The past several days have been spent sorting through things in the master bedroom. There is kind of a mishmash of stuff that has been found throughout this room. There is stuff from craft supplies, to Christmas decorations, to family heirlooms, to instruments.

Craft Supplies

This room was most recently occupied by Emily and Clarence (Doc) Ropp. Emily, like her sisters, was very into crafts. She happened to pass away just after Halloween and so was beginning to start crafting for the holidays. Thus explaining the multitude of Christmas Decor we discovered. There was one three drawer plastic storage bin full of Christmas Decor, one Rubbermaid tub of felt, one Rubbermaid tub of Christmas decor, and some Christmas projects partially set out on the table. There was craft supplies scattered all throughout the room and filling several drawers. Below is an example of some of the craft supplies found. I went through a little cabinet next to the bathroom door and it was full of craft things. The drawer was full of tailoring supplies. The cabinet portion held a fun treasure and some other stuff. There was a box of felt scraps, a box of random tools, a few empty tins, some pins for making ornaments, a tin of small beads, and the pattern for church mice. Now, the church mouse pattern is a very exciting find! There is a story to tell there.

The church mouse story begins with Emily being very active in the local church, that happens to be down the hill from the house. The church was looking for a new mascot/character for informational and design purposes. Ben’s Aunt Taire was visiting, as a little girl, at the time and loved mice. She was doodling a little mouse while there and Emily saw it and thought of a church mouse. She took the little doodle and the church mouse idea to the church and they loved it. The church still uses the church mouse doodle and character today. Emily made a lot of things for the church fair. One such item was little felt church mice.

Clocks

There were a bunch of clocks all over the room. There were three interesting ones, one of which I forgot to take a picture of (oops). None of them are currently working and all require further research. The one whose photo is missing is called a steeple clock. It is a really pretty clock and when I do further research later I will make sure to take a photo. The covered clock is a Heco 400 day anniversary clock that Susan got her parents, Adeline and Edward for their anniversary. The pocket watch is a Hamilton, I believe railway, pocket watch. I am excited to do further research on this one because William M. Morrissey’s, who built the house, father William A. Morrissey worked on the railway as an engineer.

Pottery

There was (if I am honest still is) a bunch of stuff on the bay window sill in the master bedroom. Some of which is this Roseville pottery and pretty bird. The double handled vase and bookends are both made by The Roseville Pottery Company, which began in Roseville, OH and later moved to Zanesville, OH. Both of these pieces were likely made in the Zanesville factory as it began production in the early 1900’s. The double handled vase is from the fuchsia brown line and color it was produced in 1938. The bookends are from the white rose line, produced in 1940. The little bird is a red dime mark Czech pottery piece.

Violins

I found three violins in here (forgot a picture of one, oops). The first photo has a label of Copy of Antonius Stradivarius, Germany. By the way, you can find the label of a violin on the inside of it. you have to look through those little hole on it to see the label. The other photographed violin is a mystery to me as it’s label is missing. The non-photographed violin had a label of Govan Paolo Maggini made in Germany, as far as I can tell. None of the violins were stringed or even seemed to be in playable condition. These are something that we will most likely have appraised. And there may even be more around. The violins were being collected to be painted gold and made into a Christmas wreath.

Bible

This bible was wrapped in plastic (I know not ideal but I didn’t do it) and on top of the short bookcase between the built in shelves. This bible seems to be British or Irish not sure which. The bookmarks I found inside are really just fun. I believe that this was Florence’s Bible as the bookmark with the pressed flowers had Leon Rasenen’s Obituary laminated to its back.

Other Stuff

Here is the other stuff that I found that doesn’t really categorize well. The beaded flowers were made by Emily or Adeline. There is an old electric record player (this may need to be tested sooner rather than later). An elephant toy that has a little handle and when you turn it the elephant was supposed to talk but now it sounds like he is underwater. Ellie loves this little elephant and carried it around for quite awhile. There was a little plastic tub full of accessories that went with Adeline and Edwards fancy clothing. There were 6-8 cigar tubes some of which still have the cigars inside them. The tube says Willem II Optimum. I couldn’t really find much about them though.

We also went through two chests that had family keepsakes in them. I plan to go through them and get photos and stories another time. There is still a little bit more work to do in the master bedroom, but that is mostly cleaning and rearranging tasks. I think we may tackle the craft room or guest room next.

Jumping back to the kitchen for a minute. The stove has been delivered and hooked up to the gas! The plumbers ended up not needing to move the gas line which was lovely. They also informed us that if we wanted to put in a dishwasher we would need a cabinet guy, but it should just barely fit under the counter depth-wise.

Thanks for reading and

Lots of Love,

The McMullins