Connections Through Family and Furniture

Hi everyone! I just want to quickly share a series of surprising interactions that happened. I got an email the other day through our website. The gentleman writing told me about striking up a conversation with a couple he met at a historical event in Indiana a few weeks ago. Based on their chat, the couple invited him to their home to see the piece of furniture pictured above. It's a Heywood-Wakefield end table the couple received as a wedding gift in 1954. Here it is 62 years later, and the couple still cherishes the table and it still looks great after more than six decades of use. How did the couple know this gentleman would be interested in the piece? His name is Jeff Wakefield. His great-grandfather Cyrus Wakefield founded the Wakefield Rattan Company in the 1850s and ran it until his death in 1873. This was, of course, the furniture manufacturer that merged with Heywood Brothers in 1897 to form Heywood-Wakefield (though they called it Heywood Brothers & Wakefield Company until 1921). Thanks for writing and sharing your experience, Jeff!