Treasure Chest Thursday - Tiny Portraits

My Grandma Bean was born in 1897. She lived with us from 1965, until her death on January 1st, 1975.

On her dresser all those many years, sat a leather case, about 1-1/2" x 1-1/2". It was red leather with some kind of gold embossing. She kept the case closed, except for those moments when she would gaze lovingly inside. Many was the time when she would open the case and show me what her Mommy and Daddy looked lke.

These were the faces that looked back at me from those tiny little miniatures...

...these are my great-grandparents... Stephen Ledford Faudree [1857-1929] and Eliza Carnefix Faudree [1861 - 1929]. They died exactly 6 months and 6 days apart, he predeceasing her.

I have scanned these using high resolution and have excellent portraits hanging on my wall now.

Sometime in the mid-1990's, my Mother, thinking she was doing us a favor, removed these tiny portraits from their leather case, in order to have larger pictures made from them. When she did, the leather case in which they'd rested for nearly 100-years, simply crumbled. I was broken hearted to find this out. But was thankful the portraits were not damaged.

A few years ago, she gave these to me to safeguard.

These are my favorite portraits of ancestors. I think, perhaps, because I have such fond memories of Grandma Bean showing them to me, and of the absolute love for her parents that eminated from her when showing them to me.

Do you have a favorite portrait of an ancestor?