By Roger Barbee

The six-board blanket chest offered by Laughlin’s Auctions appealed to my wife, Mary Ann. After the preview, she thought about the green painted chest with its flora design painted on front, and the stars, fish, and sailing ship skillfully decorating the top. She was especially captivated by the name and date around the escutcheon: Winifred Byrd, 1945. Since the auction was close to her birthday, she decided to place a bid, and after finding the perfect place for it in our morning room, she became a serious bidder. She won.

The chest would barely fit in our van, where it sat a few days until two strong men could carry it into our home. After some gentle cleaning with a damp cloth to remove years of grime, Mary Ann was pleased with her gift for herself and liked the chest even more as she studied it in our morning room; but she remained mystified by the name and date painted on the chest’s front. Perhaps it had been a gift for a young woman before her marriage.

The intrigue of the name and date swayed Mary Ann to begin a Google search. Since Byrd is an old Virginia family surname, she anticipated a quick result. As often happens, the result came quickly, but not how she had expected.

She found a 1947 birth notice of a boy born in Birmingham, Alabama, and his mother was named Winifred Byrd. Searching further, she found Winifred’s obituary which mentioned her divorce from Mr. Byrd and remarriage. That information led to an obituary for a man with Winifred’s new surname, which named a surviving brother, born in 1947, who had also changed his last name from Byrd to that of their beloved stepfather. Hoping he was related to Winifred Byrd; Mary Ann emailed him. He responded that yes, Winifred was his mother, and the man who had just died was his brother.

Robert, Winifred’s son,  told Mary Ann how his grandmother had had a blanket chest made for her two daughters. One, which had been made for his aunt, was stolen while he was a student at Auburn University. He had no knowledge of what had happened to his mother’s blanket chest until Mary Ann’s email. After their initial email exchanges, Mary Ann and he had several phone conversations.

He shared much about his life growing up and working in Birmingham, and Mary Ann told him about her maternal grandparents and their daughters who lived there before the war. Often, as dialogue on a plane or train ride reveals, two strangers discover how much they have in common. So with Robert and Mary Ann.

Too often family heirlooms are purchased by strangers because no surviving family member wants them, money disputes rattle the family, or something else rises. Fortunately for Robert, Mary Ann had won the bidding for his mother’s chest.

  Later this year Robert will come to visit,  and when he leaves Winifred’s blanket chest will return home with him.