Treasure Chest Thursday ~ Four Generations in one photograph

Thanksgiving 1987, Londonderry, New Hampshire 

4 generations of females

Yours Truly, my Mom, my daughter, my grandmother

Last week the New England Historic Genealogical Society's online "Weekly Genealogist" featured a survey asking the largest number of generations of your family were pictured in a single photograph.  The largest number of participants (59%) reported that four generations were pictured in a single photograph. I could only find four generations, not a single one with five generations, in my family photos, although I know some of my cousins have photos with five generations with grandmother.  However, I was able to find many examples of four generations of women featuring my grandmother, too.  Here are some of them. 

1990, Hamilton, Massachusetts

Yours Truly, my grandmother, my daughter, my sister and my Mom

1994, 4 generations again, in Hamilton, Massachusetts

My daughter, grandmother, Mom and Yours Truly

After this my grandmother went in to a nursing home and I don't remember taking anymore group photos like this.  She died in 2001 when she was over 96 years old. 

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/10/treasure-chest-thursday-four.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Courting Candle- Treasure Chest Thursday

This is a photograph of a courting candle we have owned for many years.  I have no idea if it is an original or a reproduction.  It makes for good conversation when visitors want to know the story behind this curiosity.

In colonial times courting couples were allowed to stay up late and visit in the parlor.  A young lady had to defer to her father, to decide if her gentleman caller was a good match or not.  The parents would light the courting candle, and the father would decide if the young man was worthy of a long or short visit by how high or low he set the candle in the holder.  He could also decide to snuff out the candle and cut the visit short!  When my daughter was a teenager, this artifact brought looks of surprise to her friends faces when we told this story!  How things have changed!

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Courting Candle - Treasure Chest Thursday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted June 2, 2011, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/06/courting-candle-treasure-chest-thursday.html: accessed [access date]).

Treasure Chest Thursday- Robert Frost and the Tree at his Window

Yesterday, I wrote a post here showing an unusual object. When I asked if anyone could guess what it was, reader Carol left the closest guess of "historic tree" under the comments.

When Robert Frost lived at his farmhouse on Rt. 28 in Derry, there was a sugar maple outside his kitchen window. He wrote a poem about it as he sat at the kitchen table. Over time the tree grew very large, and threatened the roof of the house. After the winter of 2006, a limb fell and arborists discovered a rotten trunk. In September 2007 it was cut down, at a ceremony attended by Frost family descendants, admirers of his poetry, and curious townspeople. A new maple was planted in its place.

When I visit the Frost farm, I pause at the pasture or by the stone walls and think “Is this the field from the Pasture poem?” or “Is this the stonewall from that poem?” Even driving around town I wonder which road was “less traveled” or which woods he was “stopping by on a snowy evening”? It's interesting to think that so many of these landmarks still survive around Derry.

The wood from the tree was divided up amongst several local wood carvers and artisans, to make bowls, boards, boxes and little wooden trees to be sold as a fund-raiser for the Frost Farm. Of course, at my recent visit to the Frost Farm, I saw these wooden crafted items and couldn’t resist. Now I own a piece of local and literary history. You can read about my visit at this post http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/08/sentimental-sunday-dropping-by-robert.html

I hid a little copy of the poem in the hidden drawer. I'm sure that Robert Frost would approve.

Tree at My Window

By Robert Frost

Tree at my window, window tree,
My sash is lowered when night comes on;
But let there never be curtain drawn
Between you and me.
Vague dream-head lifted out of the ground,
And thing next most diffuse to cloud,
Not all your light tongues talking aloud
Could be profound.
But tree, I have seen you taken and tossed,
And if you have seen me when I slept,
You have seen me when I was taken and swept
And all but lost.
That day she put our heads together,
Fate had her imagination about her,
Your head so much concerned with outer,
Mine with inner, weather.

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For more information

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/12/robert-frost-derry-resident.html my first blog post about Robert Frost, including his Frost lineage. He is also a Mayflower descendant!

Lawrence Eagle Tribune, September 30, 2007, “Robert Frost Tree Felled to Protect Historic Farm”, by Eric Parry, http://www.eagletribune.com/nhnews/x1876394653/Robert-Frost-tree-felled-to-protect-historic-farm


http://fcfpens.com/RobertFrostMaple/index.html wooden pens made from the historic Frost tree

Pittsburgh Post Gazette, October 7, 2007, “The Tree at his Window”, by David M. Shribman, http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07280/823250-372.stm

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Treasure Chest Thursday-  Robert Frost and the Tree at his Window", Nutfield Genealogy, posted August 19, 2010, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/08/treasure-chest-thursday-robert-frost.html: accessed [access date]).

Treasure Chest Thursday- Benson Park in Hudson, New Hampshire

In the late 1800’s John Benson ran a trolley company amusement park in Lexington, Massachusetts. When it closed in 1921 he opened an animal training center in Hudson, New Hampshire in 1924, and opened to visitors in 1926. There were zoo animals, a train ride and an arcade. He expanded it in the 1930s with a permanent circus and a “Jungle Train” from Boston on Sundays. This was the beginnings of Benson’s Wild Animal Farm, an attraction generations of New Englanders enjoyed and remembered.

The park was bought by the Boston Garden Corporation after his death in 1943 and reopened after World War II. In 1979 it was sold to Arthur Provencher who retained the animal farm and did not want to turn it into an amusement park. He declared bankruptcy in 1985 and in 1987 changed it to an amusement park “New England’s Playworld Amusement Park and Zoo.” The park went out of business at the end of its first season.

An advertisement for the last days of New England Playworld

in the 1987 Manchester Union Leader Newspaper

In 1989 the state of New Hampshire acquired the property, and sold it to the town of Hudson in 2009. There is a historical society that has an exhibit at the park, in the old train station, with artifacts and photographs. The town plans to develop the land into athletic fields, walking trails and conservation land, while preserving the old buildings as a museum. In 2004 the town of Hudson and local citizens won the “Elizabeth Durfee Hengen Award” from the Timber Framer’s Guild for the preservation and stewardship of the former Benson’s Park. Since the park closed in 1987, all but three of the historic park buildings were lost to decay and neglect.

Just this past April Ken Matthews of Hudson founded “Friends of Benson Park” to raise funds. This is a private organization to help the town save Benson Park without raising tax money. About 200 volunteers show up on a regular basis to clean up the park, painting some of the old buildings, clearing brush and removing graffiti and signs of vandalism. The giant toy soldiers were removed and now appear on the Hudson town common at Christmas time. You can still visit the park at 27 Kimball Hill Road, Hudson, New Hampshire from 5 AM to 8PM year round.

For more information:

http://www.nhmagazine.com/home/805922-101/bensons-wild-animal-farm-revisited.html New Hampshire Magazine website, July 30, 2010, article by Darren Garnick

The Timber Framer’s Guild announcement of the 2004 Award to the Town of Hudson for the former Benson’s Park preservation project http://tfguild.org/news/2004NHpresaward.html

Listen to the National Public Radio story on the preservation project http://www.nhpr.org/node/13963

http://www.friendsofbenson.org/ for the private fundraising organization to help save Benson Park

Remembering Benson’s Wild Animal Farm, by Robert Goldsack, Midway Publications, Nashua, NH (a 60 page book) for sale for $17 each at the Hudson Historical Society http://www.hudsonhistorical.com/

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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Treasure Chest Thursday- A Song by Lili'uokalani

"Aloha Oe" seen in a historical display in the lobby of the Waikiki Marriott

We heard the song "Aloha Oe" all over Hawaii.  In English it is called "Farewell to Thee".  If you heard it you would also recognize it, too. I remember learning it in primary school, as part of a world music study.   It is the most popular song written by Queen Lili'uokalani, and perhaps the most popular song to come from Hawaii other than "Tiny Bubbles" (which has nothing to do with the Hawaii, it was just popularized by entertainer Don Ho at his nightclub shows in Honolulu). 

This song was written in 1877 after a trip to the windward side of Oahu.  The Queen, who wrote over 100 musical compositions in her lifetime, witnessed two lovers embracing as a farewell.  This inspired her to write the song after she returned to Honolulu.  There is a common myth that states the Queen wrote it during her imprisonment in Iolani Palace after the overthrow of the Kingdom, but that is just a story perpetuated by tour guides.  The song she actually wrote during her imprisonment is another tune called "The Queen's Prayer".

On our trip, bands and  musicians would often sing "Aloha Oe" as a sign off song.  It was used in films and orientation videos.  We took a movie tour on the island of Kauai, where many feature films were produced, and that is when I saw Elvis sing it as part of the movie "Blue Hawaii'.   I never really listened to any Elvis song (he was well before my time!), and never saw any of his movies, but this three minute clip of his movie grabbed my attention!  I might even rent the DVD sometime next week! 

This song has been recorded by many artists other than Elvis Presley.  There are "Aloha Oe" recordings by Johnny Cash, Don Ho, the Galliard String Quartet, Bing Crosby, and the Royal Hawaiian Band.  It's too bad that the Queen's charity, the Lili'uokalani Children's Centers seen all over Hawaii, doesn't receive a royalty on these CDs, performances and records.

Please check out the website http://www.nalu-music.com/ukulele-tablature/aloha-oe-with-ukulele-accompaniment/  for the lyrics to "Aloha Oe" in both Hawaiian and English, with more about the story of its origins.   The Palace Shop at the Iolani Palace carries a reproduction of the original sheet music by Queen Lili'uokalani.  I bought several copies for the musical folks in my family, as well as the sheet music for "The Queen's Prayer".   The website for Iolani Palace is http://www.iolanipalace.org/ and they take phone and mailed orders (you can print out an order form), but they do not offer ordering online.

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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Treasure Chest Thursday - Emily Wiley Munroe’s Quilt- 1860

Ten family members in Lowell
On our outing to see Emily (Wiley) Munroe's Quilt

Last November I wrote a posting about a quilt made by a member of my family tree. I didn’t know about this quilt, nor about this branch of the family, until I used Google.com to search a name. I had been searching for my 4x great grandfather Luther Simonds Munroe, but his namesake was his nephew, with the same name, and this second Luther’s wife had made a quilt during the Civil War era. Fortunately for me, Emily (Wiley) Munroe’s quilt had been donated by a descendant to the New England Quilt Museum, and was also the subject of a chapter in a book called “Massachusetts Quilts: Our Common Wealth” edited by Lynne Z. Bassett.

The Cover of "Massachusetts Quilts"

I contacted the New England Quilt Museum last fall, and they told me that the Munroe quilt had been on exhibit earlier in the year, for the publication of the book, but it was currently in storage. Connie Colum Barlow, the executive director kindly invited me to come to the museum to see the quilt up close and personal. I wanted my extended family to see the quilt, too, so we decide on May as the mutually agreeable time for everyone to drive from Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and other parts of Massachusetts to the Lowell Quilt Museum.

A Quilt Museum curator named Laura Lane was very kind to take the quilt out of archival storage for us, and spread it out on a large table so we could see it up close. However, we were unable to take any photographs. Ten cousins, aunts and spouses gathered around and Laura gave us a very delightful explanation of the details in the quilt. It was made of 54 individually bound squares whip stitched together to form a coverlet. The squares were wool, each appliquéd and embroidered with animals, hearts and flowers. The squares were backed with denim or mattress ticking.

It was immediately apparent that browns, greys, blacks and drab colors were the usual clothing scraps used by Emily Munroe for this quilt. Bright red embroidery spiced up the patterns, but I was struck by how drab their clothing must have been. The Munroes were simple farmers in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, selling market vegetables, probably to Boston. The quilt fabrics were probably scraps of jackets, trousers and farm clothing.

Emily Munroe's Quilt
Photo from the Massachusetts Quilts book

The quilt seemed to be in remarkable condition, with the colors bright and dark. However, if you looked closely there were a few moth holes and wear marks. The coverlet must have been well used and well loved. I’m sure it was lovingly displayed, too, but guarded from strong sun over the years. It is in need of some restoration and conservation to prevent any further damage.

The whole family enjoyed the outing to the quilt museum very much, even the husbands who tagged along. The gift shop sold post cards of Emily Munroe’s quilt, and we all bought several. I bought a copy of the “Massachusetts Quilts” book, and we also saw a wonderful display of Amish crib quilts upstairs. Laura Lane told us that next year, for the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, there will be a display at the Quilt Museum of civil war era quilts. Emily Munroe’s quilt will be taken out of storage and displayed again for this exhibit!

If you are interested in the New England Quilt Museum, the website is listed below. It is in Lowell, Massachusetts housed in a building that used to be a bank for the women mill workers in the 1830s and 1840s. We also all enjoyed lunch at a lovely Greek restaurant around the corner, and celebrated my aunt’s 82nd birthday with a cake. Lowell is full of ethnic restaurants, too many to mention here. The Lowell National Park visitor center was at the end of the block, and the Trolley Museum across the street. Around the corner are the Boott Cotton Mill and the Boarding House Museums. Everything is very close and handy, and in the summer you can enjoy a tour with a National Park ranger on the canals, or on the trolleys.

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For more information:

My blog post about Emily Wiley Munroe’s Quilt in 2009
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/11/google-your-way-to-quilt-sometimes.html

The New England Quilt Museum http://www.nequiltmuseum.org//

Massachusetts Quilts: Our Commonwealth, by Lynne Zacek Bassett, editor, University Press of New England, 2009.

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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Treasure Chest Thursday -Old College Days

My daughter rowing 2007 on the Charles River, Boston
for Simmons V. Brandeis V. Lesley College
With Boston University in the background

Our serendipity photo (Three colleges from three generations represented in one photo)

Recently, we were recently sitting around the Easter dinner table discussing tuition, college and relishing the fact that we will no longer be paying tuition, since our daughter graduates with her Master’s Degree a few weeks from now.

My mom stated that she paid $110.00 for all three years of nursing school at the Beverly Hospital School for nurses. She graduated from Hamilton high school in 1953, so she attended nursing school until 1956. She is a registered nurse (RN). My daughter’s jaw dropped at that one, because she recently paid that amount for just one text book! Mom paid for the school herself. Neither of her parents had attended college. Her dad had an eighth grade education, and her mother had graduated from Beverly High School.

On my Dad’s side, he was the first to graduate college. Later his older brother graduated on a GI scholarship and became a teacher. My dad graduated from Beverly High School in 1952, and attended one year at Northeastern University in Boston, and then graduated from Boston University in 1957. Dad used to commute to classes on the train from Beverly. He switched his major from Chemistry (the influence of Sputnik) to Government and he wanted to go into the Foreign Service or teaching. He ended up in insurance. I didn’t know what he paid in tuition costs, so I emailed BU for the answer. To my surprise it was $800 for an academic year (two semesters!).

I went to Lesley College in the early 1980s. It was about $8,000 a year, including books, room and board in Harvard Square, our fair city of Cambridge, Massachusetts. This was an exorbitant amount of money compared to the tuition my sister paid for the University of Massachusetts. However, since it was a private school, the scholarships were extremely generous and I actually paid less for my education than my sister. Lesley was a private teacher’s college. I think I was paid about $18,000 a year when I graduated with a Master’s degree and began teaching in a public school.

Hubby attended MIT, also in Cambridge, and paid about $9600 a year, including expenses, and also received generous scholarship assistance. I remember that he worked part time his fourth year, but still in four years he earned a B.S. and his M.S. in engineering, saving us years of tuition payments. After graduation we married and he still worked the same job. On our first wedding anniversary he was offered a job in NH for about $25,000 and we thought that was terrific, Yippee! Both of his parents had attended college in Spain, his mother trained as a teacher, and his father attended a Jesuit Institution.

The year 2010 is a tough economy for recent grads. Our daughter also went to Boston and completed a five year program to earn a double major, double minor and Masters Degree. She was offered a full time job with benefits at a museum outside of Boston, so she grabbed it even though she still has one month of classes and a thesis to finish. Let me just say that her tuition was MUCH more than what we paid, and even more than my husband’s full first year salary, not including room, board, and books! I also realized as I wrote this that she is the third generation to graduate from an all women’s institute of higher learning. This is significant because they were common in my Mom’s day and becoming unpopular in the 1970s and 1980s when I went to college. Today there are only two women’s colleges left in the Boston area.

In my family tree there are teachers and ministers who attended Harvard and other New England institutions in the 1600s and 1700s, most never attending a formal school but learning “on the job.” However, in the past six generations, only the last three generations graduated from colleges. Tuition seems to be rising at a rate much higher than salaries. Harvard has become too exclusive and competitive for the average New England student. It used to be the equivalent of a local college, but now is considered a world class University, and educating scientists, lawyers and businessmen, not just small town pastors and teachers. It was a fun conversation, comparing tuitions, salaries and book prices. I wonder what Harvard tuition was in 1653?

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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Treasure Chest Thursday - Publishing a Book for my Blog

Over the past few years I’ve used Shutterfly.com and Blurb.com to create photo albums. Both were easy to use, both were about the same price, with similar options for how the finished product looked. After seeing the final printed versions of books, I decided to stick with Blurb. Not for any particular reason other than the Blurb book had a sewn binding, and the Shutterfly was glued. I made up a book of family photos with Shutterfly, which promptly fell apart at a family reunion after being passed around, and open and shut, and held up with “Look at this!” far more roughly than the average book probably would be treated. The Blurb bound books have stood up well over time.

One more plus for Blurb, your book resides on your own computer instead of residing in cyberspace. You can save and back up your own projects, instead of having a time limit on another company’s server. I know that once Shutterfly deletes your project, it’s gone forever. Also, Blurb allows you to sell your finished projects at their bookstore, which works out well for multiple copies of things, such as for family reunions.

I’ve tired of gluing and cutting and buying acid free materials for scrapbooks. Of course, I still do this for old photos and other ephemera, but for things already scanned, new photos from vacations, or other items already residing on my hard drive it’s hard to beat the easy to use software at these publish your own websites. The drag and drop options make it simple to easily put a book together, so simple your kids can help out. Groups can even collaborate together over the internet to put pages together or share photos.

I’ve made Mother’s Day books with generations of photos of the ladies; family tree books with charts, photos and documents; vacation books; graduation books; and a book of 30 years of photos for the Simmons College Crew Team. Then I saw recently that the Blurb software, which is called “BookSmart” can slurp your blog into a book. I was curious, so I slurped several months of posts into a book, just to see how it looked. It looked GREAT! I was so excited, and there was very little editing to do. I played a little bit with increasing the font size, and I moved around some photos, removed a few posts that I thought were boring, but otherwise the book was done! Just in time for Mother’s Day, since my mom was my first fan, and she is still my biggest fan. (Sorry, Mom, no surprises this year!)

Blurb also has a widget to put on your blog, in case you want to sell your book. I’ve placed a widget on my blog; just to see what would happen if I left it there a few weeks. Personally, I think the books are expensive, but at an OK price for a gift for someone special.

Check out my book by clicking on the image in the right column, and you can turn the pages to see the first fifteen pages. Perhaps you’ll be inspired to do your own book, or at least investigate the possible choices on line for producing a project like this. I can only comment on Shutterfly and Blurb, but some other companies you can try online are Lulu.com, Apple, Picaboo.com, and Mpix.com.

(I was not compensated in any way by Blurb.com or Shutterfly.com for my comments, but if they would like to pass along a coupon or two I wouldn’t object!)

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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo
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Treasure Chest Thursday ~ The Mystery Chest

We had a mystery chest passed down through the generations. Four generations of our family had lived in the same house in Beverly, and the chest was in the cellar. Later we moved to central Massachusetts, and Dad used it as a tool box. Once he had a Salem antique dealer come to the basement to look at some old furniture, and the fellow ignored all the furniture, but he wanted to buy the tool box from my Dad. Of course, Dad didn’t sell it. Where would he store the hammers and screwdrivers? Dad kept it in the basement, next to the kitty litter box. It was old and scratched and abused.

Years later I toured the Jonathan Corwin House on Essex Street in Salem. It is popularly known as the “Witch House” even though the only witch related event that took place there was that Corwin was one of the Judges in the witch trials of 1692. There was a slant topped bible box in the parlor of the Corwin House that looked just like my Dad’s box.

I called Dad and started asking questions. He didn’t know where his old chest came from, but it was from his father’s side of the family. The Wilkinsons lived in Salem and Beverly, Massachusetts for many generations, and on this side of the family there were also many ministers, going all the way back to Reverend Samuel Skelton, the first minister in Salem. I looked on line, and found many images of bible boxes and valuables boxes from the 1600’s and 1700’s, and some looked like Dad’s “tool box.”

Bible boxes were used to keep the most valuable items of the house safe, and of course the family bible was always one of the most precious items in a New England Puritan’s possession. The slant top let it also be used as a desk top. Some bible boxes had legs, and most sat on top of other tables. Some were plain, dark painted wood, without decorations like Dad’s, some were very fancy, like one I saw at FDR’s library in Hyde Park, made in Holland in the 1600s and decorated with carvings.

Bible boxes defined according to Wikipedia: “In Colonial America this container was produced locally in a great variety of styles and finishes, by amateurs and professionals. Just about anybody who could afford nails, a few planks of wood and a hammer could improvise a bible box.” That describes Dad’s box, for it was simply made, without dovetails or fancy woodworking techniques. Wikipedia also states that the term “Bible box” is often used for just a portable desk. They also served as portable lecterns.

Not many people in the family were students or very educated people, except for the ministers in the family. The last minister in the family was Rev. Ingraham Ebenezer Bill, who never even attended high school or college. I suppose the slant topped box could have made a great pulpit in a pinch, but I could see it more for being used as a desk or for storage.

When Dad passed away, and Mom moved out of the old house, I was given the box. I still don’t know who made it, or who used it. I don’t know its real purpose. We’ve started to call it “The Coffin” because of its size and shape. It lives in our basement down next to our cat’s litter box, but we no longer store tools inside. It sits empty- waiting for me to discover its origins. Maybe we’ll find a local taping of “Antiques Road Show” and bring it out for an appraisal?

The bible box from the Jabez Howland House, Plymouth, Massachusetts

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See my blog post from September 15, 2009 for a story about Rev. I. E. Bill

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To Cite/Link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Treasure Chest Thursday ~ The Mystery Chest", Nutfield Genealogy, posted November 12, 2009, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/11/treasure-chest-thursday-mystery-chest.html: accessed [access date]).

Treasure Chest Thursday - Benjamin Franklin's Chest? or Pope Valuables Chest?

The Plimoth Plantation Reproduction of the Pope Chest

a detail of the workmanship inside the reproduced Pope Chest

copying the simple techniques used in the original chest
reproduction at the Plimoth Plantation Craft Center

This is my first contribution to Treasure Chest Thursday at GeneaBloggers, and I couldn’t resist the theme. There was a treasure chest beyond compare in my family tree, but unfortunately it wasn’t in my own attic. The distant cousins who cashed in on this treasure chest really have contributed not only to their own bank accounts, but to a great museum collection and to the living history at Plimoth Plantation.

Bethshua Folger and Joseph Pope were married in 1679 in Salem Village, now Danvers, Massachusetts. Joseph Pope paid a tax of four shilling, putting him in the top quarter of all the tax payers in Salem Village. His gravestone was described as a “pretentious stone of slate” by Jasper Marsh (Historical Collections of the Danvers Historical Society, Volume 10, page 93). Mr. and Mrs. Pope were central characters in the witchcraft trials, too. Joseph testified that he heard John Proctor (popularly known as the main character in “The Crucible”) say he would “Drive the Divell out” of one of the accused. Bethshua (also known as Bathsheba) claimed to be afflicted by the defendants, and during Martha Corey’s trial she threw her shoe and struck Corey in the head.

Joseph and Bethshua also owned a “valuables cabinet” made for them by the Salem Symonds furniture shop. Its provenance is impeccable, since it stayed in the same family for over three hundred years, and it is engraved with the initials JP and BF with the date 1679. It was passed along in the family as the “Franklin Chest” because of the fact that Bethshua’s sister, Abiah, was Benjamin Franklin’s mother. This myth helped to preserve the chest, which in my opinion is quite ugly. It might have been trashed or lost if not for the ongoing myth of a connection to Benjamin Franklin. It traveled around New England with the descendants, finally settling in Cape Cod until the family finally decided to auction it off.

On January 20, 2000 Christie’s Auction sold the Pope Valuable Chest to the Peabody Essex Museum for a record breaking $2,422,500.00 As descendants of the Pope family, but very distant cousins of the final owners of the chest, we all waited until it went on display at PEM, not ever having seen the chest before. The curator emailed me when it was catalogued, cleaned and ready for the public, and we all rushed down to Salem for the big reveal.

I was shocked to see how tiny it was, not really a piece of furniture but the size of a silverware chest. It was cracked, and the boards in the back were loose and warped. It had been painted garish colors that had faded, but were still visible. Except for it’s interesting family history, it’s the sort of thing I wouldn’t pick up at a tag sale, let alone pay millions for at an auction.

Since the auction, I’ve come to love the chest. We visit it often at the Peabody Essex Museum, and even though it sits in a gallery with other more beautiful and exotic treasures from around the world it has become one of my favorite exhibits. At first it was displayed with a wonderful video describing it’s provenance and the famous auction, but now it sits alone with just a small tag describing it as an early American Salem antique. It has come home to Salem.

As an example of early American furniture, the Plimoth Plantation has permission for its artisans in the Crafts Center to reproduce the Pope Valuables Chest. They built the first two reproductions for the two siblings who auctioned off the chest, and now they have other samples on display at the museum in Plymouth. A wood carver explained to me the reasons why it represented a typical chest of the period, and typical techniques of the time, and the authentic paint schemes of the colonial era. I still think it’s simple, ugly and garish, but I also love it for the wonderful family connections!

Pope Lineage

Gen. 1. Joseph Pope, b. 1606 in probably Yorkshire, England, d. 1667 in Salem, Massachusetts; married first to Damaris (?); married second to Gertrude Shattuck. Eight children with his first wife.

Gen. 2. Joseph Pope, b. about 27 Oct 1650 in Salem, d. Feb 1711/12 in Salem; married in 1679 in Salem Village to Bethshua Folger, daughter of Peter Folger and Mary Morrill, b. about 1650 on Nantucket Island. Joseph and Bethshua are my 7x Great Grandparents. They had nine children, and I descend from their daughter Jerusha Pope (1695 - 1781) who married George Flint in 1713.

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Folger Lineage

Gen. 1. John Folger, b. about 1590 in Diss, Norwich, Norfolk, England, d. about 1660 on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts; married before 1618 in England to Meribah Gibbs, daughter of John Gibbs and Alice Elmy, b. about 1595, d. about 1635. Five children.

Gen. 2. Peter Folger, b. 1617 in Norfolk, England, d. 1690 in Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard; married on 23 Jun. 1644 in Watertown, Massachusetts to Mary Morrill, b. about 1623 in England and d. 1704 on Nantucket. Twelve children.

Gen. 3. Bethshua Folger (see above)

Also Abiah Folger, b. 15 Aug. 1667 on Nantucket, d. 18 May 1752 in Boston; married on 25 Nov. 1689 at the Old South Church, Boston to Josiah Franklin, b. 23 Dec. 1657 in Ecton, Northamptonshire, England, d. 16 Jan 1744/45 in Boston. Abiah and Josiah Franklin are buried at the Granary Burial Ground in Boston, with a large monolith donated by their son, the statesman Benjamin Franklin.

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The URL for this post is
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/09/treasure-chest-thursday-at.html
Copyright 2009, Heather Wilkinson Rojo