Growing up, my family rented the upper level of a duplex here in Milwaukee. We also shared the basement with the people we rented from. Our part of the basement was stuffed with all kinds of things, to the point that it was sometimes hard to walk through. Among the many things stored down there were some antique furniture pieces my father had brought with him when he moved from Warsaw, Indiana about 1957 or 1958. I couldn't even see them very well because there was so much "stuff" on and around them, that they were partly or almost fully obscured. When I was 15 my parents purchased a home, and we moved all our things, including the old antiques. My father told me about them, and I thought they were wonderful. Though they were still relegated to the basement, as my mother did not like them, and would not stand to have any of them in the upstairs part of the house. He worried about what would happen to them when he was no longer around to be their caretaker. He feared that neither of my sisters or my brother would want them. I told him that I would love to have them in my house someday, and have them in the main part of my house, and give them the love and respect they deserved. While he appreciated my interest and sentiment, he said he hoped that would be true, but feared that over time I would change my mind. Fast forward about 15 years.
When my father died, my husband and I moved into that same house, which now belonged to me. We pondered for a few years what to do about the house, should we keep it or sell it and move. My father always told me that I should stay here. Ultimately we decided to stay, but I told my husband that I intended to transform the house into what I wanted it to be. We hired a contractor, and remodeled about 1/2 of the huge basement into an entertainment, bar and model train area. Several of the antique pieces stored down there were finally brought up to the main floor to make way, and they were given a prominent spot in our living room. One piece that we could not find a way to fit upstairs was a large modular cabinet that had belonged to my great grandfather, William Dederick. He was a homeopathic physician, and the cabinet was where he stored his medicines, books and other related items. It was shuffled from place to place over the next few years, as we made further changes to the basement. It was finally shoved into a corner of the workshop area where my husband and my father before him kept tools of all sorts. It also became a critical part of the new microbrewery this year. As space all around the cabinet was filled in, it again became inaccesible, as it was all those years ago. For months I had been hounding my husband that he needed to get this area cleaned up and organized. When he decided a few weeks ago that he also wanted to get into wine making, I saw my opportunity. I told him that I would help him clean out and organize, and that I would find a way somehow to get that cabinet out of there so he had more room, and I could finally give it a proper home. The only place I could think to put it was in my guest bedroom. So this past Thursday in preparation for the move, I spent the whole day painting the room to give it a new life (it probably had not been painted for at least 25 years), and on Friday we dis-assembled the cabinet and moved it upstairs. The cabinet has been re-united with the physicians license which used to sit in the upper portion of the cabinet, and which I imagine probably hung somewhere near it, when my great grandfather was practicing medicine. It too has been restored as we matted, and re-framed it. The cabinet is still complete with all it's small bottles of medicines, the reference books that he used, and log books of his patients. William practiced medicine from the time he received his license on April 19, 1894 until his death in 1905.
The dresser and chest are antiques from my mother's side of the family. The radio atop the chest also belonged to my dad. I think it dates back to the 1950's. The table is new, although we chose it because of it's mission styling. I am also including a couple of pictures of the antique desk and bookcase, and music chest, both of which I believe date to the 1800's.
So dad, I have finally kept the promise I made to you all those years ago. All of your beloved antiques now have foud their home, in my home, and I will take the best care of them that I know how, as long as I'm around. Pictures below.
Dr. William Dederick
No comments:
Post a Comment