Family

This christening cap was worn by my grandmother,  Mary Letitia Alice Cooper Hawkes, who was born somewhere around
1865.

This is her christening gown, worn by one of  her great-grandsons.
The gown is now retired and displayed in a sealed cabinet with a glass front.

My grandfather was Ben Hawkes; both were born in England and  lived their lives in simple circumstances, and.

 the clothing they wore as babies seemed surprisingly decorous.

Ben wore this petticoat under a long hand-embroidered baby gown, always white on white

This is the only gown left from his baby things and it's slowly disintegrating. As far as I can tell, both the petticoat and gown were hand made with tiny perfect stitches; a minuscule flaw here and there to convince me they are hand made.

Here is a sample of the tucks;  there are feather stitches embroidery on the band.

Here they are all grown up.

I wonder if she was called Letty? No one ever said.

Ben was a Tailor's cutter and Letitia was a seamstress. I have Ben's tailor's shears and I treasure them and use them always in my sewing.

 I can't think of anything else of theirs that lasted through the years.

I wonder if anything of ours will exist in family hands after a hundred-plus years?

Here's to you Ben and Letitia--sorry we never got to know one another.