iPentimento | Genealogy and History

From 1952 or so, my parents lived on Dennis Street in Tumwater, Washington and we rented the house from my Dad’s stepmother’s sister Mamie Linderson and her husband Lloyd.

My paternal grandfather Will and the aforementioned stepmother, Josie (McVey) Yates, lived a few miles away in Olympia on Steele Street. Grandpa Yates had purchased the house in 1950, and they moved in just a month or so before my birth in September of that year. Grandpa Will Yates lived in this house until 1984 when he passed away. (In 1982 or so, my parents had moved from their home on Dennis Street into Grandpa’s house in order to take care of him. )

As you can imagine, after thirty-four plus years in the house my grandparents had accumulated quite an inventory of keepsakes and doo-dads. It was sometime in the mid-1980’s that I happened to be helping my parents make some inroads on the ‘collection’ out in the garage. I was up on a step ladder, handing things down to my dad when I happened upon this square box with a curiosity inside that needed further explanation. I need to back up to *1938 in order for this story to make sense…

In 1937 my Great grandfather, Jim Yates, sold his farm in Howell County, Missouri and came out to Washington to stay with his daughters, Martha, Rhoda, and Lydia who took turns having him live with them. As you can see from the flyer, Jim Yates had a few farm and household possessions, but it seems that he also brought some unusual ones with him.  Sadly, Jim only got to live with his daughter Martha for a short time before he passed away on August 11, *1938.  No doubt, his possessions were dispersed between the siblings living in the area. Luckily, my grandpa got some of the pictures and keepsakes.

Back to the mid-1980’s and my tale… I handed the box down to my dad and he nonchalantly told me how it came to be in Grandpa’s garage. Inside the box was this rather dusty, old-looking “pot”. No, not drugs! It was a vessel with a rounded bottom, a neck that came up and then flared out just a little bit at the top, as if it was for pouring. No spout, just the wider opening. The vessel, unfortunately, was in three pieces, but at one time there had been an attempt to “glue” it back together.

Dad said that what he knew of it was that his father had told him that Jim Yates used to do a lot of digging for various reasons on his farm in Missouri, and that one time when he was digging a rather large hole he hit something, and that something turned out to be this vessel. No doubt Great Grandpa thought it was something precious and worth keeping, since it ended up in his son’s garage where it had even survived a couple major earthquakes (in 1949 and 1965) in the ensuing fifty years.

My dad had passed away in 1996, and later when I asked my Mom if I could have the vessel she was happy for me to take it home.  And so, it sat in my closet for another ten years safe and sound and surviving yet another major earthquake in 2001.

Two years ago as I was researching my husband’s Ripley family and their possible connection to a “Black Indian” tribe, I happened upon a site named Searching for Saponi Town. This piqued my interest because down on the list of Indian tribes was one in Missouri with the link entitled Mahenip’s Band of the Missouri Saponi. On that page was a link to Indians of Howell County, Missouri…where my great grandfather had his farm! (**WARNING** The last two site links above contain music.)

I contacted the tribe and told them the story of the vessel, and how I came to have it in my possession. I also sent a picture of the vessel and they were thrilled to see it. I told them that it looked as though there were sea shells in the clay, and some shiny materials as well. We all determined (with the help of an archaeologist they knew) that it was something prehistoric and I offered to give it back to the tribe as I felt that was where it belonged. Later, they determined that it was about 4000 years old and indeed from that area of Missouri. It has been sent home to Missouri and is on display at the tribal museum in West Plains.

Would you like to participate in this Carnival? Here is what we are looking for this time around:

In a honor of All Hallow’s Eve, we’d love to hear about your strangest, weirdest items. Uncle Leo’s old glass eye? Check. A piece of hair Grandma Verlene yanked from Elvis during a concert? Check. You get the idea.

Show and tell for grown ups, Cabinet of Curiosities is a celebration of the oddities and marvels of natural history, anthropology, archaeology and historic interest that reside in our personal collections. Tell us the stories behind the historical or religious relics, artifacts, mementos, talismans, specimens and ephemera in your steamer trunks, sock drawers and dusty fireplace mantles. Even if your home does not resemble the wunderkammer that mine does, anything that is a conversation piece is fair game for a good storyteller. What’s in your attic? Remember, this is show and tell, not merely a bazarre of the bizarre. It’s just an old lump of flattened lead unless you can tell us – engagingly – that this was the Minie Ball that shattered the stock of your ancestor’s Enfield at the otherwise unremarkable Battle of Bean’s Station back in December of 1863. And I’ll see that old bullet and raise you a 130-year-old tortilla mailed back East in the 1880s and passed on through the generations. Seriously. So what have you got, and what’s the story?

Submit your post no later than October 15, 2008 using the blog carnival form at http://blogcarnival.com/bc/cprof_2850.html.

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