Note: This item appears on page 7, bottom of column 6. It does not indicate whether this took place in Reading, PA or Reading, NY. However, it is posted here because there were Sheelers in Reading, PA.
A Pauper's Heirloom's Sold. Some of Them 150 Years Old When Their Owner Was Sent to the Almhouse
Reading, March 18 -- A public sale of an odd character attracted some 300 country people the other day at the Sheeler Farm, near Reading. Jacob Sheeler was 86 years old, and Margaret, his sister was 81. As they were unable to take care of themselves properly, and had no relatives or friends willing to take care of them, they were conveyed to the county almhouse. The public sale of their personal effects followed.
The personal effects of Margaret were stored in old oaken chests that she inherited from her ancestors, and bore the date 1731. One of the first things taken out by the auctioneer was a little rag doll with a red dress that Margaret and played with three-quarters of a century before. It was sold for a cent to a girl who said she would sent (sic) it to Margaret at her new home. At the least thirty dresses were taken out of the chests, representing the various styles of the last fifty years. Many were gay colored silk. They sold from 10 to 25 cents apiece. A drab Quaker dress silk, in fairly good condition, brought 80 cents. Thirteen bonnets of various patterns of forty and fifty years ago sold for 35 cents. A pair of new laced shoes from 1830 sold for 80 cents. It was explained they were bought Margaret and a sore foot prevented her from wearing them. Afterwards the shoes were too small for her. Her white kid wedding slippers, square toed, worn at her marriage 60 years ago, brought 5 cents. Several fine silk parasols of anceint pattern, in fairly good order, brought 10 cents each. Fine cambric petticoats brought 30 cents each. Thirty-two very large sized white and yellow handkerchiefs, in an excellent state of preservation, sold for 5 cents each. An orange colored silk bag, like the modern shopping bag for ladies, sold for 8 cents. Various Bibles and religious books 125 years old, sold for 25 cents each. A tall grandfather's clock, 103 years old, brought only a few dollars. Bellows, brass tongs and shovel, 125 year old, sold for 55 cents. Ancient pieces of colored china ware, 150 years old and in good condition, all packed in old chest, brought fairly good prices. Many of the articles Margaret had received from her mother, and the mother received from her parents.
Margaret was a careful woman, and her keepsakes, as she called them, were kept out of the sunlight and free from moths, and they were very well preserved. When she learned that her treasures had been sold she wept bitterly. All her wardrobe, bought 50 and 75 years ago, was evidently of the best, and had been but little worn. Her quaint and curious collection of old fans brought a penny apiece. An ancient spinning wheel sold for a quarter.
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