Boy Seeks Owners of Historic Ring Found in Northport

A young metal detector enthusiast is seeking the heirs to a 19th century gold ring found near Seymour's Boat Yard.

14-year-old Scott Newman was combing Northport's beaches recently when he found the 22 karat ring, which is engraved with a series of symbols called hallmarks. The hallmarks indicated the ring was made in Birmingham, England, explained Newman, and correspond with three years: 1849, 1856, and 1882. 

"The anchor means it was made in Birmingham, England, the A means 1849, the lower case h means 1882, the upper case H is 1856," he said. 

In his 8-year metal detecting career, Newman said he's found many historic treasures while armed with one among his six different metal detectors -- three for land and three for sea -- including a George Washington inaugural button valued at $2,000.

On principal, Newman said he tries to reunite historic pieces with their owners' descendants. 

He knew that a ring wouldn't normally be inscribed with three dates, and that they had to have some personal significance to the owner. Newman began cross-referencing the three dates with marriage and birth records on a genealogy website and found two corresponding wedding dates and a birth date for a family based in Northport in the mid 1800s.

He hypothesizes that the dates most likely mark two marriages in the life of Joseph C. Lewis, born 1856 in Northport, and who later moved to Quimby, Virginia. He died in Quimby in 1914. You can see the genealogy listings here.

Newman said he'd like to locate a direct descendent of the Lewis family and ask them to donate the ring to the Northport Historical Society.  

"I want to see the family get it and be able to see it," he said, "It had gone through two generations and was lost forever until a couple weeks ago."