Treasure Chest Thursday - Connection

One of the greatest treasures to me is when you find a new cousin. I did just that yesterday! In fact it is so new, we connected enough information from both of us to realize we share the same great great grandparents! We are third cousins and the relation is on my fathers side of the family.

Our great grandparents are siblings. A brother and a sister. In fact I have pictures of her gr grandfather. She mentioned she does not have any information on Nicholas Hanson(gr gr grandfather). It will be my priviledge to share with her an obituary, grave stone picture, and a couple of pictures of Nicholas himself. Nicholas was born in Sweden.

So for today, my Treasure Chest Thursday is my new founded third cousin.

Happy continued hunting.

Treasure Chest Thursday - Grandma's Clock

This clock is special. It was my Grandma Lyon's clock. When we used to stay at Grandma and Grandpa Lyon's house for a few days, I fell alseep at night looking at this clock. This is when my Grandparents lived in Mitchell, South Dakota. They later moved to Florida.

After my Grandparents had both passed away, my mom asked if there was anything of Grandma's that I would like to have and imediately I requested the clock. When we received it, it did not work. My handy husband got it working so now it sits in the foyer of our home.

A true treasure to me.

Treasure Chest Thursday - Sarongs and cats!

This is a picture I treasure. It is of me and my three sisters when we lived oversea's in Bandung Indonesia! We lived there for two years out of our young lives. Although we did not regularly wear sarongs, it was fun to dress up in the native costume from time to time.

The cats - well - let me tell you. We had a female cat and noticed she went missing for a few days. One of us walked by a dresser in one of the bedrooms and heard "meaow". There our cat was - with four little kittens in a dresser drawer! At night time - the cat would bring her kittens one by one up onto one of my sisters bed. I thought it was gross and they looked like tiny rats. What a weird experience.

When we were young like in this picture - we would say "let's stand in stair steps"! We were all from 15 - 18 months apart so when we were in "stair steps" we would also be oldest to youngest. Today we are pretty much the same height so no more "stair steps" for us!

From time to time I will be telling stories and things that us kids did when we were little, as teens and the more recent adults years.

One thing in this world that I treasure is my wonderful sisters.

Standing from oldest to youngest. Nancy, Mary, Susan and Sandy

Treasure Chest Thursday- Grandpa's Lantern

Oh my. My eyes feel really weary because of the scutinization finding the production date on this lantern. I even used a magnifying glass!

Here is a picture my husband took for me the other day of my Grandfather's lantern. How did I come about getting it? About 5 years ago I was visiting my Mom and her Eldest brother in Walla Walla Washington. Mom and I went over to Uncle Jim's place and he was saying he needed to clear out the shed. I saw this cool looking lantern hanging there and said "what about that lantern?" "Oh yeah" he said, "that was Dad's. I found it hanging in the barn. Do you want it?" Of course I jumped at it.

This lantern hung in Grandpa's Davis's barn? I loved Grandpa's barn! The cousins would have sleep overs in there. The cousins would make forts out of the bales of hay. We could hear mice in there. (gross) It was a priviledge for me to acquire my Grandpa's lantern.

The other day I saw it hanging in our garage. I asked my husband to bring it in to the house so I could clean it up. It was shocking how well the globe cleaned up. It is made of really thick glass. Like coke bottle glass. This would be perfect for Treasure Chest Thursday!

I did some research. This is a New York No. 2 Dietz Blizzard lantern. The globe is a LOC-NOB Fitzall. I'm not sure what the 4H stamp stands for at this time. The patent numbers and production date were stamped onto one side of the air tube to the right of the fuel cap. They even stamped numbers on the crease! From what I can tell this lantern was produced in the Syracuse Factory #2 in August or September of 1945. That was before I was born!

Did I ever see that lantern? Did my mom or her five brothers carry this around in snow storms to check on the animals? Wow........ Thanks Uncle Jim! Of course this was the barn in Ruthven, Iowa.

Treasure Chest Thursday Grandpa's Coin

This is a true treasure to me. You see, the coin was carried by my Gr Gr Grandfather, Andrew S. Davis, in his shoe during the Civil War. He was a member of the Iowa Company E, 4th Infantry for the Union. He signed in at the age of 40 and mustered out as a full Corporal. He was also a flag holder at the Grand Army Parade in Washington DC at the end of the war. My cousin atually has possesion of this coin and he will pass it along to his son, also named Andrew.

The envelope reads: "This 50 cent piece was carried by Grandfather Davis in Shermans March to the sea. Also - up the coast to Washington to be mustered out at the close of the war.______" We believe the writing on the envelope is that of my Grandpa, Stuart Davis.

Don't you just think this is cool? I sure do.