Thrift store finds woman, returns her great-grandparents' 146-year-old marriage cert

Thrift stores are booming in popularity as people hunt for branded and designer items at bargain prices, often flipping them online for a profit. Beyond that, thrifters who stumble upon rare finds like iconic dresses and precious artifacts love sharing their discoveries on social media. Recently, a thrift store found a 146-year-old marriage certificate and used the power of the internet to return it to the great-granddaughter of the couple named in it, according to Indy100. This heartwarming journey began when the certificate was discovered at the Hope Chest Thrift Store in Bolivia, North Carolina.

Karmen Smith, Executive Director of Hope Harbor Home, told PEOPLE that Assistant Manager Pam Phelps was cleaning a photo frame on July 26, 2021, when she found a marriage certificate in the back of it. The New Jersey certificate was from April 11, 1875, and belonged to a couple named William and Katey. After finding it, Phelps brought it to Smith which left her stunned. She started researching and later posted it on Facebook, hoping to find the family of the couple.

It worked and she received a message from Connie Knox, a local Genealogist who runs a YouTube channel that focuses on similar pursuits. Knox spent a weekend looking through Ancestry.com posts to find family members of the couple. Meanwhile, Irish Cornish who hadn't been on the website for a few months, decided to check out the website. She told WWAY-TV, "I actually went on to research a family member on the other side. And I happened to notice I had these messages.” Knox was able to figure out that the couple was related to this woman. 

Smith was shocked after finding out that Cornish was related to the couple. She told PEOPLE, "She expressed that through the years, much of the family's possessions have been lost and the finding of this overwhelms her and brings joy to her heart. She insisted on coming to retrieve the item, as well as meet the people who started the wild goose chase." Talking about her great-grandparents, Cornish said that she doesn't know how their love story started but shared that her great-grandmother Katherine Havey had moved to America when the Irish Potato Famine was coming to an end. She reportedly worked as a servant in a Bordentown, New Jersey Hotel until she got her citizenship. 

On the other hand, her great-grandfather, Willian DeWorth made his own Ferris wheel and used to rent it out to carnivals. He also had his own ventriloquist and fire-eating acts. Despite knowing about the history of her great-grandparents, Cornish doesn't fully know how the certificate ended up in North Carolina. She said, "Sadly the Old Homestead, the person that inherited that in the family basically sold everything that was in it to a local thrift shop,” Cornish stated. However, finding something that belonged to her ancestors brought her comfort.

She revealed that she lost her mother five years ago and doesn't have any immediate family in the area where she lives. "So I feel a little isolated at times. So it just felt comforting that, oh these people are reaching out somehow. I am connected," she expressed. Cornish was still working out how she could collect the marriage license from the thrift store. She wanted to frame it at home and later donate it to a museum.