In early 2002, a Whitnah descendant finally found someone she could trust to work on an old clock that she had received from her grandmother. When they took it apart, they were surprised to find:

• The signature of John L. Whitnah, dated 23 July 1919
• The signature of William Burns Whitnah, dated 16 January 1860
• A case containing a small picture of a baby. The picture is actually a copy of another photo. In the original, the child was held by a black person, who's hands can still be seen in the copy (but the rest of the person has been cut out).
• A couple of odd keys
• A very old 1" square padlock with a face spring "door" that opened like a locket to hide the keyhole

Apparently the clock was handed down from generation to generation as follows:

1. William Burns Whitnah gave it to his grandson, John L. Whitnah
2. John L. Whitnah, having no children, gave it to either his cousin Harriet Newell Whitnah Taylor, or Harriet's daughter Angeline May Taylor
3. Angeline gave the clock to Raymond Taylor Whitnah
4. Raymond's wife passed the clock on to its current owner

The clock is an Eli Terry & Sons wooden clock, possibly dating as far back as 1815. If this is true, the clock was likely purchased by William Burns Whitnah in New York shortly after his marriage, or possibly it was given to him as a wedding gift. These clocks were typically sold by traveling salesmen for $15 (see Wooden Clocks by John H. Lienhard).

I can think of several lessons that can be learned from this story:

• NEVER throw out family heirlooms. If you don't want it, give it to someone else.
• ALWAYS write down the name and date of each photo. You might know who is in the photo, but years from now your family might have a hard time figuring out who is in the photos.
• Look for ancestral clues in unlikely places. Many old pieces of furniture (such as clocks, pianos, organs, etc.) were signed on the inside each time they were cleaned or serviced. Such signatures indicate the history of the piece, but could yield valuable genealogical data. For example, we have never known when William Burns died. Now we know he lived at least until 1860.