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, cared for one another’s widows, and supported surviving families. 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
The sword was manufactured by M.C. Lilley & Co. of Columbus, Ohio, the foremost American maker of military and fraternal regalia during the late nineteenth century. Its style suggests manufacture between approximately 1885 and 1905, likely after Frederick Lucas entered the Knights Templar branch of Freemasonry. Although ceremonial rather than martial, it commemorates the transition from soldier to citizen. Having survived the Civil War, Frederick carried this sword not on campaign but in ritual, where ideals of duty, fidelity, and brotherhood were enacted rather than fought.
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.
Waltham Vanguard Railroad Watch
A late-production Waltham Vanguard railroad watch in a Keystone J.B. Boss gold-filled case. Although I know of no evidence connecting it directly to Frederick Lucas, my father carried it, together with Frederick’s Masonic fob, while portraying our ancestor during historical lectures throughout Connecticut. It became part of the performance of memory itself.
Provenance is often layered. The watch’s first owner is unknown. Its second life, as my father’s lecture watch, is documented by photographs and memory. That history now belongs to our family.
Protective Arts 