A Chair

Snow bound today, so much reflection time available as we watched 18"-20" of snow pile up.  We have a sewing rocker in our living room; no one sits in it, because too low and I doubt if any of us could get back out of it.  Pat bought in at the sale we had at the farm several years ago, think she paid $65 for it; it had no back in it and was pretty dirty.  The chair had been stored in the rafters in the garage for years and birds had used it for a roost so cleaning it up was a challenge, but Pat got it cleaned up and we intended to have it caned.  Nothing happened until we moved out here and the moving company damaged the chair; Pat contacted a restore person and asked him to cane the chair after he repaired the pieces.  He did not make any new pieces but glued parts back together, then caned the back but left the seat because he said that the plywood seat was more valuable.
Started talking with mom today and I know that she had told me the story before, but I didn't remember. The chair belonged to my great grandmother Whitman from my dad's side.  They lived across the road from the farm, well actually south and across the road; when they passed on the chair went to Aunt Edie and Uncle Bill who took over the farm-there are a whole bunch of stories about Uncle Bill-but nothing about the chair.  We used to go over to Bill's house but I never remembered seeing the chair; mom said that the chair was probably up stairs in one of the bedrooms but she and dad did not get it until Bill and Edie moved off the farm.  She always said that they planned to get it caned but just never got around to it (sound familiar).
The chair has to go back to the 1800's but plywood did not come around until the early 1900's and according to the restorative guy pre made plywood seats were sold in the early 1900's so that is the reason he did not take the seat off because the seat is more valuable. I guess what I would like to know is more of the history of the chair but those who would know it are gone-some one told me that when an older person dies that it is like a wing of a library burning down because all the stories are lost forever!  Mom has provided us with much of the history and we try to listen to all the stories-there are 3 walnut dressers in our house , one bought with money from raising a runt pig, another is a wedding gift to grandma and grandpa Richter-they have both been gone for 50 years! and the other was my dad's grandmother's. Family history, probably more interesting to me than to you, but I would be more than happy to listen to any of your family stories.

Also found out today that Senator Foote of Mississippi attacked Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri with a cane in one of the early Senate debates.  Benton is a big time artist from Missouri-check it out.
Snow has stopped so we just need to remember to measure twice and cut once.