Almost Wordless Wednesday

This a group pictures in Nantucket Island, Mass, in the side yard of Grandparents Corkish home at 3 Cottage Ct.
Left to Right: Mildred Swann Corkish, Alfred Corish, Annette Corkish Hartmann, George J. Hartmann Jr.
Front Row: Donald, George and 10 year old Me.

Fearless Females: Heirlooms

Lisa is helping us all celebrate Women's History Month by suggesting daily prompts to recognize the women of our Family Tree. The prompt for the 6th was to describe an heirloom you may have inherited from a female ancestor: wedding ring or other jewelry, china, clothing, etc.
I'm a firm believe that a picture is worth a thousand words.


This is my maternal grandmother Minnie Elizabeth Chaplin cameo ring. It is very tight on my little finger,either she had small fingers or I have big ones. I have worn it on very special occasions but never for daily use. Being a nurse rings have to be practical, this is beautiful but not practical. This ring was given to my mother's older sister Beatrice but she had three boys and when I was born she gave it to my mother. The setting sits up almost 1/2". I have never seen this worn by anyone family member. It was saved for me. My Aunt Bea was a lot of fun and made be feel like part of the family.


This Cameo pin belongs to my Mom's mother or grandma Mildred Corkish. (My second Mom) I do remember my Mom wearing this pin. Again since I was the only girl I was given this pin also. I think maybe I worn it once. Mostly it lives in the safe. I'm not a fancy dresser so I have no idea what I would wear it on. It sure is a beautiful cameo. I might just have to find something to wear this on!!

When I was looking for my treasures and after I saw them again I realized I had forgotten how many I really have. Finding all these things made me feel very blessed. Something I think I tend to forget. My family tried hard to make traditions to have and to pass down. I trying to survive after the lost of two mothers before age 17, I felt the pain and lost but forgot the good stuff. This has helped me to remember.

Thanks Lisa for these prompts!

I'll be breaking this into a couple of post because I have some other treasures. And I'm sorry to say they are all returning to the safe.

Fearless Females: Grandma Corish

To help celebrate Women's History Month Lisa at The Accidental Genealogist has posted Fearless Females 31 Prompts to Celebrate Women's History Month.

Today I'm going to post a picture of the only grandmother I know. I think I only visited her 2 or 3 times in my early years. She was my Mom's mother, remember my Mom was my second mom, I don't really think of her as a step-mother.

Grandma Mildred lived in Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. As a kid I like her house, it was like an adventure. She had an ice box and the ice man came twice a week. One small bathroom downstairs and none upstairs. We sleep in one big room upstairs on mattresses on the floor and had to use a chamber pot during the night. She had a piano and I was the only kid who could play it because I didn't pound on it like my brothers. It was the first time I had swordfish to eat and I liked it.

The thing I remember the most about her is she made these wonderful picture books for us kids for Christmas a couple of years in a row. She used those marble notebooks and she cut colored pictures out of magazine and glued them to the pages. OK you say what is so great about that. She was legally blind. I can remember spending hours looking at the pictures. They meant a lot to me as a 10 & 11 year old kid. To me they were something wonderful my grandmother made for me.



She had also made my mom two hand appliqued quilts with 30's or 40's fabrics on them. One had butterflies on a muslin background. The other one was similar but a different applique pattern but I can't remember what. The last time I saw them was when I was 11 in New York before we moved to Florida. My Mom gave them away.

The picture of Mildred above was taken in Aug of 1958. That was the last time my Mom saw her parents, after we moved to Florida there was no way for her to return and see her parents. That had to be hard on my Mom. My grandparents had other children who lived on Nantucket. My Mom was the youngest.

The apron is one my grandmother made, the butterflies are the same as the quilt. The apron was machine stitched by the butterflies were hand appliqued. The second from the right one still has the basting stitches in it.