The story continues about the
two girls from the south of England who on a fortunate visit to their New
Zealand grandparents had found a gold heart-shaped locket in their paddock
beside the Waianakarua River.
The girls enjoyed treasure hunts and wanted to solve the mystery, of
how the gold heart-shaped locket ended up in a rabbit burrow down by the river.
The girls felt old fashioned yet
cool chugging into town in Granddad’s old truck! After an ice cream, they visited the town
museum and with the help a nice woman, searched the land records, marriage records,
and the internet.
It turned out Grandma
Campbell’s maiden name was Jacobi - she
and Thomas Campbell travelled out on the same ship in 1895 and both their home
places were listed as Gorton, Manchester.
It all fell into place rather neatly.
Back home, for fun, Granddad
looked up the Manchester white pages and found three Jacobis listed. The girls
wanted to ring all of them straight away, but Granddad counselled that it would
be the middle of the night. Instead, he suggested they have another word with
old Albert – the girls were keen because he had a fox terrier called Tish and they could play with her.
Granddad told Albert what they
had found out and that Grandma Campbell’s maiden name was actually Jacobi. He
smiled and said that he had been speaking with his older sister, Edline who
knew more.
The whole village worried
about Grandma Campbell after she was widowed, and a number of kids went down
the hill to visit or help her. There was one girl who was especially attached
to her though and she was Lizzie Morrison. Lizzie never married and worked in
the Pacific Islands for years – school teaching or nursing. She retired to
Oamaru and is now in a rest home overlooking the harbour. She is very crippled
up, but still sharp as a tack at the age of 93. She had always kept in touch with
Zeke Jacobi, Grandma Campbell’s younger brother.
The girls wanted to visit
Lizzie Morrison, but Granddad and Granny weren’t so sure, rest homes can be intimidating
for children, but after a short family conference it was decided that they
should go to visit Lizzie.
Granddad and the girls were
shown into Lizzie’s room, which was actually quite nice and not at all smelly -
Lizzie was pleased to see the girls. She asked them who they were and the girls
replied nicely to her.
Granddad told Lizzie that that
they were interested to talk about Grandma Campbell and that the girls had
found an artefact that might have belonged to her.
Shyly, the oldest girl placed
the gold heart-shaped locket and chain in Lizzie’s hand. She looked at it, and
ran then the chain through her fingers. Tears filled her eyes and down her
cheeks.
The girls feared for a moment
that they had done something wrong.
When Lizzie composed herself,
she said that when she was about ten years old, she had lost the gold
heart-shaped locket and chain while taking Polly the cow to the river for a
drink. The loss has nagged at her all her life! And yes, it belonged to Grandma
Campbell.
The gold heart-shaped locket
and chain was made by her father, who was a goldsmith in Gorton, Manchester,
and was the only link Grandma Campbell had with her family – she was distraught
when it was lost.
Granddad asked what Lizzie
thought was appropriate to do with the gold heart-shaped locket and chain.
Her reply was to just keep it,
but then reconsidered. Zeke’s granddaughter, Mary, looks after him and sends a
Christmas card each year. If she could only see the locket – hold it. Lizzie smiled
at the thought.
The assurance was given that
Mary would get to hold the golden heart-shaped locket and that Granddad would
keep in touch with Lizzie - she was pleased.
When fortune smiles, things
fall into place! The girls regularly travel north with their parents, usually bypassing
Manchester, but as per arrangement, the day came that they were to visit Mary
and her grandfather, Zeke.
Mary answered the door and
told the visitors that Lizzie had been in touch. Nobody could believe about the
girl’s find. Zeke too was delighted to meet them and was excited about the gold
heart-shaped locket. The girls had packed it in a pretty box.
Zeke asked Mary to hand him a
small box from the mantel and presented it to the girls. Inside there were two
replicas of the gold heart-shaped locket – with each girl’s initials engraved
on it. The Jacobi family still work with gold, and Zeke’s father had kept the
pattern!
Mary would treasure her gold
heart-shaped locket!
Good came from good.
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