This is another in the series of “Maher Postcards” that are explained in this post. The front of this card shows purple irises surrounding a birthday message, transcribed below.
Many Happy Returns of the Day
May your days from now be brighter
May your load grow ever lighter
May this birthday be the first of days
When ill luck flies away, and good luck stays.
The card is addressed to Mrs. Bernard Maher, the former Miss Hattie Braniff, born 28 May 1886 in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. The sender is Catherine Maher, her mother-in-law, who wrote out the address putting little hearts at the front of each letter in her name and in “Buffalo” and “NY” which is just too charming. The postmark date is 26 May 1911, so it likely arrived on Hattie’s 25th birthday which is fantastic timing and close to this post date, albeit over a hundred years earlier. The one cent Benjamin Franklin stamp is still affixed. The message reads, “Hello Hattie, how are and all the rest. We are all well here at present, tell Bernard Aunt Annie Garrity is getting married to a Bernard Duigon of Hastings. Wishing you a happy birthday.”
The Annie Garrity mentioned in the message is Annie McCann (1865-1936) who married Catherine’s brother, William. William passed away in 1904, so the news being passed on is that Annie, Catherine’s sister-in-law, is marrying a second time. It’s great that she was able to slip in a little bit of family news along with the birthday greetings as it helps to cement exactly who we’re talking about here!