Heirlooms on eBay

You just never know or when something relating to your family will turn up. I had just completed some research in reference to two unmarked graves in a family’s burial plot at a local cemetery. I located the information using the local newspapers of the times of 1910s to eventually pin point which two relatives were in the only two unmarked graves. Not only their names and death dates, but additional genealogical information was located, so the family was very pleased.

One week later as I was scanning the newest items up for auction on eBay, I spot a postcard of the old local school house, which had existed from 1909 to 1922. I noticed on the front of the postcard a person had marked one of the second floor windows of the school with an ‘X’ and written in long-hand at the bottom was “this is the window I sat near”. The eBay seller had an image of the back of the postcard which I then reviewed. It was postmarked February 4, 1912 and address to a lady in Jacksonville, FL. The message covered about how the friend was doing as a nurse in their new job and that the sender hoped to visit her shortly. The person who wrote the postcard, signing their full name, was one of the very individuals with the unmarked graves, I had just researched for a family. The postcard was sent in Feb. 1914 and she, the sender, had died of Addison’s disease at age 19 in August 1915.

What a treasure for the family!! It was almost as if the long lost relative was ‘aiding in the search’. Only having found the person’s full name the week before helped to know this was the same person from the same location. The family did bid and won the auction for this postcard. Such a thrill, that 100 years later this hand written message of an ancestor should return home.

So start or continue if you are already, to search what comes up for auction on eBay. Family heirlooms and treasures do get dispersed everywhere over the years and it is great to have them returned to the families.

If you are ever in a family hometown, check out the antique shops and second-hand stores in the county, you never know what could be found.