Tied through time

People don't wear pocketwatches anymore. It's a shame. I looked high and low to find a chain that was the right length and weight for this beautiful watch with special history. The front and back are engraved with delicate flowers and the initials J.E.W.

Julia Etta (Saal) Wallace was my great, great, great grandmother - born in August 1857. Our names are similar, so are our birth months. And we sorta look alike:


Okay, maybe not. But the watch is lovely. The inscription inside says "JEW to MEW."

At some point, Julia Etta Wallace gave the watch to her daughter Mary Elizabeth Wallace (born 1884). That's my grandpa's maternal grandmother.

My mother had the watch but didn't wear it, so I asked if I could. The hands are slender, the tick-tick-tick hypnotic and the connection to women who came long before me is priceless.