LCG&HS evening of Show and Tell fun for members and guests

 

[April 04, 2023] 

At the Logan County Genealogical and Historical Society meeting February 20, members gathered share the history of family keepsakes.



Diane Osborn brought a quilt made from fabric pieces her mother kept in a linen closet for years. They were passed down to her mother from Osborn’s grandmother and Osborn’s mother always intended to put together a quilt from them.

When her mother died, Osborn’s sister who was a seamstress inherited the pieces, but she never got around to making a quilt from them either. After Osborn’s sister died a few years ago, her niece gave Osborn the pieces. Osborn then had Carla Ackerman make a quilt from the pieces. A note on one quilt block reads, “To Helen from great grandma Matlock, age 88, September 11, 1908.” The quilt is one of many Osborn has.

Diane Farmer brought a photo of a claw-legged coffee table with a removable glass top passed down to her. Farmer remembers the table being in her grandmother Pushala’s house on Delavan Street over 70 years ago. Farmer said it is a beautiful piece and has asked that her children and/or grandchildren keep it as a wonderful keepsake of her family. Farmer lifts the top up and uses the table to store photos or holiday decorations.



Farmer also brought some glass her father made when he was a machine operator at what was originally the Lincoln Glass Bottle Company and later the Lincoln Container Corporation on land owned by Stetson’s. Farmer’s father was walking down the nearby railroad tracks looking for coal and someone came up and asked if he wanted a job at the factory and he worked there until his retirement.

Original family documents were brought by Gary Freese to show everyone. Two were written in German. These documents included his grandfather’s birth certificate from September 10, 1872, his grandfather’s confirmation certificates, and his grandparent’s 1898 marriage certificate. Freese passed around a photograph of his grandmother’s sewing machine he has at home. He recalls his grandmother sewing with it when she lived with his family.

Curt Fox brought in a Zippo cigarette lighter with coins embedded in it. The lighter belonged to Fox’s father and his initials are inscribed in the lighter. Fox said the unique thing about the coin is it not a United States coin.

During World War II, Fox’s father was in the army. He was a doctor and went to India then over the Himalayas into China. Fox said the lighter was likely a souvenir from when his father passed through India. The coin is a rupee inscribed George VII, King and Emperor because during that time India was ruled by England.

In 1880, when Joanne Marlin’s great grandparents got married, one of their wedding gifts was a glass plate depicting the Last Supper. The plate was passed down to Marlin’s mother and then to Marlin. Marlin put blue backing on it to make the Last Supper depiction easier to see.



When Ruby Bartman Nimke’s mother was young, Nimke’s mother had a doll from the McCormick’s in Emden that had been a Christmas present. Nimke remembers the doll being kept in a linen drawer when she was a child. In the 1970s, Nimke’s brother and sister-in-law took the antique doll and had it mounted in a case and Nimke now has it. The McCormicks also gave her mother and aunt wooden rockers that have been passed down to Nimke, who has had them refurbished. Other items Nimke showed were a handkerchief box and a pillow from the 1933 World’s Fair. She said these are all items she cherishes.

Old photos Abbie Alexander showed were of Lincoln Lakes and other local sites. Some at Lincoln Lakes were taken standing in the canoe shed Alexander’s father built as an Eagle Scout project and others were taken when he was in his canoe. One photo Alexander shared had a house with the windows blown out, but she was not quite sure of the story was behind it. Alexander had her father help identify people in several photos but hopes to find someone else who can identify people in other photos.

John Durdle shared a button collection passed down to him. His sisters collected buttons over the years and now he collects them too. In the collection Durdle brought, there are some sets. It is unusual to find sets like that together. Durdle’s aunt had one of the largest button collections and his dad bought it at her estate auction. When Durdle was a child, he recalls looking at some of these buttons his aunt kept in her cedar chest.



New LCGHS member Marge Gehrke Medina brought a wooden apple that was part of a miniature tea set and is over 100 years old. She also showed an antique ballerina spinning top her aunt had owned that still works. Medina remembers playing with both items as a child. Another special item, which Medina was unable to bring, is a Titanic book with the names of all the passengers. This book had been gifted to Medina’s grandmother at age 16 and now Medina’s brother John has it.

A box of memorabilia from Galen Wickline’s father included bills from the reserve bank of India. He had some worth ten rupees and some one rupee notes from the Japanese Occupation Forces. Wickline’s father got these bills when he was in the service.

Other items Wickline brought included documentation of the issuance of awards to his father for his service in the Chinese Offensive Central Burma Campaigns during World War II. One award was a Bronze Service star and another a certificate from 1955 recognizing his father for being a Master Sergeant in the Army Reserves. From this same era, Wickline had a paper with what he believes to be Chinese characters. He is hoping to find someone who can translate the characters on the paper.

A scrapbook of postcards from the early 1900s was what Debra Aper showed to everyone. These were postcards Aper’s grandparents, Lewis Baker and Edith Schwantz, sent to one another during their courtship. Some of the postcards had familiar Lincoln sites on them and others were holiday postcards. A few appeared to be made of leather. When Aper was younger, she remembers playing with the postcards her grandmother kept in a shoebox.

Last but not least, Bill Donath brought memorabilia that had belonged to his great grandma Donath, who was widowed at 28 with five children. One item was a brooch with her late husband’s photo Donath’s great grandma always wore. Donath also brought a pin that signified Haley’s Comet and a lapel button one of his great uncles wore on his uniform in World War I.

A unique item Donath brought was a key fob. On one corner of the key fob is a bow and several arrows and tomahawks. Underneath that are the letters IORM, which stands for Improved Order of the Red Men (a Fraternal Organization. Stamped into the fob is J.A. Donath, who is Bill Donath’s grandfather. Other words stamped on it are Kickapoo Tribe 188 Lincoln, Illinois. Donath believes it may be the key for the hall where the Red Men organization met.

The items and their history provided a fascinating Logan County Genealogical and Historical Society program. In some previous meetings over the years, people have brought keepsakes and had the others guess what they were. Members said they enjoy these “Show and Tell” events.

The next Logan County Genealogical and Historical Society meeting will be held at the LCGHS Center at 114 N. Chicago Street on Monday, March 20 at 6:30 p.m. The program for the evening is to be determined.

[Angela Reiners]