Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Will of Claudine Edmiston.




After revisiting the will of poor Minnie Hughan de Greslan who left her little collection of worldly goods to her young nephew, Wilmot Holworthy, I was reminded of the will of Minnie's first cousin, Claudine Edmiston (Claudine's mother was Marion Hughan, the sister of Minnie's father Allan Hughan).
The terrible photo above is of a ruby and pearl ring (it just wouldn't focus properly on a scanner!!)which came to me from my Mother, Marg Oakley Sheridan. Her father, Norman Oakley, one afternoon in the year before his death took the ring from an old tin trunk which contained dozens of family items from his Oakley, Bishop and Hughan families, and gave the ring to Marg, much to her delight as she loved it at first sight (despite the missing ruby).
In the Spring of 2005, when Marg discovered she was dying of cancer and had very little time left, she gathered a few of her precious family items and gifted them to me, along with their stories. She only knew that the pearl and ruby ring belonged to her grandmother, Olive Bishop Oakley, and I was happy with the knowledge that it was my turn to look after my great-grandmother's ring.
It was while reading the will of Claudine that I found reference to a 'Pearl and ruby ring- Mrs. Oakley' that was written in pencil as part of a codicil made shortly before Claudine's death in London in 1913. I am certain that this is the ring that has passed down to me- Olive had a few pieces of jewellery that I now possess that were beautiful, but very plain...I can't imagine her owning more than one 'pearl and ruby ring'.

1 comment:

maghnusback said...
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