My Silver Dollar Barber

It is interesting that sometimes we know more about the later lives of our ancestors than the beginning of their lives. The way I begin is to start with what you know and then work backwards. It all started with a 1896 US Silver Dollar. I was told that the silver dollar hidden in my fathers wallet in his dresser drawer was my grandfathers. When I was young I asked to look at the silver dollar. It was so different than the usual coins I had seen. The Silver Dollar was stamped 1896, and it was the year my grandfather Samuel was born.
I met Samuel when I was a very young child, and sadly I have more memories of attending his funeral in Wausau than of him. Samuel was a barber and worked in barber shops in Antigo and Wausau. He also had a background in farming. He raised both black angus cattle and mink.

My own father knew very little about my grandfathers family or background, other than the fact that grandpa Sams family was from Illinois. At that point I had wondered if there was a break in the family, it seemed to me that you would know more about your fathers family than what I had been told. Even my grandmother Edna didn't leave me much information about a man she had 4 children with. I was perplexed and I knew at that moment I needed to fill in the story of a man who had owned the 1896 silver dollar. When I expressed in interest in the Silver Dollar, my parents gave to me. I later purchased a sterling silver coin holder so I could wear it as a necklace. It's one of my favorite pieces of jewelry that I own because of its provenance.
A few years ago when I met one of my second cousins from my grandfathers Illinois family, I was wearing my silver dollar necklace. He asked me about the coin in the necklace and he reached into his pants pocket and showed me his money clip with his grandfathers silver dollar in it. I was thinking it was a "amazing" moment, two descendants, who are the grandchildren, of two barbers, were meeting for the first time and actually holding/wearing the silver dollars of their grandfathers at the same place and time. So Amazing!!!!!!!! At least for the me it was, a family history buff.