Sibling Saturday/Lost Heirlooms: Genevieve and Lois Chapin (circa 1904)

If you take a stroll through an antique store or flea market, you're likely to turn up an old shoe box full of photographs, papers, diaries, and other ephemera that were once someone's pride and joy.  It's sad to see what was once a family's treasure treated as so much junk, to be sold or discarded without regard to the history or memories they contain.  Fortunately, there are good Samaritans who love to rescue such heirlooms and try to return them to a descendant who will treasure them once again.

One of the most recent online trends is the discovery and re-homing of "Lost and Found Heirlooms."  Some websites are devoted to lost photographs, such as DeadFred, while others are more comprehensive.  Not every site is altruistic, however.  There are quite a number of dealers who are out to make a profit on what is now a trending hobby, but for the most part I've found that there is a genuine desire in the online genealogy community to restore an heirloom to its rightful family.

My cousin Gentsia was the recipient of one such gift from a genealogical good Samaritan.  She received a notice via Ancestry.com from a gentleman who traveled frequently and loved to visit antique stores looking for lost heirlooms.  While in Ashland, Oregon, he came across a large cache of photographs, many of which were identified via handwriting on the back.  He then set about trying to identify living family members via Ancestry's family trees and found Gentsia's Keys/Lynn genealogy.

The photographs (18 in all) date to the early 1900's and appear to include members of PWCo's Keys/Chapin/Lynn family.  Gentsia has kindly given me permission to share the photos on this blog, so keep an eye out for them in future posts. (Thank you, Gentsia!!)

Today, I'll begin with a photograph of young Genevieve Chapin and Lois Chapin, daughters of Alyce (Keys) and Paul Chapin.  Genevieve was born 8 September 1897 in Washington, DC and sister Lois was born 19 July 1902.  The photo below is marked as "Genevieve and Lois about 1904."

Genevieve and Lois (Chapin) about 1904

If you're looking for a good starting place to find or share lost heirlooms, I suggest Cydi's List  - Lost & Found General Resources. 

Once again, a big THANK YOU to Gentsia for sharing the photographs and to Mr. M. Cassara for taking the time to rescue them (and for sending them to Gentsia free of charge at that!).