I was intrigued.Investigation followed.

According to history, Richard and his wife Alice had a wine goblet made with their initials and a heart on the side. Upon their deaths in 1690, it was donated to their church where it was used in ceremonies. Then, 311 years later, in 2001, the church auctioned off a collection of silver pieces. The cup was included in the auction and sold to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and added to their American Silver collection. I pulled up their website to investigate and was surprised to learn that when I typed in the name Richard Bracket in their search bar, the goblet not only comes up with verifying details but a map of where it is house within the museum.

I was thrilled to not only have this story to include in our family history but also to learn where it is, and see photos of it. You can even see a photo of the heart and their initials. Click here to see the photos on the MET website. There is even a map to find your way to Gallery 750 should you be in the area and wish to view it.

You can see the B for Brackett and underneath is the R for Richard and A for Alice. A little heart sits in the middle of their initials.

It is also included in the book, Early American Silver by The Metropolitan Museum of Art. You can read here

There is an irony here. I am at an age where I worry what will happen to all the things that have been entrusted to me, that have been passed down through generations in my family. And suddenly after years of research I am bumping into ancestral things now housed by museums. My current theme in my research seems to be “the things”. Where will they go and where are they now?

Here is my Lineage to Capt. Richard and Alice Brackett

• Susannah Allen
• Ruth Carlson
• Sara Balentine
• Inez Kohler b. 1889
• Mary Caroline Page Allen b.1861
• John Page Jr b. 1834
• Mary Newcomb b.1810
• Rebecca Brackett b.1764
• James Brackett Jr. b.1736
• James Brackett b.1709
• Nathan Brackett b.1678
• James Brackett b.1652
• Capt. Richard Brackett b.1610 and his wife Alice Blower b.1615 The immigrants who came to American and settled in Braintree,Massachusetts, whose wine goblet now sit on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Views: 705

I found out that John Alden’s rifle exists.  It is the only know firearm to have crossed the Atlantic on the Mayflower. It is safely kept at the NAR Firearms Museum in Fairfax, Virginia. It is the only gun from Pilgrim history and the museum has some great photos and a video on the weapon.

Here is a link that shows you the photographs.

Here is the link that shows you the video.

It’s impressive to know that my Ancestral Grandfather’s rifle is held in a museum. I”m sure there is nothing that I have that will interest a museum. I will simply be proud of my Grampa.

Views: 473

I am excited. My copy is 100 years old!

If you aren’t familiar, The Allen Gazette was written by the Allen Family as a family newspaper. All of it is written in sarcasm, which was apparently their base language. It is themed in dry witted humor with a tendency to mock the English language.It is am amazing peephole into their lives and voices. I consider this one of my greatest treasures entrusted to me. Few people have such resource into the personalities of their ancestors.

It you read the Gazette beginning to end, you gain a good insight into their personalities and playfulness with each other. Here is a link to the post containing the original typed version I provided here.

Best,

Susannah

The Original Allen Gazette

Views: 441

I remember the baby furniture. Remember we didn’t strap babies down? Remember big rattles? Remember the hidden vinyl bath under the top of the baby changer? How did they empty that thing and why did they find that handier than the bathtub itself?

Holidays offer us the biggest chance that there were photos taken. Here we can see not only the TV of the time, but remember Doilies and Antennas?  I remember there was a doily on top of every wooden surface. TV was free back then.

I still love a good wallpaper. When I see all the white sheetrocked walls, I miss design, I miss real drapes, color and co-ordinates. And didn’t nearly every living room have a candy dish for visitors? I love having a way to know where we have been in home style as well as the gene pool.

Views: 1118

Here is a snippet from Wikipedia, Roger Conant (c. 1592 – 1679) arrived in Plymouth Colony from London early in 1623/24 with the profession of salter. Early in his colonial life, he became associated with those opposed to the Puritan authorities in Plymouth and led the settlement to outlying areas, particularly in the Salem area, which he is credited with founding. He was the first governor of English settlers in Salem from 1626 to 1628.

My descent from Roger is through his son Lot Conant.Lot married the daughter of the Marblehead’s first minister, Rev. William Walton. Lot and Elizabeth then moved to Bridgewater, Mass. and build a homestead there at a time when there were only a dozen families building there. Their family line continues and married into the Whitman family and that line takes me to my Grandfather, Alfred Balentine’s Mother, Laura Whitman.

So my Grandfather who claimed he had no one important in his past, descended from Roger Conant, the founder of Salem and first governor…..(Grampy, check your facts first!…Hahah).

Salem has a statue of Roger at the town green. I wanted my picture taken in front of the statue. After all, he is my ancestral Grandfather. The challenge is the the statue is in the middle of the road. And there is traffic everywhere. It was hard for my friend to get a proper picture without car rooftops covering me up. Help arrived.  A tractor trailer beeped at us, stopped and signaled my friend to go ahead and step into the road. Amazingly all other cars stopped as well. (Was that you Grammy??) With all cars stopped. It was fun and we were quick. My friend stepped into the middle of the road and got a good shot of me. Anything for family history!!!

Here I am standing on the triangle of land upon which the statue rests. My friend is standing in the road to get this shot. It looks deserted here but trust me, cars are constantly streaming through.

My friend stepped further back to get a better shot of the whole statue base and me, clinging to the railing so I don’t get run over. I should have put my nice shoes on. I was wearing my running shoes for cemetery climbs, traffic dodging, etc.

Being the awesome assistant, Paul knew to get a photograph of the sign in close up. And he was quick, we didn’t make the willing traffic wait for more then a minute or two.

Here is my line to Roger Conant.

Myself > Ruth Balentine >Alfred Balentine > Laura Whitman b.1896 > Alfred W. Whitman b.1871> Alfred A. Whitman b.1848 > Charles Stockbridge Whitman b. 1784 >Elijah Whitman b. 1762  >Nicholas Whitman b.1731 > Mary Conant b.1694 > William Conant b.1666 > Lot Conant b.1624 > Roger Conant b.1592

Here is the GPS link to his statue, he stands at the green in front of the Salem Witch Museum.

Roger Conant is my Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Grandfather.

Views: 2146

This little book, The Child’s Gem is dated 1845. Inside the pages is my Great, Great, Grandmother Caroline Lucinda Parker Page’s signature. She would have been 8 years old when this book was published. As it was in her possession, we can assume her daughters read it as well. The book is mostly intact and now 169 years old. It is near 100 pages. I chose the more prominent ones to photograph for you.

I did find the book for sale on a rare book site, Abe BookSite.com for purchase and reading. Here are the photos that I took for you.

You will notice the photograph of the back page is a dark yellow. I photoshopped it to offer a higher level of contrast, hoping that it enables you to see the writing on the page. It is hard to see the pencil marks are fading. I need to get advice on preserving our family treasures.

Views: 292