Treasure Chest Thursday: The Locket

Gertrude Thankful Andrews
photo in personal collection

According to family stories, this is a photo of my grandmother Gertrude Thankful Andrews taken approximately 1909 at the time of her engagement to my grandfather Michael Arthur Myren.  Mike Myren had given the locket to Gertrude as an engagement present, and following their marriage Gertrude had it engraved with her new initials "GM".

Later my grandmother gave the locket to my mother.  It was kept in a small box in my mother's chest of drawers and brought out to wear only on Sundays or special occasions.  Then, some years ago, my mother give the locket to me, telling me the story behind the locket and giving me the old photograph.

Through the years, I had noticed some dings on the locket but thought they had come from being knocked around for 100 years.  It turned out the the dings were actually bite marks on the locket, made by my mother when she was teething and being carried around by my Gramma!  Each teething mark on the front, shown by the red circles below, has a corresponding mark on the back of the locket.

"Chomp, chomp, chomp"

The other day I bravely used a jewelry screwdriver to open the locket, something I had never done before.  Inside the locket was a faded picture of my father.  What a special surprise to realize that my mother had years ago added this photograph to the locket.

Someday the locket will probably be passed on to one of my grandchildren.  Along with the locket will also go the photograph as well as the story of how it served as a teething ring for their great grandmother.  This is also one more family heirloom that I am recording in my small "Family Treasures" scrapbook so that all of the family can share in this story.