Sunday, September 6, 2015

My Canadian Branches ~ Bella MacKay Hamilton and the Moose Chair



Peter Suther "PS" Hamilton and Isabella "Bella" MacKay Hamilton, my 2nd great grandparents, lived in Burnside, Upper Stewiacke, Colchester County, Nova Scotia, their whole married lives. They raised nine children, one of whom was my great grandmother, Melvina Jane "Vina" Hamilton Bustin, from whom I inherited a wonderful treasure trove of photographs.

I came across two pictures that piqued my interest. The first shows my great grandmother's mother, Bella, in front of the "old home" in Burnside, posing beside what appears to be a wooden sculpture of some kind.  It looks like antlers to me.




The second, more yellowing, photo provides another clue.  It was a chair, made out of, presumedly, moose antlers. The handwriting on the front is my great grandmother's, and the back states the same, The Moose Chair, in Bella's handwriting.





Was this some kind of trophy chair made from antlers of hunted moose, or was it a household curio, with no particular connection to family lore?

I have learned that my great grand uncle and aunt, unmarried brother and sister Bert and Stella Hamilton, were the last two family members to live at the old place, so I have to wonder whatever became of the "Moose Chair."




No comments:

Post a Comment