Family Treasures?  

Well my husband and I both have things handed down from his family, I have things handed down from my family and my kids and i have things handed down from their fathers family....I'll also start doign it with my kids when they are older with kids of their own..things of mine (not handed down to me and some handed down as well) will go to them and their kids etc etc

We don't have any special things, but there are some things that I would love to have - my grandmother's china (it's still in my mother's china cabinet ;)), her old sewing machine, her cast iron frying pans, our childhood photographs. I've never been much on keeping memorabilia, but when my oldest children celebrated their first Christmas in their own homes, I chose an assortment of Christmas ornaments for them to hang on their trees, including ones that they'd made for the tree when they were little. They love those ornaments because of what they represent.

From my father's side there is very little, a vase from his mother. From my mother's side I have a lot of things:

Old books dating back as far as the 1850's, 2 on very fancy paper, 1 illuminated
A very old gold wedding band with a mystery behind it
A Limoges breakfast set from around 1900
An oil painting that my grandmother's 2nd husband did of a great aunt
Jewelry originally belonging mostly to great aunts, via my mom
An occupied Japan figurine
A very old mustache cup
A very old nutcracker
My mom's wedding dress
Old photos going back as far as the 1880's
Papers, things like my great-grandmother's 5th grade report card, newspaper clippings, etc.
Very old silver candlesticks

Probably a lot of other things. My mom was pretty good about dividing things between me and my siblings, but seems I also ended up with all the things that nobody else wanted.

I have my mother's hope chest which she bought the year she was married, 1937. I have it now, and it will go to my oldest niece when I die along with her wedding band set. My younger niece, who never met her grandmother, will get her gold charm bracelet. My younger niece will get hers in a couple of years, though. She is in college working on her Masters degree. I am going to give it to her when she graduates.

Oh yes! I am a sentimentalist - even still have the love letters my husband wrote to me over 40 years ago! We also have many document of family members for the last 200 years. They are in a wooden box and when I go to the U.K. my sisters and I drool over them. Lots of birth and death certificates and many letters and photographs.One of the saddest was the correspondence received in the Ist Wrold War which was from 1914 1918. whe a soldier dies the family received a telgram that had a black edging to the envelope. This signified death so the postman would go to the neighbours first to alert them of the death before delivering the telegram to the family of the dead soldier. My Grandmother (who died many years before I was born) received a telegram stating that her husband had been killed and about 3 hours later another telegram arrived to state that her eldest son (also called John) had been killed too. They used to receive post about 3 times daily in those days as it was the only means of communication. I also have wedgewood plates, binoculars over 100 years old, a soldier's prayer book from the 18th century and other victorian and Edwardian plates and saucers. I display them on the walls of my home. I also have a few mahogony pieces of furniture that were handed down in my husband's family. I rescued a mahogont china closet from a fowl coop! I love my few pieces and will certainly hand them down to my children. What a wonderful discussion. I could go on and on! Have a wonderful day!

I have a few things, mostly china that my great grandmother gave to me. Most of my family do not give me things since I am not a saver lol I'm glad that they do not because I look at it and think oh I have to move this now too. My mom is in charge of saving all the heirlooms.

I'm the keeper of the photos. lol I have a lot of very old ones as well as things like letters and postcards and newspaper clippings.

From my Dad's side, I have several old Bibles, including my Grandpa's, who was a Minister. His notes and bits of paper where he wrote things are in it. My Grandpa's pocket watch, mantel clock, console (floor-model) radio and a lovely Duncan Phyfe table. My Grandma's wood rocker, teapot, candy dish and her cast-iron cookware. I also have a pillow cover that my Dad bought my Grandma while he was stationed at Camp Lejeune...it has the words to the song "Mother" on it. My Aunt's old sewing machine. I have my Dad's medals from the Marines, his belt buckle, watch, books, etc.

My Mom is still living, but from her family we have a very old china covered dish and a milk pitcher from her Great Grandmother. Some aprons that my Grandmother made, one of my Great-Grandmother's old silk dresses, some glassware, a bracelet that my Grandfather made for my Mother when she was a year old, old picture frames, etc.

I seem to be the one who cared the most about keeping things. Most of the things my Mom's family had got sold by my Aunts. They aren't very big on keeping anything if they can get money out of it.

I don't have much, my father's family had 8 children that lived to adulthood, many of them very greedy. The family lost their land in 1926. The farm crisis preceded the Great Depression in the United States in case you have forgotten your history. The majority of the family moved to California. This oldest & youngest sister stayed in Nebraska. My father (the 2nd to youngest) was working in Texas when the family moved, and he never joined them. So what few things my father's parents had his siblings got and they were very unwilling to share. On my mother's side however there is somewhat more, though there is very little of value (monetarily that is) we have a lot of picture of great grandparents and their siblings from the 1800s. Some needle work from a great aunt. My grandparents house burnt down when my mother was 3 years old so we don't have any furniture that they had inherited from their parents. That was in 1920, however I do have some furniture that my grandparents acquired there after. I also have some rather neat jars that my grandmother kept in which coffee and tea were originally sold. I also have some old canning jars from my grandmother and her sister.

I have quite a bit of family memorabilia that has been handed down, such as a few rare black and white glass plate photos that look as if they were right out of the Civil War period. I have some old porcelain dolls that also look like from that time...then a load of papers including the immigration papers my great-great grandfather signed when he came to America from Ireland in 1851. So I have quite a collection here

Inherited items are HUGE in my family. And as an only child I'm unfortunately getting alot of the stuff. I've inherited antique dishes, quilts, two rockers, two hope chests, a china cabinet loaded with my grandmother's collection of over 3000 perfume bottles, and a bunch of other stuff. I've hauled it from state to state with each move. Its reaching the point where I just don't know what to do with it all. I'm packing to move yet again and I'm getting tired of hauling it around. BUT, I know these things should stay in the family if possible. I am however considering keeping key pieces for memory sake and selling off some of the dishes since I have over 4 large boxes of that alone. The hardest thing to know what to do with is old family photos of relatives I don't remember and my grandmother's scrapbooks full of people and events that don't interest me. I mean it feels so wrong to just throw the stuff away. I also know that when the time comes that my Dad passes away (and lets hope that doesn't happen for many years yet) that I will inherit his house, which displays antiques, furniture and old photos all thru the place.