The Material Legacy

Shop Tools

These tools belonged to my father prior to 1920. Some of them came from my grandfather who died in 1913.

• anvil
• Cold chisels, punch
• Rachet brace
• Ships auger bit
• Small claw hammer
• Carpenter's square (2′)
• Two hand saws (cross cut)
• Oil stone
• Block plane
• Carpenter level (wooden)
• Carpenter chisel (⅜″)

Bedroom Set

The set – bed, dresser, comode – was new when my parents (Gilbert and Lillie Cardinal) were married in 1901. The bed no longer exists. The set is made of cherry wood. The dresser originally had a mirror in a frame so that the mirror could be tilted. My mother removed the frame and hung the mirror on the wall in the 1920's. The frame is gone, but the mirror was left in attic at 132 S. Oneida St. until Carl Sippel gave it to me in 1985. The bevel-edge mirror has a broken-out section which my mother concealled with picture post cards.

Child Chairs

The four chairs have interesting histories.

The green straight chair was bought by her parents for my wife, Beatrice Ferslev, when she was four years old (in 1919). It was used specifically for her to sit on in the one-seated family automobile while her older sister sat between the parents and the younger sister sat on mother's lap.

The other three chairs were given to me after my *cousin's children outgrew them (about 1915). The training chair was a brown color – stain and varnish –; we never had the tray. The "kitchen" chair was red enamel. I remember the rocker as yellow – probably a stained or natural finish. When Uncle Abe Frei brought the training chair from Spokane, Washington, out to the ranch on Indian Prairie, he was embarassed; so he put it in a burlap bag. I named the chairs for ranch horses – Major (training chair), Queen (kitchen), and Flo (rocker) and drove them with string lines. The chair backs and rear legs still show the wear from being dragged across the floor. I still refer to them by name.

Comode

This piece of furniture was my Grandmother Cardinal's. I don't know its previous history, but she gave up house keeping in 1913, so it must have been old then. It was a dark stained finish, painted white in the 1920's for use in our bath room. One of the towel rack bars was broken as early as I remember and has been removed.

Shop Tools

Acquired by me during high school years (1927-31) or before.

• Work bench (made for me by my father)
• Vise
• Claw hammer (marked Alty on handle)
• Push drill (Mr. Punch)
• Auger bits for brace (6/16″, 8/16″, 10/16″)
• Countersink bit
• Twist bit (¼)
• Brace
• Marking guage
• Try square
• Large screw driver (square shank, wood handle) (bought for me by my Uncle Sam Cardinal)
• Screw driver set (3 in 1)
• Wooden handle containing may tools
• Jack plane
• Carpenter chisels (½″ ¾″)
• Spoke shave
• Hand cranked grinder