turned my dad down, because his marks weren't good enough and he didn't know latin. He then went on to have 10 kids, good Catholic bloke that he is!! Oh, and on my last visit to my dad and mum in Australia, they exhaled into a bottle and capped it for me (his idea!!). So when they die and I open the bottle - their 'last breath' is in the air and I'll be there. Margaret

I have a fair bit when i think about it. I have the Family Bible (a god send when i started all of this) that was given to my G Grandfather in 1884 with all of the family logged in it. i also have a photo of my G gran that i'm guessing was taken around 1900, and also a photo of my G gran with my beloved nan (she was sooooo pretty!). I've got my nan's prayer book, her wedding ring, an eterninty ring that my Grandad saved up for for ages and ages, a necklace with a cross on it and finally the daft white knitted hat that i'd never let her wear when we went out together cos she looked daft. It's on my bed head so she's always looking down on me (she only died last september and i still miss her sooooo much!) c x

Wow! Reading through this I can see that loads of you are indeed very lucky. :-))))) Jen

I'm one of the lucky ones, in that most of my forebears were long-lived and were hoarders. I have photographs of all but one of my great-grandparents, and of 6 of my great-great-grandparents. My mother has her grandmothers photo album (around 1880s), though we now have no idea who most of the people are; family bibles, newspaper cuttings, memorial cards, a few odd pieces of jewellery, walking sticks, a draughts-table made by my Great-great grandfather (died 1894), some tape-recordings of conversations with my grandfather in the 1960s, a few letters, diaries of my great-grandfather's trips to Australia in 1877 & 1882, a few certificates (including a school certificate of my grandfather's), records of the sale of my grandfather's farm in 1922, a few of my grandparents' wedding presents (1912). All stuff that I've grown up having around the place and not often really thought about how lucky my family are to have it all. We should all be aware of what we keep for future generations (as space permits, of course!) - same as writing down details of our lives and experiences. What we think of as dull and uninteresting will probably be quite fascinating in years to come. Noel

I have an old photograph of five generations of our family, the eldest of which is my Gt Grandmother. I only discovered her name was Harriet Harris after joining this site, and finding a distant relative. And a tiny gold cross , with my Mum and Dad's names engraved on it .

I am very lucky in that I have lots of photographs of my mum's side of the family especially and lots of my siblings and parents, however so many of the photos have nothing written on and I cannot remember or recognise everyone. I did suggest to my parents when my father was ill with cancer that they spend an hour or so going through some of the pics and labelling them but it never happened. I also have the family Bible but again it wasn't kept very much up to date. I was lucky recently when in touch with a cousin of my father's, from Wales, that he found some photos of my paternal grandmother and her family that I had never seen. I hardly knew my gran as she lived some way away from us. When I saw the pic. of my gran and the children I could immediately pick out which was my dad even though only about 6 as he looked exactly like my son at the same age. I also realised just how much my brothers and I looked like him - I always thought I looked like my mother's side of the family. I have some old mugs with names and dates on from my dad's family, and lots of bits of china from my parents' wedding present dinner service. I could not bear to get rid of any of these things, so hope my son will appreciate them.