I found a $20 desk at Goodwill - it was hiding a much more valuable secret in drawers

A DESK purchased at a local Goodwill held a secret from a family's past within its drawers.

Jenna Franzoy and her husband from Arizona normally purchase furniture to refurbish and sell. This time the pair came across a desk at a Mesa Goodwill, near Val Vista Drive and Southern Avenue, she told ABC15.

“It was an antique-looking desk, it had all these cool-looking drawers,” said Franzoy.

After seeing a crowd form around the desk, Franzoy changed her mind about buying it and handed over $20.

She did her normal refurbishing process including painting and sanding the desk, but decided to keep the piece for herself this time instead of selling.

After moving the desk, two compartments filled with letters, poems, and documents fell out.

“Who knows how long it's been in there,” Franzoy said to ABC15.

The letters were addressed to a woman named Martha McCollough and Franzoy said they were dated to be over a century old.

“I took a closer look and realized there was a lot of sentimental value, and I came to know about this woman named Martha,” Franzoy said.

She then started a mission to find out exactly who this woman was, starting with going back to Goodwill, which ended up not knowing who donated the desk.

Franzoy then went to a Facebook group, not expecting to find anyone who knew the mysterious Martha.

But with the help of the group she was connected to Shirly McCollough, now a married Shirly Knight, who said Martha was her grandmother.

After the two of them met up, Knight said her grandmother passed away 40 years ago and the documents date back to when she would have been a young adult.

She was able to see old photos of her father of the old farm that her family was raised on for generations.

“My grandmother and her husband farmed in Gilbert,” Knight said. “She lived there most of her life. My father was born there on the farm, and I was raised also on the farm.”

Knight added that these pieces of history were probably hidden for years without knowing where exactly they were and she's looking forward to taking them home to her family.

Although Franzoy did offer the desk to Knight, she refused to take it.