Sourvenir / memento is five hanks of curly brown hair of varying thickness and length, each tied, one with thread, one with red ribbon, one with light string and two with heavy string. Several small coils are loose.
Note on small scrap of ruled paper states: "Curls cut from Mary W. Rettew / when about 8 years of age." Mary was born Nov 17, 1866. See Notes
Longest hank is about 21" and the shortest is about 15".
Condition
Good
Condition Date
2015-03-17
Object ID
2015.999.5
Notes
1880 Census lists Mary W. Rettew, age 13, a niece of the head of home Mary A. Wilson, age 63, of Lancaster. Death certificate for Mary Rettew states she was born Nov. 17, 1866 in Marrietta and died iNov. 4, 1934 in Lancaster. Unmarried, she was living at 1043 Buchanan Ave. in Lancaster. She was buried at Woodward Hill (not found in FindaGrave). Her father was Amos Rettew, born in Chester County.
The 1860 Census lists a possible candidate for father living in Maytown: Amos R. Rettew, age 26, married to Elizabeth (Graybill?) age 23 and one child, George, age 1.
Place of Origin
Lancaster
Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Cross stitch picture in a variety of colors of cotton floss is framed in mahogany-colored wood frame. The stitched 15" x 10.75" outside green border has matching inner border. A purple flower-green leaf chain inside the border frames the entire piece. "1933" is stitched top center, above a curved hanging band of flowers with a blue bow at each end. Stitched in green in the center is "Fame is the scentless sunflower/ With gaudy crown of gold,/ But friendship is the breathing rose/ With sweets in every fold." Black silhouette profiles of a man (left) and a woman(right) in ribboned ovals face each other. Between them is a large bowl of flowers on a surface with curved, cornucopia-like supports ending in flowers. Beneath a green cross-stitch line the name "Mary W. Rettew" is stitched in black upper case letters.
All cross-stitch but for some straight stitches in black on the large flower arrangement at the bottom.
Photograph- Group of three young men and two young women. Identified are: J. Hartle, John Griel, H. Greiner, --- Snyder, Ada ---, and Mary Willson Rettew.
Photograph- Group of three young men and two young women. Identified are: J. Hartle, John Griel, H. Greiner, --- Snyder, Ada ---, and Mary Willson Rettew.
Description
Group of three young men and two young women. Identified are: J. Hartle, John Griel, H. Greiner, --- Snyder, Ada ---, and Mary Willson Rettew.
