Inheritance

 My mother was born in Troy, New York, the youngest of the 5 children of Ellen O'Brien and Matthew Donovan. Ellen had emigrated from Ireland in the midst of poverty, following several relatives who had made the trip before her. My mother's father died of tuberculosis before my mother was a year old, plunging the young family further into the depths of poverty. Her mother, as I recall, did housework and laundry for income and the oldest son, Timothy, found whatever work a young teen could do to support the family, eventually falling to his death from the scaffolding of a Troy business. 

During her early years in Troy, my mother would collect pennies and go shopping at the ten-cent store in Troy. Her goal was to amass enough pennies to buy into the selection of iron banks the store sold. Most sold for about 7 cents. Even then, my mother's prime interest was animals, and banks in the shape of animals were her wishes. She bought several, at least 3, as the story goes.

  The family moved to the country after brother Timothy died in the fall from the business. My mother was 11 years old and I can't imagine the family had much in the way of possessions to move, or much of a way to move what they did have. But my mother's collection of banks made the move, as later became obvious. She grew up in that house, having to leave school to find work, as mother's helper and briefly in a shirt factory in Troy. 

  She met my father at a dance where he was playing fiddle and when they married they moved, probably first to an apartment in Valley Falls, and later to a tenant house in Melrose, before a series of moves to other rented houses before they were able to buy a house in Valley Falls. 

   At some point, the banks emerged,  when we were still very young. My mother had preserved these treasures throughout all the moves, and eventually turned them over to us. I remember Joseph had the lion, Dorothy claimed  the donkey, and the dog was mine. We used to play with them outside in the dirt driveway. I don't know who designated which bank went to which kid. The donkey and the lion were more intricately sculpted than the dog. I liked the dog well enough, but when playing, I always  wished that the  dog did not have that pack on its back. I didn't relate to that.

These metal banks are well over 100 years old.