deepskyal
Bronze Member
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2007
- Messages
- 1,925
- Reaction score
- 63
- Golden Thread
- 0
- Location
- Natrona Heights, Pa.
- Detector(s) used
- White's Coinmaster 6000 Di Series 3, Minelab Eq 600
- Primary Interest:
- Metal Detecting
- #1
Thread Owner
For you folks around Pittsburgh, here's a possible lead for you.
My mother and her cousin both told me the same story.
My greatgrandfather used to work for the Pittsburgh Railways as a streetcar driver. In the late 20's he had saved enough money to buy a 30 acre farm in Mars, Pa.
When my mom was a kid, for their birthdays, her grandfather would give the child a silver dollar.
One day, my mom and her cousin were playing with a combination lock on a foot locker and her cousin managed to pop it open. It was full of silver dollars.
Her grandfather walked in and caught them playing with the coins. He whipped their butts and took the chest out of the house and hid it.
After, every year on the birthdays, he would go out behind the chicken coop and return with their silver dollar.
Eventually the farm was sold to 2 brothers that divided the property in half. One brother put a trailer park up, the other left his place as it was. Greatgrandfather moved to O'hara Twp.
My moms cousin attempted to gain access to metal detect the property on the farm some years ago because he suspected the silver dollars were still burried there. (he bought the metal detector for this alone)
But...my uncle, who the family hated, bought the last house my greatgrandfather lived in O'Hara. The other thing my mom's cousin told me was that greatgrand dad said."People will walk all over my money, but no one will ever find it".
So, my mom's cousin thought as a second possibility the coins got moved and burried in the last house. My greatgrandfather died of a stroke and it was discovered after his death that he had established bank accounts in different names to hide it from family.
My uncle, the last in the house, dug up the basement for some reason he would not say. I dont think he found anything.
The house was just torn down a year ago and the lot is rapidly filling with debris from somewhere else.
The old stone wall is still evident that acted as a retainer for the hill behind it and my aunt had a rose garden on the slopes.
So I had 2 family members relating the same story and there are 2 possible places a cache of silver dollars from the 20's and 30's could be hiding. In Mars,Pa, or O'hara Twp,Pa
My greatgrandfathers name was Oldendorf if you want to check on where he lived in the 30's and later moved.
The old farm house was there back in the mid 90's. My mom had me drive her past it because she lived there for a while and wanted to see it before she died. She passed a few months later from cancer.
So...I dont know if the guy that denied my mom's cousin permission to detect the property still owns it or not.
As for the last house that was torn down. I can't see anyone building a new house on a tiny lot. I talked to the neighbor last year and he said they just parked a dumpster outside and loaded the whole house into it. He said nothing was found that he knows of. But reading this forum, I never thought about the crawl space that was under the front porch......It wasn't excavated in the teardown.
If anyone decides to check this out, let me know how it goes.
Al
My mother and her cousin both told me the same story.
My greatgrandfather used to work for the Pittsburgh Railways as a streetcar driver. In the late 20's he had saved enough money to buy a 30 acre farm in Mars, Pa.
When my mom was a kid, for their birthdays, her grandfather would give the child a silver dollar.
One day, my mom and her cousin were playing with a combination lock on a foot locker and her cousin managed to pop it open. It was full of silver dollars.
Her grandfather walked in and caught them playing with the coins. He whipped their butts and took the chest out of the house and hid it.
After, every year on the birthdays, he would go out behind the chicken coop and return with their silver dollar.
Eventually the farm was sold to 2 brothers that divided the property in half. One brother put a trailer park up, the other left his place as it was. Greatgrandfather moved to O'hara Twp.
My moms cousin attempted to gain access to metal detect the property on the farm some years ago because he suspected the silver dollars were still burried there. (he bought the metal detector for this alone)
But...my uncle, who the family hated, bought the last house my greatgrandfather lived in O'Hara. The other thing my mom's cousin told me was that greatgrand dad said."People will walk all over my money, but no one will ever find it".
So, my mom's cousin thought as a second possibility the coins got moved and burried in the last house. My greatgrandfather died of a stroke and it was discovered after his death that he had established bank accounts in different names to hide it from family.
My uncle, the last in the house, dug up the basement for some reason he would not say. I dont think he found anything.
The house was just torn down a year ago and the lot is rapidly filling with debris from somewhere else.
The old stone wall is still evident that acted as a retainer for the hill behind it and my aunt had a rose garden on the slopes.
So I had 2 family members relating the same story and there are 2 possible places a cache of silver dollars from the 20's and 30's could be hiding. In Mars,Pa, or O'hara Twp,Pa
My greatgrandfathers name was Oldendorf if you want to check on where he lived in the 30's and later moved.
The old farm house was there back in the mid 90's. My mom had me drive her past it because she lived there for a while and wanted to see it before she died. She passed a few months later from cancer.
So...I dont know if the guy that denied my mom's cousin permission to detect the property still owns it or not.
As for the last house that was torn down. I can't see anyone building a new house on a tiny lot. I talked to the neighbor last year and he said they just parked a dumpster outside and loaded the whole house into it. He said nothing was found that he knows of. But reading this forum, I never thought about the crawl space that was under the front porch......It wasn't excavated in the teardown.
If anyone decides to check this out, let me know how it goes.
Al
