Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Treasure Chest Thursday -- My Special Shoe Box

I want to dedicate Thursdays to sharing some of my own family treasures. I would also like to invite you to do the same. To me, family treasures can include a range of things including photos, old letters and post cards, a family heirloom, or even a special memory. And let's not forget about the things we discover while doing research.

Today I would like to share with you some things I found in a shoe box in my grandma's house.

After grandma passed, dad and the aunts and uncle decided to sell the house because no one could afford to do all the repairs that it needed. This was very heart breaking and took me quite a while to get over it. The house was built by my great grandfather. Grandma was born in the little house in the back yard and he started building the two story house in 1900, but it was 1904 when they were able to move in.


The architectural style of the house is Queen Anne, and it is registered in the National Register of Historic Places.

When my father was about 7 grandpa and grandma Smedley bought this house from her step-mother, so dad grew up in this house as well. I have so many wonderful memories there.

Before the house was sold I had an opportunity to go in and gather a few things that no one else had claims on. I was lucky enough to find a shoe box full of old documents, mostly tax deeds.



The above is a stock certificate dated 1908 belonging to my great grandfather Thomas Joynes Smedley. Too bad the company is no longer in business ;)



This is a Declatory Statement dated 1882.


This is an 1882 Deed belonging to my great- grandfather Thomas Joynes Smedley. Imagine only paying 10 1/2 dollars for 4 acres of land.


This is an 1884 Deed.

3 comments:

  1. So nice that you were able to find these documents. I like your idea "Treasure Chest Thursday" and have a goal to try to post on this theme. Thanks!

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  2. I found you on another geneablogger site. I LOVE this idea and am going to try to also do a Treasure Chest Thursday. As the only person in the family who does genealogy, folks seem to continue to give me items from our past. Thank you for this idea.

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  3. Great! I'm looking forward to it. I am also the only one in my family that does genealogy. I sure hope my grandkids will be interested some day.

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