Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith
ilmarinen - MODERATOR
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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2004
- Messages
- 37,936
I flew to Gulfport MS Thursday evening...leaving at 7:30PM and arriving at 11PM. I got a motel, took a five hour nap, and was picked up by Jerry Bond - AKA skilldust- at 6AM Friday. We picked up a 10 foot U-Haul truck in Long Beach, MS, and loaded an antique table on it in Billoxi, MS. After a little knife chat time, I headed toward VA at 10AM, and Jerry headed back to Stone County. I drove straight through the day and evening, with a one hour nap in the truck at midnight, arriving back home at 2:30 AM. 16.5 hours driving for 1035 miles. Took a four hour nap, and unloaded it in my storage unit. By 9AM the trip was over completely.
I want to give a big thanks to Jerry for his help in this. He is a great guy and makes a first class knife. He brought several for me to look at and all I can say is he sells them way too cheap. Really nice hunters with a great hamon and handle...for $150.
Now, for the rest of the story.....I know it is long...but really amazing - Read On:
This table was a family heirloom, and was appraised back in 1970 for $10,000. The family history and this tables 'story is really neat.
My wife, Judy, had a grandmother called "Mama Pearl". She was a Cannon, and related to the Houston family ( as in Sam) by marriage in some way. She married Nathan Bedford Forrest Floyd, whose father Jason Floyd, was an officer under Gen.Nathan Bedford Forest in the civil war. After coming home from the war, Jason fathered his first son, and named him after his most respected person - Nathan Bedford Forest.
The table was either a present for the wedding of Pearl Cannon and NBF Floyd, or purchased when they set up housekeeping. No one is sure who gave/sold it to them....but we like to think it used to belong to Sam Houston
.....In any case it pre-dates the Civil War.
Anyway, they had it in their plantation house where they had a son named Jason Floyd Jr., who married a lady named Elizabeth ( Betty), and they had a girl named Judith ( Judy)....who married me.
During the table's life, the farm house burned down....but the table was saved, and the family moved to another Floyd plantation home in Senatobia. Jason Junior later moved to Gulfport where the table was when Judy was born. During Hurricane Camile, the family evacuated to Senatobia ,leaving the table and household behind. The table survived the devastation.
In 1973, Judy and her mother moved to California. Not knowing if this huge table would fit when they found a new home, it was stored in her mother's best friend Barbara's attic. The table is a round top 52" wide with skirting. It has a single fluted pedestal base ending on four Lion's Claw feet with casters. As the table pulls apart, two sets of legs with caster fold down, allowing leaves to be added making a 9 foot by 4.5 foot banquet table.
Sadly, in 1989, Judy's mom died in California....and the table stayed in a Billoxi attic. In 1993 when Judy moved from California to Virginia and bought out present large house, she went back to Gulfport to arrange for the table to be shipped to VA. The lady had moved many years earlier and no one had any idea where. After no leads, Judy gave the table up as gone and let it go.
In 2005, a woman named Rebbecca called Judy up at her Law Office. The lady had found her name by doing a google search. Because her bar credentials are all in the name of Judith Floyd, Judy never changed her name when we married. Rebbecca was the daughter of Barbara, who had the table. In a chat with her mother the story of how the table came to be in their house was told, and Rebbecca offered to find the rightful owner. Barbara had moved to Birmingham a few years after Judy and mom had moved to CA. She had let Betty know, but Judy was unaware of it. When she heard of the death of her friend she waited a few years, and not having heard from anyone, decided to put the table in her dining room, where it was well cared for all those years.
To make the deal even better, she was moving back to Billoxi in a year, and would arrange to ship the table to us when the movers shipped the rest of her things to MS....a win-win situation! Unfortunately, she became severely ill, and was moved into a care facility. Her second husband , Mr. Dubois ( not Rebecca's father) moved all the household furnishings to their new home in Billoxi...including the table. A year later, we contacted him about the table through Becky and he said, "Hell No, ain't no one takin" my table!" Becky said he was hard to deal with and with her mothers health being so poor, it was not best to cause a family rift.....so we let it go again.
Last week, we get a call from Becky saying her 85 year old step-father is moving into an assisted living place, and getting rid of his household effects...including the table. We contact him and he says ( In a wonderful Cajun accent) ,"Yeah, Y'all can have it. Only thing is I am movin' in two weeks."
So I bought a ticket and flew down to get it. He had taken it apart and had it all on the screen porch ready for us. When I got to his address, it was a small retirement community of tiny houses. While loading it with Jerry's help, Mr. Dubois told us that in Hurricane Katrina, his house was destroyed, and he moved to this place. The roof had blown away, and the ceilings collapsed. Pretty much everything in the house was destroyed. The table was smashed into three pieces. He decided to take it ,and the four original chairs,with him and fix it. He did a really good job of the repair and refinished it. The table looked great. He apologized that he never recovered the leaves from the destroyed house, so it is just a round table now.
Today the table sits in my storage unit ,awaiting a full restoration.
In building my new shop, we are going to re-model the front room of our house, which is my current inside work room and jeweler's shop, to a new parlor for Judy. Many of her family antiques and favorite things will be there, along with ones from my family, and ones we have acquired together. The shop will be my "Man Cave", and the parlor will be her "Ladies Nest". The table will go in one corner ,with a window on each side, serving as a round desk.
So....... the table survived the Civil War,a fire, two World Wars, The Great Depression, many children and homes, two category 5 hurricanes, being lost for 40 years, and a trip to Va in the back of a truck.
This is one special table !
It is hard to tell what the current value of the table is until all restoration is done, but to Judy it is worth a million bucks....and that makes me a lucky guy.
I want to give a big thanks to Jerry for his help in this. He is a great guy and makes a first class knife. He brought several for me to look at and all I can say is he sells them way too cheap. Really nice hunters with a great hamon and handle...for $150.
Now, for the rest of the story.....I know it is long...but really amazing - Read On:
This table was a family heirloom, and was appraised back in 1970 for $10,000. The family history and this tables 'story is really neat.
My wife, Judy, had a grandmother called "Mama Pearl". She was a Cannon, and related to the Houston family ( as in Sam) by marriage in some way. She married Nathan Bedford Forrest Floyd, whose father Jason Floyd, was an officer under Gen.Nathan Bedford Forest in the civil war. After coming home from the war, Jason fathered his first son, and named him after his most respected person - Nathan Bedford Forest.
The table was either a present for the wedding of Pearl Cannon and NBF Floyd, or purchased when they set up housekeeping. No one is sure who gave/sold it to them....but we like to think it used to belong to Sam Houston
.....In any case it pre-dates the Civil War. Anyway, they had it in their plantation house where they had a son named Jason Floyd Jr., who married a lady named Elizabeth ( Betty), and they had a girl named Judith ( Judy)....who married me.
During the table's life, the farm house burned down....but the table was saved, and the family moved to another Floyd plantation home in Senatobia. Jason Junior later moved to Gulfport where the table was when Judy was born. During Hurricane Camile, the family evacuated to Senatobia ,leaving the table and household behind. The table survived the devastation.
In 1973, Judy and her mother moved to California. Not knowing if this huge table would fit when they found a new home, it was stored in her mother's best friend Barbara's attic. The table is a round top 52" wide with skirting. It has a single fluted pedestal base ending on four Lion's Claw feet with casters. As the table pulls apart, two sets of legs with caster fold down, allowing leaves to be added making a 9 foot by 4.5 foot banquet table.
Sadly, in 1989, Judy's mom died in California....and the table stayed in a Billoxi attic. In 1993 when Judy moved from California to Virginia and bought out present large house, she went back to Gulfport to arrange for the table to be shipped to VA. The lady had moved many years earlier and no one had any idea where. After no leads, Judy gave the table up as gone and let it go.
In 2005, a woman named Rebbecca called Judy up at her Law Office. The lady had found her name by doing a google search. Because her bar credentials are all in the name of Judith Floyd, Judy never changed her name when we married. Rebbecca was the daughter of Barbara, who had the table. In a chat with her mother the story of how the table came to be in their house was told, and Rebbecca offered to find the rightful owner. Barbara had moved to Birmingham a few years after Judy and mom had moved to CA. She had let Betty know, but Judy was unaware of it. When she heard of the death of her friend she waited a few years, and not having heard from anyone, decided to put the table in her dining room, where it was well cared for all those years.
To make the deal even better, she was moving back to Billoxi in a year, and would arrange to ship the table to us when the movers shipped the rest of her things to MS....a win-win situation! Unfortunately, she became severely ill, and was moved into a care facility. Her second husband , Mr. Dubois ( not Rebecca's father) moved all the household furnishings to their new home in Billoxi...including the table. A year later, we contacted him about the table through Becky and he said, "Hell No, ain't no one takin" my table!" Becky said he was hard to deal with and with her mothers health being so poor, it was not best to cause a family rift.....so we let it go again.
Last week, we get a call from Becky saying her 85 year old step-father is moving into an assisted living place, and getting rid of his household effects...including the table. We contact him and he says ( In a wonderful Cajun accent) ,"Yeah, Y'all can have it. Only thing is I am movin' in two weeks."
So I bought a ticket and flew down to get it. He had taken it apart and had it all on the screen porch ready for us. When I got to his address, it was a small retirement community of tiny houses. While loading it with Jerry's help, Mr. Dubois told us that in Hurricane Katrina, his house was destroyed, and he moved to this place. The roof had blown away, and the ceilings collapsed. Pretty much everything in the house was destroyed. The table was smashed into three pieces. He decided to take it ,and the four original chairs,with him and fix it. He did a really good job of the repair and refinished it. The table looked great. He apologized that he never recovered the leaves from the destroyed house, so it is just a round table now.
Today the table sits in my storage unit ,awaiting a full restoration.
In building my new shop, we are going to re-model the front room of our house, which is my current inside work room and jeweler's shop, to a new parlor for Judy. Many of her family antiques and favorite things will be there, along with ones from my family, and ones we have acquired together. The shop will be my "Man Cave", and the parlor will be her "Ladies Nest". The table will go in one corner ,with a window on each side, serving as a round desk.
So....... the table survived the Civil War,a fire, two World Wars, The Great Depression, many children and homes, two category 5 hurricanes, being lost for 40 years, and a trip to Va in the back of a truck.
This is one special table !
It is hard to tell what the current value of the table is until all restoration is done, but to Judy it is worth a million bucks....and that makes me a lucky guy.
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