Family Treasures

    If there is one piece of furniture that can bring back a lot of childhood memories for me, it is a certain rocking chair we had as long as I can remember.  I mostly remember that the chair always had a covering of some kind over it.  Some time in the past, some dog who will remain nameless, had chewed the seat of the chair.  You could even see the springs. We had to put a blanket on the seat and then cover the whole chair with another blanket.  But we still kept this chair.  It was important, even though it was damaged, because it was a family treasure.  My great-grandfather, Papaw Baldwin, had built it.  

    I vaguely remember that the back of it had a print of some kind. The seat was a sturdy red fabric.   I loved this chair because it creaked and squeaked whenever you rocked in it.  I thought that was fun to listen to as I rocked.  I would rock and rock in it until my mom couldn't take the noise anymore!  I never knew at this time that this chair was made by my great-grandfather many years before even my mom was born.  I never realized how old it was.  It was just part of my life. 

    I think my mom gave it to me when she and dad were getting ready to travel in their RV full time.  I was so thrilled!  I now as an adult had a better understanding of the value of the chair along with special childhood memories.  I kept up the tradition.  The chair with the blankets to hide its damage, sat in the living room and I rocked in it often.  Especially once I had my first child.  Hannah loved to rock in that chair.  I started the habit of rocking her to sleep in it.  It was our special chair together.  Even after Alpheus bought me a new, quieter rocker for a Christmas gift after Sarah's birth, Hannah only wanted to rock in Papaw's rocker.  I think we both missed the creaking and squeaking!

Here is a picture of Hannah helping me fold towels.  She is sitting in her small rocker.  Papaw's chair is on her right.  She still loves to rock too!

You can see that it still had the covering in this picture.  During our move to Florida it was damaged and you might be able to see the duct tape we had to put on the arm. One day in Floriday I decided to try to recover it.  I began pulling out the fabric tacks  and cutting away at the back of the chair.  Once removed we saw that it had slats and that one was missing.  At this point we stopped realizing we didn't have the talent or money to do this chair justice.  Back came the blankets.  

A few years later, for Christmas my sweet husband took the chair to a repair shop.  I asked them to leave the back open, because I liked the slats. I did request dark green fabric for the seat since green is my favorite color.  Here is a picture of the chair now in our home. The slat was replaced and the arm repaired. Now the chair could sit without being covered by blankets.  

It sits in this alcove at the bottom of our main stairs.  Next to it is the telephone table that was also made by Papaw Baldwin.  We have recovered the seat and evidently someone put bleach or something on it so we will need to redo it again.  On the table, we keep a picture of Papaw and Mamaw Baldwin at their 50th anniversary celebration.  By request of my mom, we also keep a phone similar to the one Papaw would have had on this table when it was in his house and my mom would visit.  No one in the family was certain about the dates of when Papaw Baldwin would have built these, but we are thinking around 1912.  Which is coincidentally also when this house was built by the Flora family. 

I love to sit and listen to my aunts and uncles reminisce about Papaw and Mamaw.  That is the real family treasure.  I love to tell this story to my girls.  I want them to appreciate the many ancestors that sat in these and talked and cried and laughed and loved.  I look forward to holding my grandchildren one day and telling them about Papaw Baldwin who made furniture.

If any Baldwin relatives have a story to share or a clarification to make, please leave a comment! 

Blessings ~