I began procuring vintage pocket watches on eBay ($3,000 worth). Next, I searched the country for a jeweler who could seal my ancestor’s faces in the watches in glass-like resin, and one with the ability to bring my sketched Foremother’s Necklace concept to life. The jeweler with the resin pouring expertise, and the artisan who could carry out my very detailed design concept ended up being two different parties. Both argued that they couldn’t imagine me being able to lug around the weight of five sizable pocket watches handing from my neck. But I was insistent. I am six-feet tall, and I could envision the ancestral breastplate in my mind.
I photocopied my ancestor’s images in sepia-tone on laser transparency film (the kind used for overhead projectors) and then purchased bronze-colored leather cording and brass wiring ─ providing the materials to my two contactors. My artistic direction yielded an ancestral masterpiece showcasing five foremothers, beginning with my maternal great-great-great grandmother, Sarah “Sallie” Freeman (1820-1900). As the oldest recorded maternal link that we can capture in a photograph, the family photo of Sallie Freeman, reveals unmistakably prominent Native American features—stereotypical high cheekbones, and straight black hair, parted down the middle. Though Sallie is of Cherokee and French ancestry, Native Americans who lived in predominately black or white households blended into their households, and did not identify themselves as Native American. Sallie is listed in the 1860 Polk County, North Carolina Census as “mulatto,” living on the G.J. Mills Farm. Also depicted on the necklace, is my great-great grandmother, Francis Freeman Payne (1848-1892). Francis was the daughter of Sallie Freeman. Francis’s father was said to be white planter, Jim Wright. Francis was the wife of George Washington Richard Henry Lee Payne (1838-1927), a proud Western North Carolina blacksmith, who was the first blacksmith for the famed Biltmore Estate. Francis bore him 12 children ─ a tri-racial mix of European, Sub-Saharan African, and Native American children. George’s father was full-blooded African and his mother was reported to be Cherokee. Hattie Othella Payne Burnette (1892-1986), my maternal great-grandmother, was the youngest child of George Payne and Francis Freeman Payne, born only three months before Francis died. My grandmother, Helen Juanita Burnette Lynch, and mother, Hattie Geneva Lynch, also dangle from the stunning ancestral necklace.
For me, the euphoria of wearing an ancestral-themed heirloom is unparalleled. Heirloom jewelry, whether collected and passed down or custom-made to commemorate our ancestors, speaks to our souls. In heirlooms, we uncover both the triumphs and tribulations of our forebears, and a powerful connection to the identities that shape us. My foremother’s necklace has become my most prized possession.
–Regina Lynch-Hudson, is a nationally syndicated publicist who promotes PEOPLE, PLACES, PRODUCTS and PERFORMANCES worldwide.
