My children do not have any memories of Goshen. What I call my grandmother’s house was sold in 1990 after 180 years in the family. Windywalls. True homes in New England all have names, and a house becomes a home only after a birth, a marriage and a funeral take place within their walls. Family history can both ground one’s sense of self and be a constraint on potential. My children are wonderfully free of any history except their own.
Material fragments nevertheless remain with this provenance.
Meerschaum Pipe
According to Ernie Barker the pipe belonged to my great-grandfather Dr. Barker who received it as a graduation gift from Yale.
But his elder brother Anthony Barker was skeptical. Dr. Barker had tuberculosis and was a non-smoker. Tony concluded it was probably a racy novelty that (their father, my grandfather) Haworth Barker would have found interesting when he started smoking and its quality is such that it probably was a wedding gift from his friend Lionel Moore. They both smoked on the sly. “At any rate, it was among my father’s possessions when I was a boy–and I coveted it then–and smoked it once or twice on the sly. So, I would say that my DNA is also part of its provenance.”
Mason Watch Fob
Frederick A. Lucas, a Mason of Darius Chapter No. 16, Litchfield, Connecticut, wore a gold watch fob inscribed with the letters: H T W S S T K S — Hiram, Tyrian, Widow’s Son, Sendeth to King Solomon. During the Civil War, the “brothers” of the lodge paid burial expenses for their fallen. The emblem was less ornament than bond: a visible reminder that ritual can outlast chaos, that fraternity once meant obligation.
The letters should be read clockwise, starting at 12 o’clock: Here the Right Worshipful Master calls the candidate’s attention to the keystone before him, by pointing out to him the initials on the stone, which he is informed read as follows: HIRAM, TYRIAN, WIDOW’S SON, SENDETH TO KING SOLOMON.
Mason Sword
I have not found a manufacturing date, but this sword was granted to Frederick Lucas after his return from the Civil War –
Pierced Formations
As part of his graduation requirements for his Masters in Fine Arts, my father held a gallery show of etchings. I have only two, both artist’s proofs, and Pierced Formations has always called to me:
His later sculptures and paintings remain in Connecticut.
Protective Arts 