Can you tell a life through coins?

seatedlib3991

Someone recently reminded me that my Oma (grandmother) got me started in collecting coins. That made me curious so I looked up some old notes I made about some of my Oma's coins. She received a group of coins from a favorite aunt on her wedding day in 1903. The aunt's name (maiden) was Althea Walters. The aunt told her every bride needs an emergency fund so she gave Oma's hers.
The coins were as follows. 7 coins from the 1840's. All coins were "Very worn" and from New Orleans. This didn't make a lot of sense since she was born and raised in New York but I put a note, "Husbands?"
I know nothing about the husband, even a last name, except that he was in "The building trade.", according to my Oma. he married the aunt in December 1852. Maybe he was from the South and they were his coins.
The next 6 coins were dated 1853 , 1854 and 1855. all these coins were Philly coins. I wrote "Good shape", but I am not sure what that meant.
The next 14 coins are all from the New Orleans mint. They are all dated 1856 1857 1858. I wrote "Very Good Shape". I don't think I meant a grade like in the grading manuals but can't be sure. There are no 1859 coins.
In 1860 the collection picks up again. There are 16 coins in the next group. they are dated 1860 to 1867 and all of the coins are from San Francisco. I didn't write anything about grade. There are no coins from 1868, 1869 or 1870.
The next group has 8 coins. they are dated 1871 through 1874. I wrote "like new". the thing is though, all these coins are from Philly! Another big move?
The last group is the biggest, 30 coins. There are 25 coins from the Carson City mint. I wrote, "all grades".
I can only assume another big move. the last 5 coins consisted of 2 1877-s seated halves and 3 1878-s Morgan dollars I wrote "UNC" next to. At this point I wrote "Husband died, Aunt moved back to New York to live with family."
According to my Oma that was the entire group. She kept the Morgan dollars with her Peace dollars. But she said she collected all her other coins by herself. I guess since the aunt didn't have a husband anymore she didn't have to keep adding to her fund. Hope someone finds this interesting. I haven't thought about it in decades. James

may

You might be on to something, though coins can travel all over the country. If you’re curious, I think you can get more info from the censuses.

johnny9434

Or even tell a story with them, fwiw

jacrispies

That's some great, outside of the box thinking. I like the story and think it would be better further proved with other mediums of evidence to pinpoint specific details (towns/cities lived in) to build the story.

pmh1nic

Wow! Thanks for sharing the story. It grieves me how little I know about my heritage. By the time I got old enough to be curious both my parents were gone. The only thing of nominal value passed down to me was a hand written letter from Harry Truman after he left office (February 1953). Apparently my father wrote him a letter thanking him for his service as President and wishing him well in the days ahead. Truman actually took the time to write him back to thank my father for the well wishes.

yosclimber

I could probably find your Oma's aunt Althea Walters in census records, if I knew more about your Oma,
assuming she is no longer alive.
(You could send me her name, spouse, birth year, death year by private message;
click on my username and then on the blue Message link in upper right).
I enjoy looking up family tree type puzzles.

I tried looking up Althea with just the info you gave, but did not find a good match.

As for whether the coins track the places she or her spouse lived, we'll have to see.
As @Ownerofawheatiehorde pointed out, coins circulate nationwide, so you can get O, S, CC mint coins from anywhere in the country.
Althea might have been a coin collector herself, and possibly enjoyed collecting the different branch mints.

That sounds like pretty darn cool Seated collection from your Oma!
I bought my grandpa's coins from him a few years before he passed on.
It included a small change purse with his dad's coins. I have their initials on the holders.

Namvet69

I travelled around the country reading your story. Very cool. Maybe old letters can add to the locales. Good luck. Peace Roy

seatedlib3991

Thanks for the offer yosclimber but I am afraid I am a typical American. I don't even know what my Oma's maiden name was. Funny story though. Shortly before she died I told her I thought she had a pretty name; ALICE. she laughed and said, "I think so too. That's why I picked it." When she saw the puzzled look on my face she told me that "The first thing I did when I arrived in America was to find a phone book. I've always hated my German name and I decided here on out I will be an American with an American name. Don't know if she changed last name or not.
Also, I am afraid I didn't get any of her Seated coins. Oma had 9 children and I didn't rank that high. She did give me numerous other coins, (hundreds of wheat cents and Indian cents, a dateless Standing Quarter and a couple dozen foreign coins.) She did give me the box her Aunt gave her the coins in. That is how I know her name. She wrote "Property of Althea Walters and marriage Dec. (smudge you can't read), 1852" on the underside. (I now use this box to store the ashes of my beloved Papillon Cinnamon.) Oh and I guessed that was her maiden name because she didn't put MRS. in front.
The only living relative I know and have contact with lives over 2,000 miles away. The only information I have is the notes I made in a little spiral notebook I used for all things coin related. Oma kept her coins in 3 mason jars. One for Half Dollars. One for Quarters and Dimes. One for her "Lucky Horseshoe" coins; Cason City. That day was the only time she let me re-organize them by date.
Last thought though. When I look at the list of coins again I can't help but wonder if the Uncle was the coin collector. The set stops with his supposed death and as a widow she may have had little choice in making wedding gifts. You never know. James

cameonut2011

Yes. I started out MS70 and have been worn down to fair condition.

yosclimber

I like the name change upon arriving in America!

I still might be able to find her and her aunt in census records using her married name.
The married name is what appears on the census, anyway.
It would help to know the city/state where she lived at the times of the census (1910, 1920, ... 1950 are available as public records).
The other things that make it easier to find people in the census are:

• a less common name (John Smith, Mary Jones, etc. can be hard to find which one!)
• a place/city with less people (less chance for people with the same name)