From the Past

Antiques and Genealogy go together for me. Things that have belonged to and were used by my grandparents are the most precious. Each article tells a story that is a part of my heritage. This antique wall begins the stories of the items here as it came out of the home where my husband was raised. The medicine cabinet in the middle of the wall also came from that house. Most of the kitchen items came from my mother and her mother's kitchens, but are stories to come. The old telephone was used by various members of my father's family through the years. It is not the one my parents used when they first married.

The phones were connected by a wire that ran along the fences and up in trees. A little handle on the side of the phone was used to 'ring' your neighbors. Each was identified by a certain number of rings and every phone on the line rang. My father's grandfather was blind and lived with Momma and Daddy when they first married. They lived in a log cabin (a story of it's own) on Little Piney Creek. When the phone would ring Grandpa Dill would go to hollaring "Pearl who is it, what do they want, " etc. My mother was embarrassed for people to know she was eavesdropping even tho everyone else along the creek was listening too. My daddy fixed their phone by putting a switch so Momma could listen but they couldn't hear Grandpa hollaring

the background. That's how I know the phone passed down to me was not the one my parents used, no sign of a switch ever being on it. But what a wonderful thing these old wall phones were, cabins and houses were scattered, everyone walked or rode a mule, a horse if they were lucky, and the phone brought them instant gossip, news of new babies, or calves, and most important it summoned help if they had an emergency. I was going to replace the parts that are missing on the phone but it wouldn't be the same so I enjoy it just as it was when it was passed "down" to me.