I’d been trying to come up with a topic all month but wasn’t
having any luck until a couple of days ago. I was catching up on a TV show when
inspiration struck – My Great Great Grandmother Novie.
In January, my family and I went on holidays to Hawaii for
two weeks. My Maternal Grandparents – Mum’s Dad & Step-Mother – managed to
fly over from Texas and spend a week with us in Hawaii. Grandad is now 83 and
my Grandmother is in her early 70’s. They’ve both had some health issues the
past few years so we were very lucky they were able to make the trip. Before
the holidays, we knew that they were looking to move out of their house and
into a retirement village. Their house is quite big and was getting hard to
manage with just the two of them living there…and 3 very active little dogs as
well. They also wanted to make the decision about moving into a retirement
village while they still could, and not have someone else make the decision for
them. A couple of weeks after our holiday, they actually found a house in the
retirement village they want to live in and are signing the papers today.
Anyway, the night my Grandparents arrived in Honolulu, my
Grandad gave me something very special. His Grandmother, my Great Great
Grandmother Novie’s sugar bowl and butter dish. I had never seen these before,
nor was I expecting anything at all, so I was very surprised and very honoured
to be given them. He actually said “out
of all the grandchildren, you’ll probably appreciate them the most” and I sure will!
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| Butter Dish |
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| Sugar Bowl |
So, who was my Great Great Grandmother Novie?
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| Novie Leona Swindell Approx. 1901, Texas, USA. |
Novie Leona Swindell was born in 1874, in Morgan County,
Alabama to parents James Webb Swindell & Elizabeth Roberts. Currently I
only know of one sibling that she had; a brother, Erbie Milton Swindell born in
1880. In 1894, Novie married Charles Rufus Thompson. They had six children
together – Ethel, Pearl, Roy, Claude, Velma & Robert. Ethel was my Great
Grandmother. Between 1897 and 1901, after having two children they moved to
Texas.
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| Thompson's: Charles, Ethel, Roy, Novie & Pearl. Approx. 1901, Texas, USA. |
Something that I hadn’t known about Novie & Charles until my Grandad
told me that week was that at some point they separated. My Grandad doesn’t
remember having much to do with Charles who moved to New Mexico. Novie lived
with Ethel & her family when my Grandad was little to help with the cooking
and cleaning. Novie died on the 19th of March, 1949 in Corsicana,
Texas.
I wonder what Novie would think if she knew her butter dish and sugar bowl had made it all the way to Brisbane, Australia? I will treasure them with all my heart, and when I have children, I hope they will too.
Until next time genea-friends.
Until next time genea-friends.
What a super surprise for a young family historian. Thank you for sharing your joy.
ReplyDeleteAwesome! What a great gift!
ReplyDeleteLovely! Enjoy! Smile when you use them, of course, we know you will.
ReplyDeleteI love this - the butter dish and sugar bowl are beyond price, a real family heirloom. Your Grandad knew you'd value them!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful story Helen. Many thanks.
ReplyDeleteWonderful. I have a similar gift from my mother - a little china elephant that we used as children for milk at breakfast. We would always ask Mr Elephant if he would give us some milk please, and of course he always agreed. It was one of my dearest memories and she was pleased I valued it so much - which is another reason it is now so important to me.
ReplyDeleteKathleen
What a great gift! Wouldn't it be wonderful if they could tell their life story!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely wonderful to see the pics. I remember your excited FB post the night you received these precious heirlooms. 😊
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely gift and a lovely blog post. You re lucky too to have the photographs of your great great grandmother to link with the gift and so you can picture her using the sugar bowl and butter dish.
ReplyDeleteA beautiful gift and what a wonderful story to tell future generations.
ReplyDeleteAww, thank you everyone! :D
ReplyDeleteHow lovely! What special family heirlooms!
ReplyDeleteLove the heirlooms. Neat story. If you ever want flowers put on her grave, I pass by the area at least once or twice a year. Thanks for sharing a neat story.
ReplyDelete