My family is fortunate to have two rings that have been passed down in my family thru several generations, now becoming family heirlooms. Looking at them reminds me of each of the women who wore them. I am fortunate to have known each of them except for one, who died well before I was born. The stories cover SIX generations of family overall.
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The first ring belonged to my paternal great grandmother, Clara Alice Martin Heacock. She was born on Oct. 24, 1871 and died too young on May 6, 1917 at age 45. Clara and her husband, Foster James Heacock, had 6 children two of which were twins and one who died young. They were a Quaker farming family who lived in Indiana and later Pennsylvania. Clara's ring is gold with 6 small stones, 2 Opals and 4 what I believe may be purple Tourmaline. Both Opals and Tourmalines are considered October birthstones, Clara's birth month.. I like to think that the stones represent Clara's children, the Opals being the twins. I do not know exactly how old the ring is, but if my idea is correct then it came to Clara between 1908 and 1917. This ring passed to Clara's youngest daughter, Helen Heacock Davidson. Helen was born on Sep. 28, 1908 and passed away on Aug. 20, 2000. Helen and her husband, Gene Davidson were married for 65 but had no children, so the ring was passed on to her niece, Peg Heacock Overbaugh. Peg was born on Dec. 2, 1930 and passed away on May 18, 2019. Peg and her husband, Phil Overbaugh, had 6 children, just as Clara had. They were married 55 years. Peg was not only my aunt, but also my godmother. At some point, Peg replaced one of the Opals that had been lost. She passed the ring on to me, she said in appreciation for the family history work I had done, which coincidentally, followed the work of Helen. I do wear the ring and will pass it on. I have one daughter, Amy, and two granddaughters, Hannah & Emily.
Clara Alice Martin Heacock
Helen Heacock Davidson
Peg Heacock Overbaugh
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The second ring comes from my mother's family. It originally belonged to my grand aunt Bertha Boardman Knepley. It was her engagement ring given to her by her husband, Paul Knepley. The ring is
gold set with a round solitaire diamond. Bertha & Paul were married on Oct 22, 1936 and were married for 55 years before Paul passed away. Bertha, or Bea as she was known, was born on Apr. 25, 1911 and passed away on Jan. 27, 2005. Both she and her husband worked at the Bloomsburg Silk Mill until their retirements. They would have no children. Bea was like a mother to her niece, my mom, Carole Bonadio Heacock. Bea's sister, Helen died young leaving Carole with no mother at 10 years old. Carole was born on Dec, 23, 1931 and passed away on July 17, 2019. Bea gave her ring to Carole. Mom wore it daily and decided that she wanted my granddaughter, Hannah, to have the ring when she turned 18. One day, when Hannah was about 4 or 5 years old, she overheard her mom and I talking about this plan. She became very upset and did not want the ring because she was afraid that she would lose it. But Mom lived past Hannah's 18th birthday and the ring stayed with her until she passed. At that time, the ring was given to Hannah's mom, Amy, to hold temporarily as Hannah was away at college. Amy also thought that I might want to give Hannah the ring personally. A few years later, Hannah and her longtime boyfriend were talking about getting married. I wondered if her boyfriend, Mitch, would like to use Mom's ring. Amy made Mitch the offer and after some thought, he accepted and decided to keep the ring just as it was, a solitaire diamond. In July of 2022, Mitch proposed, Hannah accepted and said it was just the type of ring she had wanted. Mitch was starting a new job that summer and Hannah went there for a visit before her next college semester and while there.... the ring was lost. They searched and searched, retraced their steps many times but no ring was found until one more walk thru a parking lot and there it was. It had been run over and pressed into the asphalt. They were so happy to have found it. But it needed to be repaired. The band was mangled and the diamond was slightly damaged. They picked out a new band, silver colored, and the jeweler added more prongs to hide the damage on the diamond. Good as new! They were married in October of 2023. And a surprising chapter to this story. At the rehearsal dinner for Hannah's wedding, she was giving gifts and thanking people who had helped with the wedding. She called on her Mom and I and handed us each a gift and told the story of the ring. As Amy & I opened our gifts, we each received a necklace with a small flat gold disc attached. Puzzled, she explained that the discs were made from the original gold band that had been mangled. Now we all had a piece of the ring. We both wore our necklace to the wedding the next day. It felt like I had a special piece of my mom and that she was with us at the wedding. Now I wonder who will have the ring, and necklaces, next.
Bea's original engagement ring , 1930's
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As I was writing this, I thought of two more ring stories, the beginnings of more family heirlooms.
I always remember looking thru the things in my Mom's jewelry box. She had a few special things that had belonged to her mother and she had a few baby rings. They were so tiny. There was supposed to be one for each of her children. Baby rings became popular during the Victorian Era. They were worn for photos and then kept as keepsakes. These were simple gold bands with just a little embellishment on them. In the spring of 2022, my Uncle Joe called me. He wanted to tell me that he had a baby ring that he wanted me to have. The story was that when I was born, he had a baby ring of his own. He was 11 years old at the time. He thought it would be nice to give my mom his baby ring for me. At some point, mom must have given it back to him. Now he wanted me to have it even tho it had originally been his. He passed it to me at our family reunion later that summer. Since my children and grandchildren are grown, I'll save it for a great grandchild.
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The second story begins with a ring that was purchased in Japan during the Korean War as an engagement ring for my mother, Carole Bonadio Heacock. Dad was stationed in Japan as a Radio Operator for the US Army. The ring is gold with several cultured Pearls of various sizes set on it. They were married on Aug. 28, 1954. They were married for almost 62 years when John passed away. Mom wore the ring frequently during her life. Sometime after she moved into an assisted living apartment, the ring disappeared. She had wanted her granddaughter, Maria, to have the ring. Later, after Mom had passed, my sisters and I and Maria were packing her things up and we found the ring on the floor of her closet. It had fallen behind the dresser that her jewelry box sat on and was there all that time. So Maria went home that day with a piece of her grandmother. Maria has a daughter, whom I'm sure will one day wear the ring as well.
Carole's engagement ring, 1950's
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Each of these stories has an aspect of loss to it. The deaths of mother's too soon gone, the most tragic ones. And the loss of rings that had served as emotional reminders of love and loved ones, but happily recovered to help keep memories alive. There is also much longevity among some of these women, both in age and the length of their marriages. I myself followed in their footsteps this year after celebrating my 50th wedding anniversary. They say nothing lasts forever, but it sure is nice when it lasts long enough.
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