Family Heirlooms

My mother-in-law called last week and asked if I wanted the trunk her great grandfather, Heinrich Spielman, used when he traveled from Germany to America in the 1850s. Well, how could I say no?

The hardware on the piece, apart from the exterior straps added later, is hand forged. The lock has the original key and is etched on the inside.

While picking up the trunk we took pictures of a sampler/wallhanging that was made in 1837 by Catherine Leatherman, my husband's second cousin five times removed (thank you ancestry.com for helping to figure that out.)  This sampler has been willed to the Mennonite Heritage Museum, which already has many Fretz family items (Catherine was a Fretz on her mother's side.)

Ancestry.com has been a huge help in researching all of my husband's family's history. So many of his distant relatives came to this country in the early 1700s. His family makes all my relatives newbies to this country!