Treasures from the Wardrobe

The Treasure Hunt

It takes no stretch of the imagination to believe me when I tell you that the house in the photo above was full of nasty trash, furniture, rat droppings and general yuckiness.  How much imagination would it take to believe that we found some really cool stuff as we pawed through every stinking item wearing latex gloves and respirators?

Before we threw one thing away, Jerry and I went through every box, drawer, and closet in the house item by item.  Some folks had already come and stolen items from the house and went through things.  Jerry and I were the only ones who could have told that items were disturbed as everything was in disarray.  But it was easy to see the missing furniture and how things had been moved and rearranged.  Luckily, there were still some very meaningful items left for us to find and treasure.

The Books

Jerry started going through the enormous wardrobe in what was the bathroom.  He found James Wood’s Biblical study book that has his name embossed on it.  We believe that this book was a gift (probably from his brother, Hugh) as the publication date is after they emigrated to Texas. Tucked inside this book was a smallish blue piece of paper.  It was folded and, as we were determined to go through everything, I unfolded it carefully to see what it was.  I was stunned.

This is the baggage claim ticket James Wood received when he shipped his goods from Galveston to the Port of Navarro.  Notice Capt. MacKenzie’s name!

The Clothing

We found two very old petty coats in the old wardrobe along with some handmade children’s clothing.  Here are photos of those items.