Historical documents from 1500s found in Brandon storage unit

It was a shot in the dark, a blind investment. Dusty boxes, an old television set, a dresser. An empty liquor cabinet.

The inside of the 6-by-10-foot storage unit in Brandon was unremarkable. But Thomas Braswell had watched "Storage Wars" on television and saw that sometimes diamonds hide in the rough.

The 30-year-old construction subcontractor decided to take a chance. He checked the newspaper; in the classifieds there are notices of auctions for abandoned storage units. He picked one in Brandon and went to it.

That was in August. Three other bidders showed up.

They had five minutes to gaze upon the contents of the unit from the door. They couldn't go inside to open the boxes or the dresser drawers. Bidding started at $5, Braswell said.

It went to $10, then $15.

Braswell upped the bid to $25 and took the whole unit's contents, though he was really interested in just the television set, which itself was worth that.

"I didn't' think I had much of nothing," he said.

But the real treasure may not be measured in the monetary value; it's not a windfall, but the historical significance is intriguing.

Many of the boxes contained historical documents of a family in Massachusetts; family photos, birth and death certificates dating back into the early 1800s; a massive family Bible that Braswell opened with the greatest care because of its age. There were locks of hair and flowers pressed between the pages.

The genealogical information focused on the extended family and dated to the 1500s. One of the family members came over on the Mayflower, Braswell said. There was a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow book of poems first published in 1893 that included "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere."

True, Braswell said, the stuff could be valuable, but his first thought was a little more altruistic.

"I wasn't thinking that we hit the jackpot," he said. "I want to find the family and give it back. If it was my family heirlooms, I'd want them.

"I know that there is somebody out there who wants this stuff," he said. "If nobody wants it, it will go to some historical society up in Massachusetts."

The documents chronicle the Thayer, Snow and Rice families of Athol and Orange, Mass., and indicated they were collected by a woman named Ruth Thayer, who married into the Snow and Rice families and died a few years ago after moving to New Port Richey.

Braswell of Tampa wasn't sure how to go about tracking down the family, or even if they still lived in that area.

He said he contacted a friend from his church and she agreed to help. Debbie Meyers joined the genealogical hunt.

She contacted the Worcester Telegraph newspaper and found out the names were familiar up there. She had sent letters to old family addresses in central and western Massachusetts, but they all were returned.

Meyers, 52, said she's made some headway, though she hasn't spoken to any descendants.

"It looks hopeful," she said.

She said most of the stuff probably wouldn't be of value except to the families involved.

"If it was my family," she said, "I would want it back."

There are boxes and boxes of old photographs, slides and family documents.

"I've got five Chiquita banana boxes each full of 25 to 30 photo albums," Meyers said. "And there are documents and outlines of family trees.

"So," she said, "our main objective is to find whoever owns this and get it back to them."

Braswell said the inspiration to go and bid came from the A&E television network's "Storage Wars," which follows bidders who scrounge around Southern California bidding on storage unit contents, sight unseen.

Sometimes, they make out, opening sealed boxes with valuable contents such as antiques. Sometimes, they go bust.

The hit show is in its second season, according to the show's website. During the first season, the series averaged 2.8 million viewers per episode and peaked at 3.8 million.

"Yeah," Braswell said, "just like 'Storage Wars.' That was my very first one, though."

He hasn't been since, but he's still interested.

"Whenever I can afford it," he said.