08 May
Grandmother’s Brooch
On October 11th, 2008 I pinned my something old to my wedding dress:
On April 11, 2009 I wrote about the painting Sabrina did for me. I wrote about telling Sabrina to pay special attention to the brooch on my dress, because it was a family heirloom and I always wanted to remember what it looked like.
On April 13th I found out that I no longer need to look at the painting to remember the brooch. I hope my grandma will forgive me for including the words from her email here. It was so beautifully written, and I couldn’t possibly summarize it well enough to do it justice.
Dear Jenna, I read your blog about your wedding dress painting and the brooch. A little history on the brooch. My Grandfather, Simon B.Epstein , who was born Charitan Beniwich Galbinstein in Pechinovka, Nova Grad Volinsk, Russia, immigrated to the United States in 1909. He met his wife to be in Omaha Nebraska and married your great great grandmother Adele Marcus in 1914. During the depression, (somewhere between 1930 and 1939 or 40) when he couldn’t find work, he joined the Merchant Marines as a cook. He later became Chief Steward.. He sailed all over the world many times, and every time he would go into port in a foreign country he would bring my grandmother something from that country. Going to their house as a child was a wonderful experience. It was filled with those gifts he brought back to Grandma. Later in life they began to share those gifts with some of us. I have many of Grandma’s gifts in my home. One of those gifts was the brooch. He brought one for his wife and one for his daughter. My Mom doesn’t know what happened to the one she had. Grandma gave me her brooch many years ago. My mom says she thinks he brought it back from Italy. It is a real Cameo. Now for the best part…..I can think of no one who would cherish the brooch like you would, so I am going to do what my Grandmother did. I am going to give it to you for your 24th birthday. Why your 24th? One because of how important it is to you and two because when I turned 24 I remember saying to myself, if I get to choose the age I will be forever I want it to be 24. I looked great and enjoyed being that age, as I hope you are.
I cried when I read her email. I’m close to crying as I type this right now. What a beautiful history this piece has (I didn’t know the history behind it when I asked to wear it for my wedding), and I’m honored to keep the story alive. I’ll be memorizing it, and sharing both the story, and the brooch, with my own daughters and granddaughters one day.
Inside of the box she sent me was another treasure! A cookbook given to me by my grandmother, given to her by her grandfather (that would be my great-great grandfather), dated 1903. It is such a treasure. (And smells like my grandmas house which makes me smile (and grandma, by smells like grandmas house I don’t mean it smells like a dairy!)).
I will treasure this book not only for its history and the recipes it contains, but because it contains my grandmothers handwriting. Handwriting is something we don’t think about very much, but it’s so distinctive, so personal. I’m going to make a better effort at writing notes inside of the books I give away, as it adds so much to the gift.
Although some of the recipes are a little strange or outdated, I’m still planning on leafing through it and bookmarking a few in hopes that I’ll discover some classics that will become “signature” dishes for me. Of course I’ll be sharing whatever I find with all of you!
The pièce de résistance found on the back page, a family recipe for “White Cake.” I think you know what I’ll be making soon.
Grandma, I’m so touched by this. Thank you.
Have you been honored with any family heirlooms from your relatives?
I'm a farm-raised almost-crunchy stroller-pushing picture-taking lifestyle-blog-writing gastronomy-obsessed divine-seeking thrift-store-combing cheese-inhaling pavement-pounding laughter-sprinkling lover of individuality and taking chances.
That’s a very precious gift.
I understand your treasuring handwriting. As a child, I was very much a pack-rat. When I was cleaning out my room at my parents’ house before college, I came across stashes of birthday cards from my grandparents that passed away when I was in 8th and 10th grade. In holding those cards and running my fingers over my grandmother’s delicate script, I felt closer to her than I had since her death. Her handwriting reminds me of her much more than any photo.
I find it interesting that your great great grandparents were wed in 1914. My family’s generational gaps are unusually large. My aforementioned grandparents were born in 1907 and 1910, each passing away within 2 months of their 95th birthdays. They celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary shortly before my grandfather passed. I would be so blessed to make it to 70 years of blissful marriage.
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1What a beautiful, touching story and gift. I love the history of things.
I have such divided feelings on writing in books. First off, I completely understand how lovely it is to look in there and see your grandmother’s handwriting. Whenever I discover old birthday cards from my Auntie Olive (who was actually my Grandfather’s cousin), I smile because her curly handwriting was such a part of my childhood birthdays and Christmases. Another great-aunt, my Auntie Linda, was a nun, and for many years she was headmistress of a girls’ convent school. One day we were at a fete at this school, many years after she died, and they were selling some old school magazines at the bookstall. I was flipping through one to find a photo of her, when I came across an entire page of her handwriting, which stopped me dead in my tracks. I am not kidding you that her regular handwriting looked like calligraphy, it was that beautiful. This magazine entry was proper calligraphy (it was an award to someone that she had designed), and it made me so happy to see the writing I’d always had on cards etc in a magazine!
That said, I’ve worked too long in bookshops to feel comfortable about writing in books. I know you’re never going to sell your cookbook (or any other books you were gifted, I imagine), but writing in a book takes down the value of the book soooo much. Ack, I sound so horrible and mercenary now. I know you value that book far more than any monetary price it could get, honestly. But I’ve been both a seller and collector too long for it not to have affected me.
Although, again, sometimes it’s fun to buy a new (old) book and see that it was awarded randomly to Betsy in 1925 for full attendance at Sunday School. That *is* fun. Oh, I’m such a dichotomy.
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2I was named after my grandmother and my Aunt, and so anything that my grandmother passed to my aunt, she has passed to me. When I was born, my aunt gave me a necklace that my great-grandfather gave my great-grandmother as an engagement gift. It means a lot to me and will be my something old/something blue on my wedding day.
I also have a set of napkin rings, and my engagement ring was a gift from another aunt when I was 16. All of these things mean a lot to me.
Also, this doesn’t exactly count as an hierloom, but my family was talking about investments one day and my mom mentioned that my sister and I each had about 5 shares of ConEd stock, which was a gift from my great-grandfather, who died when I was three. Whenever I think about that, I feel overwhelmed by the gesture of it. It’s weird that stock might ever be seen as sentimental, but I think it is the only thing he ever gave me directly.
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3What a wonderful gift! That so cool that she thought of you and entrusted such a memorable gift to you.
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4What a lovely lovely gift. That is wonderful.
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5Wow. Those are both wonderful gifts!
I’m looking forward to seeing what turn of the century/early 1900s recipes look like!
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6This is so sweet! Grandmothers are the BEST!
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7I love family heirlooms! How touching. My grandmother gave me a gift from my great grandfather that seems to bring life to full circle in a way. At some point my great grandfather had gifted my great grandmother a Japanese jewelry box. I think it was a gift from a friend of his who was in the service… After my great grandmother passed away, my grandmother gave it to me. And it was touching because I was coincidently born in Okinawa, Japan when my father was in the service.
Items with a history and story create such a time honored tradition. I agree with you Jenna, when I have kids it will be fun to keep the family stories alive by associating objects to people within the family…
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8*tear* beautiful Jenna!!
As of yet, I don’t hve any hierlooms, but maybe ons day
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9What an amazing gift!
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10I’ve never owned an heirloom of any relatives. I’m getting married in September and it inspires me to go see if my relatives have anything old that I can borrow for my wedding. Not only does it cover the two areas that I would need, but it would also be pretty cool.
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11Wow, what an amazing, priceless present. And your grandmother seems like a treasure herself.
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12When I was christened, my great-grandmother, whom I am named after, gave me her baby cup. When she passed away I was given her sterling silver vanity set, which I will always treasure. I also have received her gold bead necklace and her gold bracelet that she used to wear regularly last year from my godmother/cousin. I have acquired a few other odds and end pieces of hers over the years and it makes me smile when I wear them or see them.
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13Congratulations on the special present. It is a very gorgeous cameo and looked very precious from the pictures you sent.
Though I’m probably more jealous over the old cookbook. I love nothing more than leafing through old books and finding imprints and notes from hundreds of years ago. We found a really old Swedish one at my In-Laws that talked about the best way to kill a turtle for turtle soup. All you need is a hot poker and a meat clever apparently.
Also, shout out for Omaha Nebraska! The town of love, he he he.
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14An heirloom that I’ve received is my engagement ring. I don’t know the exact story behind it, but my Grandfather gave Grandma two wedding rings. When it came time for my Mom to marry, Grandma gave the ring to my Dad, who then proposed and gave it to my Mom.
I’ve known that story for so long, and have loved the look of the ring. I’ve wanted my Mom’s ring since I was little. Somehow it was lost for many years, and right before I was to be engaged my Mom found it and gave it to my future husband at the time. I didn’t know that Mom had given it to Travis.
We went ring shopping one night and I found one that I liked. We went on our nightly walk before parting and Travis proposed that night with MY ring. I was so excited, that I kind of forgot to answer. Now for the twist… I was later told by my fiance that I would be receiving a second ring. He knew the significance of the heirloom, but wanted to give something of himself. He bought the ring that I liked at the store. I wore the priceless heirloom with the wedding band already sautered, as an engagement ring. I received the gifted one on our wedding day.
Because of how old the heirloom is, I wear it on special occasions due to the weakness of the crown and fear of losing the diamond. Someday, when I can afford it, we’ll replace the crown and I’ll wear it until I give it to my oldest daughter.
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15Ahhhh……Jenna that is SO touching!
It warms my heart to read this post
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16What a beautiful story Jenna!
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17Beautiful broach, beautiful story
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18love the stories + the history… that cookbook has to be insanely interesting. i’d love for you to share more from it!
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19WOW! Dear Grandma, how beautiful a gift, mostly because of your sweet words of when to give it and why! I wish we had things like that going around in our family, you share a strong bond that I would love. Jenna, this is so special and sweet, you are one blessed lady!
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20That is such a nice story. I’d somehow just assumed that your grandmother had given you the broach before. I love her comments about being eternally 24!
And do let us know how any turtle cooking goes.
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21First off, if you are interested in the turtle recipe, come on up to Manhattan (or I’ll meet you in San Francisco) and we can head to Chinatown and pick out a whopper of a turtle for ya. I’m sure you can get one in the Seattle markets, too… Dallas… not so sure!
But truly, I loved this post. What a really thoughtful and meaningful heirloom for your grandmother to pass down. It is a gorgeous brooch made all the more lovely by your story. It would be such a neat piece to share with your children someday, even if they pass it among themselves and incorporate in their weddings, too.
Related note - isn’t it amazing how I just planned your daughter’s wedding tradition? I have found as I plan my wedding (three weeks!) that I am already noting what should be done differently when I have children and they choose to marry. Yikes!
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22Priceless. This must be That Mom’s side of the family, no? How thoughtful of your grandma to read your blog AND impart such a wonderful piece of history to you. She is such a kind lady.
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23I saw Grandma the other day when I was home, and she told me she sent you this package and she seemed really excited to pass it on to someone who would really treasure it. There is no doubt that no one would love it even one-hundredth of what you do! (I don’t know if that made sense…whatever 2am)
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24That is amazing- what a beautiful story. Like you, I love handwriting of loved ones. We held an estate sale for my grandfather two years ago, and I was able to get some books that have writing on them. It’s such a special gift.
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25Your love of family heirlooms is very touching and I feel the same way about mine. What a great way to keep a record of your past history. I’m thinking what a great idea for my own future postings. I have this fabulous old radio my grandfather gave me. It was the first purchase he made working his first job. It was a gift for my greatgrandmother my namesake. Love your blog!
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