I recently shared this vintage mantel clock on my Instagram page. This antique clock is special and is one of my favorite heirloom treasures. Why? It’s not particularly financially valuable. A quick online search for “Ansonia antique clocks” on eBay tells me I could probably get a couple of hundred dollars. The Ansonia clock company manufactured millions of clocks during 1851-1929, so they are hardly scarce antiques. Still, a couple of hundred dollars isn’t anything to scoff at. It’s the sentimental value of this clock that holds its true worth, and the secrets it could tell.
Determining the Clock’s Age
The secret I wanted to uncover about this antique mantel clock was its age. Since it was a family heirloom, I figured this wouldn’t be too much of a challenge. The original owner was my great grand-Aunt Kate, my grandmother’s aunt and my godmother’s mother. From what I can glean from old photos, newspaper articles, and family stories, she was a pretty incredible woman, but she seemed to keep her own age a secret.
Her story is starting to come together for me, though it’s far from complete. Each new bit of information invites more questions, verifies some family stories, and even answers some unexpected ones. New information can also raise new questions, as it did when I found her 1899 wedding announcement.
Finding her wedding announcement in The Boston Globe felt like I hit the jackpot. Right there in the article, it mentioned the couple receiving two clocks as wedding gifts. Eureka! We have a probable date for the clock, circa 1899.
I immediately recalled a story my mother recently shared with me about these vintage mantel clocks. There had been a robbery in this home, though I’m not sure of the date. Someone entered the third-floor flat when the family was all downstairs attending a home funeral. I had heard the story before, but this time, my mother shared that in addition to money and other things I had heard about being stolen, she shared that the “really fancy clock” was taken. This cast iron one was left, presumably because, well it’s just really, really heavy.
I thought the idea of a funeral in one's home was a little creepy and odd, but my good friend, and life celebrant, Meg of @Megs_Ceremonies told me that home funerals were quite common during that time period. The many funeral announcements I've since seen listing home addresses for the services confirm this once popular custom.
Research Leads to More Questions
“She wore a very neat blue traveling suit, wore ornaments and carried a beautiful bouquet of lilies of the valley”.
– Excerpt of her 1899 Wedding Announcement in The Boston Globe
A great thing about old wedding announcements is the detail in which they described the clothing. Her wedding outfit was “a very neat blue traveling suit, wore ornaments and carried a beautiful bouquet of lilies of the valley”. So when I saw this photo of her in a collection of old photographs, I wondered if it was her formal wedding photograph. A quick trip down the newspaper dot com rabbit hole to verify the date based on the photographer’s “19 Main Street” address did not give me any clear answers. For now, this is a working theory.
If Only Vintage Mantel Clocks Could Chime In
The funny thing about rabbit holes, is you never know where they will lead. As I was congratulating myself for dating this clock and looking at this beautiful photograph, I pondered the choice of a blue traveling suit, instead of the wedding white dresses that had become the fashion, thanks to Queen Victoria. Prior to her wedding to Prince Albert in 1840, blue was the color of choice, as it symbolized love, purity and faithfulness. But white had become all the fashion. Even Katie’s own sister wore white at her wedding the following year.
Does her choice of wedding attire speak to a firm, practical nature, a personality trait that was so prevalent in her daughter that I knew? Or was there something more to this selection? There is still a lot more to uncover, but these bits of information, sparked by trying to figure out the history of this vintage mantel clock, have put more context into the person behind the stories of “Aunt Kate” and the kind of life she lived. It’s also sparked more questions, which I hope to find answers to one day. With each passing generation, the answers get harder to find. If only this clock could chime in.
In the meantime, I’ll tuck away all these articles & stories with the clock for the next family historian to discover.
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