After one hour and a half more the others had contacted us, and will honor the stock certificates once their verified. Standard Oil will probably be the easiest they still have examples of their 1929 stock issue. AT&T has some near that era but none from 1929 itself. AT&T also had shown interest in wanting the certificates for their corporate headquarters as a display.
We come downstairs and pull Uncle George, Grandma, Michael and Helen, Mom over for a private conversation, Alyssa slides into George’s lap and I’m not going to hide anything from her so we continue our conversation. I start by informing them that the companies once they verify the certificates will honor them. All three companies for the stocks are still in business. Only Standard Oil changed its name over the years to Exxon.
Uncle George having experience with the stock market asks, “Do we know how much their worth yet.”
From the level of involvement from all three companies quite a bit. I received calls back from each company CFO if that gives you a clue. Uncle George raises an eyebrow knowing how valuable those persons time truly is. I tell him, “The new guy on a block of the bunch we have, was the IBM the company was only eighteen years old at the time. I believe IBM maybe the most value because it probably split the most during this timeframe. AT&T and Standard Oil were established companies in 1929.”
Grandma asks, “JJ you have any idea on just how much money those pieces of paper are actually worth?”
I take a deep breath before I say, “Any one of them is easily worth more than all the gold and silver combined. All of them are worth anywhere from a few million to close to few billion dollars depending on how many times the stock split in the last eighty-three years.”
Grandma asked, “What exactly do you mean by split, the stock splitting and why does it matter how many times.”
With another deep breath I say, “Grandma, when the stock splits your one share becomes two, or three or as high as six. IBM tends to allow the stock to go very high then split into a large multiple, usually four. If IBM split their stock twenty times over the last eighty-three years which is very probable. Those twelve shares at a minimum are over twelve million shares selling at two hundred dollars plus each. Or two and a half billion plus, that’s only splitting two-for-one, on the average once every four years. I believe it will be much higher than that.” The room was so silent you could hear a pin drop, the six set there looking at me stunned.
Uncle George is the first to recover he turns Alyssa in his lap. He asks her, “How are you going to like having me home all the time?”
Alyssa giggles rubbing his chest she says, “I’m going to keep you so tired you’ll sleep most of the day.”
Uncle George chuckles, “It’s going to be fun.” Alyssa giggles pulling George up their out of the room before anyone else even realizes what’s on their minds.
They are barely out the door when I hear Joan giggling in the hall watching them go past. Joan comes in with Sam and grandma holds out her hands for Sam to come into her arms. Sam slides into grandma’s arms and gives her a kiss on the cheek. Grandma says, “Sam you made the entire family very wealthy with your find.”
Sam looks at Grandma and says, “Daddy says money isn’t everything and he should know he’s a billionaire.”
Grandma giggles and gives Sam a kiss and then says, “Your Daddy has always been wise beyond his years. You would do well to listen to him very closely my beautiful little Sam.”
Sam giggles and says, “I always listen to Daddy and Mommy.”
I tell Sam, “We’re going back to your favorite restaurant for dinner tonight. They asked us to come back for a celebration.”
Sam giggles, “I knew I was going to get more chocolate cake.”
Grandma says, “I think a celebration definitely is in order.”
Giggling Mom says, “I would say so. My God Elisabeth, are you sure you want to share it?”
Grandma says, “What was your great grandma’s name?”
Mom says, “I believe it was Sarah. But she died when I was very young when we go check I got a family Bible that has that in it.”
Mom’s bedroom is only two doors away as she rushes down to her room. Grandma is shaking I slide in beside her and take her hand. Mom comes back with the old worn leather Bible. It’s one of the larger ones where you put your genealogy in the front. She turns to it as she sets down beside grandma. I don’t know why I never did this but I didn’t put anything in the Bible. I didn’t record JJ’s birth or even my marriage. It is more or less just the way my grandma gave it to me. Guessing right here is Sarah Thurgood married James M. Carter and here is my grandma and my Mom pointed to the line under James and Sarah’s. My grandpa and then my father and my mother and here am I.
Grandma shaking so strongly as her hand points to a line above Sarah. Grandma says, “That’s my father beside Sarah’s name. Sarah was my favorite aunt. I never knew what happened to her. This was my father’s Bible. There’s John and Kathryn on the very top one line. What I understood John was an orphan, he put himself through college and become a businessman. That’s why there’s no name above his.”
Mom wraps grandma in a tight hug before she says, “My Mom and Dad died and then I lost John four years after that I thought I was all alone except for JJ.”
Sam had not moved out the way quickly enough, and is now squeezed between Mom and Grandma. She wiggles out from between them she upsets the Bible and it falls to the floor. Sam still stuck but she can breathe now.
Like so many other family Bibles their small scraps of paper and very old photographs held between the pages. Of course most of these are scattered now across the floor.
Grandma and Mom giggling back off to free Sam. Kathryn pulls Sam out from between the two. I start picking up the pieces of paper and old photographs. Looking at one of the old photographs, it is the family photograph from the early 1900s. Not something they did very often back then. Photography in the early 1900s was difficult and requires specialized training in the development of the photographs. Computers changed all that. I have never actually seen this photograph and look at it the thing is there’s a woman that looks a lot like grandma. I show it to her.
New tears streaked down her face as she looks at the photo. Grandma’s shaking hands point to the young girl about two years old in the lap of the oldest looking male in the photo. Grandma says, “That young girl is me and that is my grandpa’s lap I am setting in. This was the last photo that he was ever in. He died a little after he buried his treasure. That was a little more than two years after this photo was taken.”
There is a date in the lower right-hand corner written in pencil nineteen twenty-eight the first day of fall. That date would be September 22, 1928. She points to woman about sixteen that looks a lot like Kara she says, “That would be Sarah right there, JJ that would be your, great, great, grandmother.” Since its Mom side of the family I look at her face closely then back to the photograph. Mom does look a little like Sarah.
Grandma continues explaining who’s in the photo. There are two young men in the photo as well and grandma points to them, “Those are my uncles. One is George he would be Marshall’s, great, great grandfather is twenty years old and marries six months after this photo. The younger of the two is fourteen years old. He’s probably Sam’s, great, great grandfather. When he turns sixteen he left to strike out on his own. The family lost track of him soon after that. When John lost his life trying to protect Kathryn it was a bad time for the family. It was the Great Depression and people actually starved to death in the cities. Out here in the country times were bad enough, but we could grow our own food or hunt and fish. I ate many a catfish from the river right over there.
My mother and father actually died when I was only one-year-old, John and Kathryn had taken me in. Then George did after grandpa and grandma died. I help raise George’s son he had the one. His wife Megan was only able to have one child. Soon after grandpa died Sarah and George had a big fight then Sarah left and we never heard from her again. Becky my younger aunt died during World War II. She was flying aircraft from the manufacturer to England. On her way back her ship torpedoed by a U-boat and sank somewhere off Iceland.
I grew up and married Michael’s father, and move into the white house across from where Michael’s houses today. When grandpa had that house built, this was all farmland around here. We had a large dairy, and he sold the milk and cheese in his own store. A chicken farm for eggs, and the meadow and half of the lake bottom were cornfields. The corn fed the chickens, and the cattle.
He had a few cattle butchered throughout the year selling meat from his grocery store. It wasn’t until after he died that we realize he was feeding most of the County on their credit. He invested in the railroad that came through town, and that gave us enough money to keep going. George ran the store until he volunteered for service after Pearl Harbor. With the way rationing was handled it drove our store out of business by the end of the war. When George came back he went to college and became a lawyer. His son followed in his footsteps and his grandson. Apparently John and Kathryn take after John your great, great, great grandfather. He sure picked the right stocks.”
With all the excitement, we overlooked Ms. Clark’s visit. When she rang the doorbell Kara answered it. She knew the house from before, but other than the first night this is the first time she sees the entire family running around in the house. She laughed saying most of my sister-in-law’s playing in the pool. Sam and I went to the family room to speak with her. Ms. Clark asks Sam, “Everyone seems to be in a very good mood Sam did you have anything to do with that?”
Sam with a giggle says, “I was the missing one of the family. And now that I’m back great, great, great grandpa’s treasure got found.”
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