The Touch of Time

What happens when a family heirloom gets passed on to you?  In my case, it not only became part of my wardrobe, but connected me even more closely with a key event in our nation's history.

It Keeps on Ticking

One of the most famous advertising slogans is that of Timex watches.  The expression "it takes a licking and keeps on ticking" used to be everywhere, and although I would happily to attest to the accuracy of this blurb, it is a Hamilton watch from about 1908 that blew me away a few months ago when I received it from my mother, gave the stem a few twists, and listened as the mechanism happily ticked away the time.

At first, we did not know much about it, other than that it had been given to my mother's grandfather by his wife, had passed to one of his sons, and that his son had wanted me to have it.  After looking at its internal workings and hopping onto a Hamilton watch forum online, we discovered a bit more.

It is a Hamilton, grade 927, model 1, class 4 pocket watch.  It is a size 16s, 17 jewels timepiece, but what was of most importance to my mother and me was that it was manufactured around 1908, which means that at the earliest, my great-grandmother Della McClellan would have given it to her husband, Oatis McClellan, five years before his death in 1913.  Now, this article is not a family tree or the beginnings of my autobiography, but something of a bit more historical significance.

National Treasure

The 2004 movie National Treasure has grossed hundreds of millions of dollars with its adventure story centered around the Declaration of Independence, yet the real treasure for our nation is that document itself, along with our Constitution and Bill of Rights, and it turns out, my family has an intimate connection with them.

On December 13, 1952, the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were moved from the Library of Congress to join the Bill of Rights at the National Archives, and Delmar McClellan, my great-uncle, was part of that historic moment.  He is the younger, dark-haired man in the following photographs and, along with Alvin Kremer, was responsible for preparing the documents for their transfer

Keeper of the Collections Alvin Kremer (left) and Assistant Keeper of the Collections Delmar McClellan (right) https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7873501

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/12167962

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/12167960

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/12167958

An entire album of pictures from that day can be found on Flickr, and a video with silent footage as well as audio with a speech from President Truman (starting 3:18) can be seen on YouTube.  Additional silent footage can be found at archive.org, and you can read an article on the event at the National Archives website.

What has this historic moment to do with a pocket watch?  Sometime between 1908 and 1913, Della McClellan gave that watch to her husband Oatis, and after he died, she gave it to one of her sons, Delmar McClellan, who would go on to play an important role in the moving our nation's most important documents.  He eventually gave the watch to his son, Denny, who then passed it on to me.  I wear the watch on special occasions, and now when I do, I will be even more keenly aware of the touch of time.