Bettered by Feathers

You know how much I love writing the stories of family members gone before?

Well, I’ve decided to make it official with Ancestor Sundays!

Welcome!

I guess it could happen to anyone.

Maybe I should explain . . .

My Great, Great, Great Grandmother, Sarah then-Thornton lived ten years in a boarding school. Finally, at the age of twenty, she met and married my equally Great Grandfather, Prime Coleman, a prosperous rancher.

As Prime’s wife, and mother to their then-seven children (a number which finally capped out at eight), Sarah Thornton Coleman supervised several servants, cared for her children, and managed the household. Her leap from browbeaten student to prosperous rancher’s wife, though at first viewed doubtfully by her father-in-law, could only be called a success.
Though she had a few set-backs along the way . . .

One day, as Sarah approached her home, she met a man walking toward her. The man was carrying a lovely feather bed.

He stopped her and asked if she would be interested in purchasing said bed for a ‘nominal’ fee.

Sarah examined the bed. It was well-made and beautiful. She told the man she had one very similar and loved it. She was definitely interested.

The two agreed on a price, and several coins—and the bed—exchanged hands.

Sarah happily carted her new purchase home, then up the stairs to her bedroom.

Where she made a rather awkward discovery.

Her feather bed was gone. A quick search of the household and questioning of the servants did not reveal it. It had obviously been removed from the house by hands unknown.

It was then Sarah realized what had happened. Her new bed was actually her old bed, stolen by the man she had met and sold back to her within sight of her own house.

Oops.