These earrings belonged to Margaretta Lefevre. Family members took the earrings to the jewelers and they are composed of citron, not topaz, as they had originally thought. They are pierced and Tom Gerber asked me to look at the backs to see if they have a mark on them. Perhaps it would allow us to trace them in some way in France.

Kay Pelletier of Bloomington, MN has them now and they are like a sacred trust in the family. They say the earrings are 175 years old at least. They are also pierced, which I find interesting. Kay's mother, Isabel Husome Justen, now age 89, had them for years. Her mother was Ida Doerfler, daughter of Adam Doerfler and Sophia Knaeble, daughter of Andrew and Margaretta Knaeble, who married Joseph Justin. She was widowed young and raised nine children herself. Ida was a sister to my husband's grandmother, Elizabeth Doerfler Friendschuh.. Sophia died a month after Elizabeth was born and her sister, Susan Doerfler Kees, nursed the baby even though she had to put her own baby on the bottle at three months of age. So Isabel Husome is a first cousin to my husband's mother, Cordelia Friendschuh Ostertag, who was the eldest of 16 children, married Leo George Ostertag and had 12 children of her own in 14 years, no twins. She was a gentle soul and very respected.

It was Kay Pelletier's son who took this picture with a digital camera. My husband's Aunt Louise Friendschuh Haeg wore the earrings for her 60th wedding anniversary celebration, and my sister-in-law, Rita Ostertag Higgins, wore them for her wedding. They are allowed to be used for very special occasions only and then tucked safely away by the family. I plan to ask Kay Pelletier if there is a mark on the back of the earrings and if there is any more known about them.