Custody of the locket

When I collected my mother's things from the coast last week I also gained custody of "the locket". Let me explain about the locket. My 2nd great grandfather Joseph Antoney gave his wife, Elizabeth Hannah Young, the locket on their wedding day in Bowen on the 30th July 1867. Elizabeth Hannah was a Dublin lass and as you will see from the photo the locket has an Irish harp on the front side.

The locket has passed down the generations thru the eldest daughter and is passed on on the death of the current holder. All the female siblings of the eldest daughter have worn the locket on their wedding day as I did and as my daughter-in-law did on her marriage to my son. On my death, the locket will go to my eldest granddaughter, Amy Robyn. The chain holding the locket is one-third of a chain that my great-great-grandmother Elizabeth Hannah, had as a chatelaine.

Antoney family, Joseph, Elizabeth Hannah and their daughter Annie Jacintha Mary Elizabeth

Unfortunately, Elizabeth is not wearing the locket but her daughter Annie Jacintha is wearing the locket in the photo below with her husband John Douglas Thomas.

Annie Jacintha Mary Elizabeth & John Douglas Thomas

And now for "the locket" itself.

I am enjoying wearing the locket as it has direct connections to the female line of my family - my 2nd great grandmother Elizabeth Hannah Young my great grandmother Annie Jacintha Mary Elizabeth Antoney, my grandmother Dorothy May Thomas and my mother, Patricia Dorothea McCann. Also, of course, my various grand aunts and aunts - Daisy Elizabeth Antoney, Francesca Cecelia Jacintha Birkbeck, Dora Lorraine Birkbeck, and Joan Douglas McCann. Their daughters, my cousins, Jacintha Marion McCready, Ellen Norah McCready, Elaine Ethel McCready, Margaret Mary Spottiswood, Helen Spottiswood and more that I don't know if they wore the locket on their wedding day.
My grandmother Dorothy May loved the locket and the connection to her much loved grandmother. I will treasure it while it is mine and bequeath it to my eldest granddaughter Amy Robyn on my passing.