Our dining room furniture was built by my great-uncle, Abraham Shockett, in my grandparents’ dining room in 1917. My Uncle Abe, being a cabinetmaker by trade, worked in a furniture factory in Baltimore, Maryland and lived with my grandparents.
As a gift to them, he actually built the set in place. He passed away in the late 1930’s and I was named after him.
The furniture design is derived from Sheraton and Hepplewhite patterns, and he completed the table, sideboard and china cupboard, mirror and a picture frame. I have all but the picture frame, which was given to my cousin. He never completed any chairs.
As a child, all my memories of family dinners with Uncles, Aunts and Cousins took place around the table. There is still pencil scribbling under the table done by me in the early 1940’s. Even my own young family dinners through the mid-60 have and in more recent years with another young family, taken place around that dining room table.
Then, when my grandmother passed away in 1967, my parents and my grandfather moved, and the furniture moved with them.
When my grandfather and father passed away, the furniture fell to my mother. My mother eventually wanted new furniture, a more modern look she thought, and she shipped the furniture to me. This was about 1976. The furniture has since been moved to Detroit, MI, Beverly and Gloucester Massachusetts, Calgary, Alberta (two locations) and now to Ancaster, Ontario. Many more children have grown up and had family dinners around the table, although I have stopped the kids from scribbling underneath the table these days.
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