Blanket Chest

Another 'heirloom'.  The note in the bottom of the trunk says "Pearl Mayer's grandfather made this as a traveling chest when he immigrated."  It's well crafted w/ handmade drovetail joints and a snug cover.  It's easy to see on either end where carrying straps would have been attached at one time and the corners are enforced w/ metal box corners.  I checked in w/ my brother-in-law Dan.  He said the grandfather likely was Joseph Hanke who immigrated from Germany to the U.S. in 1868 when he was 42 years old.  His daughter Ellen Dora Hanke was born in New York in 1875 (she had three older brothers).  Grandma Schwartz (as I knew her) would visit the farm in the summer when I was young.  Her daughter Pearl Ellen Mayer (nee Schwartz) was my father's mother.  The chest has some cracks where boards join.  Like my mother, I keep it in my bedroom where no one will be tempted to sit on it.