My family heirloom is my great-great- grandmother’s watch. My maternal grandmother’s maternal great-grandmother had a locket watch that was an engagement present from her husband to be. The watch has a picture of a woman inside. They lived in a part of the Russian Empire known as the VIenna of the East because it was well off and had a beautiful landscape. When my grandmother’s grandmother was eight years old, her mother died. Her father followed tradition and remarried, primarily so that my great-great grandmother would have a maternal figure in her life. Her step-wife, who she always referred to as "the old lady,” was cruel to her, and stole all of her mother’s belongings, save the watch. Over the coming years, she and her family relocated to Los Angeles. She later gave the watch to my great-grandmother, but by that time, had forgotten who the woman in the watch was. My great-grandmother gave the watch to my grandmother, which is how I know it now. 

– TY

Relationship:  Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more