52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 12 -- Misfortune

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Mary Ellen Moss' (my great-grandmother's) bedroom furniture -- vanity with stool, chest of drawers and cedar chest -- was in a house fire in the 1920s at the family's home in Crews, Texas. The family was able to save the furniture before the house burned down, although the shellac finish on the furniture was damaged and “bubbled” from the heat.*

The furniture was kept in the family throughout the years, with the pieces shuffled around to various family members in various combinations. When my husband and I bought our first home, we needed furniture so we were more then happy to accept my mother's gift of the chest of drawers and vanity.

Truth be told, I'd always loved this furniture so I was thrilled to have it in my home. It wasn't in the greatest of shape due to wear and tear over the years (not to mention the fire damage), but we pressed it into service in the guest room and planned on refinishing it one day. But days turned into weeks, weeks into months, months into years...

...until one day in 2004, we had a fire in our home. The fire started in the ceiling above the guest room, so everything in that room sustained severe smoke damage, including Mary Ellen's furniture. This poor furniture had now been in two house fires! And survived! The bright side -- insurance paid for the restoration and refinishing of Mary Ellens's furniture!

In 2016, the cedar chest found its way into our possession. Thanks to my dear husband's hard work, he was able to remove the almost 100-year-old fire damage from the cedar chest and refinish and restore it as well.

Today, Mary Ellen Moss' bedroom furniture has been reunited and, despite being in two fires, is living a useful life in our home.

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*This was the same fire where the photos of Mary Ellen’s daughters from a previous marriage were lost.

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