Family Heirlooms - Lost and Found



Family heirlooms are precious. Although a specific item might not have much monetary value, it is still very important to your family. These items are irreplaceable. Once in a while, someone finds another family’s heirloom that has been lost.

A Bible from 1881

William Sherman found a small Bible in the trash bin outside a $1 million home in the Florida Keys. (He works for a waste disposal company.) William gave this tiny Bible, that was small enough to fit into a shirt pocket, to his girlfriend, Holly Skillings. They set out to find the Bible’s owner.

The Bible dated back to 1881. The name Ellen Aycock had been written inside the cover. Ellen’s children were listed on the blank pages in the Bible. Holly Skillings posted information about the Bible onto a Facebook group called Key West Yard Sale.

Someone else in the group chose to do an online search for Ellen Aycock. The person found a Mary Ellen Aycock Holland, who appeared to be the right age, and who had an 1874 birthday. The names and dates of the dead resting near her grave matched the names of the children who were listed in the old Bible. This discovery enabled the old Bible to be returned to Franklin Nichols, who was one of Ellen Aycock’s children.

A Pendant from a Nazi Death Camp

Not all of the items found, that were once important to someone’s ancestors, bring happy thoughts. Such is the case with a pendant that was found when archeologists began excavating the Sobibor death camp. The pendant belonged to a fourteen-year-old girl named Karoline Cohn whose name would have been forgotten by history had the archaeologists not found her pendant.

The pendant was engraved with the words “good luck” in Hebrew. The archaeologists who found the pendant think that Karoline dropped it through the wooden floorboards as she walked to the gas chambers. This pendant is one of many personal items that the archaeologists have discovered.

Karoline’s pendant was almost identical to one carried by Anne Frank. Perhaps Karoline and Anne were relatives.

A Ring found on a Cruise Ship

Mike King took his family on a Carnival Cruise from Port Canaveral. When their vacation came to an end, he decided to check the room’s safe – to make sure the family had all their belongings. He found a small ring that was about the size of a penny. It had a gold band and several stones that Mike King believes could be diamonds.

Mike King noticed that the ring was old. He thought it was a family heirloom. He has reported the find to Carnaval, and has posted some photos of it on Facebook.

Related Articles at FamilyTree.com:

* Heirlooms Reunited

* Finding Family Heirlooms – Where?

* Heirlooms on eBay

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