Category: <span>Genealogy</span>

Singer Advertisement

This was a unique one!  Tucked in with the other Maher Postcards was this cutout of a girl in a ruffly dress.  The back showed it was part of an advertisement for Singer Sewing Machines.  I poked around the internet and found a copy of the full card posted with a copyright date of 1902, and the store printed on the back indicates an address in Buffalo.  Sure enough, I found a newspaper ad for that exact store.

Not bad to put all the pieces together so easily!  I still have no idea why grandma had these postcards or why this advertisement was cut out and saved along with them, but it’s definitely interesting enough to share.

Baccalaureate Services 1949

As a follow-up to a prior post with the graduation program, it appears grandma also saved the program for her Baccalaureate Service.

Again, this was a folded program scanned flat, so the front of the program is the right side of the first scan, and the back in the left side of the first scan.  I didn’t have a Baccalaureate service when I graduated high school, but it seems to be a religious service for the graduates, celebrating their graduation from a secular, public school with a Christian service (I don’t get it either, it’s fine).  The text is transcribed below for search indexing purposes, and the pages are clickable to see a larger version.

Baccalaureate Services for The Class of 1949 of Coalport-Irvona Joint High School, Coalport, PA.
Sunday, May 22, 1949, 4:00 P.M.
Program
Processional – Mrs. Jean Salem
Invocation – Rev. U. J. Terry
Hymn – Fairest Lord Jesus – Audience
Scripture Reading – Rev. R. U. Jones
Prayer – Rev. R. U. Jones
Offertory – “Path of Prayer” – Class
Address – Rev. R. U. Jones
Hymn – Be Still My Soul – Audience
Benediction – Rev. U. J. Terry
Recessional – Mrs. Jean Salem
Fairest Lord Jesus
Fairest Lord Je-sus, ruler of all
Nature,
O Thou of God and man the Son,
Thee will I cherihs, Thee will I
Honor,
Thou, my soul’s glory, joy and crown.
Fair is the sunshine, Fairer still
the moonlight,
And all the twinkling star-ry host;
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines
purer,
Than all the angels heav’n can boast.
Be Still, My Soul
Be still, my soul: the Lord is on
thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief
or pain;
Leave to they God to order and pro-
vide;
In every change He faithful will
remain
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy
heavenly Friend,
Thro’ thorny ways leads to a joy-
ful end.  Amen

Coalport Irvona High School Commencement 1949

Just so you know, when you graduate, someone saves all of your commencement programs for someone else to find over half a century later.  This is the commencement program for one of my grandmothers’ graduations, so it’s neat to see her name printed in the program.  The scan is the program laid flat, and then scanned the front/back side and then the interior.  Click through to see any image full size – text inserted below mostly for search indexing purposes so that folks looking for their ancestors can find the data!

Commencement Exercises, Class of 1949, Coalport-Irvona High School, Monday, May 23, 1949, 8:00 P.M.
Class Roll
Betty Mae Beers
Robert Bell
Della Bloom
Blanche Bratton
Evelyn Brink *
Ida Dixon *
Joann Dixon
Barbara Hegarty *
LeRoy Kizina
Paulene McGarvey
Robert Morris
Connie Nelson *
Philip Plottel *
Madelyn Ponce
Kenneth Rydbom
Claire E. Spicher
Clarice Spicher
Ed. Traveny
* – Graduate With Honor
Class Officers
President – Le Roy Kizina
Vice President – Ida Dixon
Secretary – Claire E. Spicher
Treasurer – Connie Nelson
Class Motto – Honor Lies at Labor’s Gate
Class Color – Green and Gray
Class Advisor – Mr. Whittaker
Student Association Officers
President – Barbara Hegarty
Vice President – Ken Rydbom
Secretary – Germaine Flynn
Treasurer – Joann Dixon
Class Reporter – Ida Dixon
Council Representatives – Betty M. Beers, Bob Bell
Program
Processional – Mrs. Jean Salem
Invocation – Rev. H. R. Welliver
Piano Solo – Barbara Hegarty, Rachmaninof’s Prelude in C Minor
“Strive for a Star”
An original study by the honor students of the class of 1949
Star of Hope – Evelyn Brink
Star of Success – Phil Plottel
Star of Happiness – Connie Nelson
Vocal Duet – Clarice and Claire Spicher, Harbor Bell
Star of Peace – Ida Dixon
Star of Fulfillment – Barbara Hegarty
Vocal Solo – Ave Maria, Blanche Bratten
Presentation of the Class – George E. Fitch
Presentation of Diplomas – L. A. Lord, President, Board of Education
Musical Selection – Donna and Keith Bloom
Awards and Announcements – George E. Fitch
Choral Selection – Class of 1949
Benediction – Rev. H. R. Welliver
Recessional – Mrs. Jean Salem
Coalport-Irvona Joint High School Board of Education
L. A. Lord – President
Dr. C. L. Owens – Vice President
H. C. Newcomb – Secretary
D. S. Braucht, Fred A. Dubler, F. C. Andrew, John B. Holman, Dr. A. M. Gates, O. A. McGarvey, James Spade
Faculty
George E. Fitch – Supervising Principal
Hazel H. Fluke – Languages, Dramatics, Speech
Russell E. Whittaker – Commercial
Eugene M. Brady – Mathematics, Athletics
Mary E. Russell – Science, English, Dramatics
H. Richard Welliver – Social Studies, English, Library

Many Happy Returns of the Day – 1911

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!

Sunoco Nu-Blue Advertisement

Yet another random odd bit of history tucked into a box of grandma’s correspondence.  Not exactly sure why she saved this, but it’s advertising Sunoco’s gasoline product, “Nu-Blue” as “Quick Starting” and “A Hero Even Below Zero.”  The “Fill Up Today At …” line is blank – there should be a stamp showing the gas station’s name in that spot.  In the image, Donald Duck is dressed up in a hat, ear muffs, scarf, and mittens, holding a medal that says, “Quick Starting,” in front of a smiling, sunny gas pump.  Via some search results, Nu-Blue started to be manufactured in about 1937, and there are bunches of advertisements from the 1940s all the way through about 1963.  I find it pretty interesting to see a Disney character on an advertisement for gasoline though which is why I’m posting this here!

Dick Reed Political Advertisement – 1951

Tucked into a box of one of my grandmothers’ things, I found this political advertisement for Dick Reed from Houtzdale, PA, running for Register & Recorder in 1951 for Clearfield County, Pennsylvania.  This little slip of cardboard is advertising him for the primary election on Tuesday, July 24, 1951, an election that he won.  He was running on the primary against two others, George A. Lukehart, and Ralph J Smith.  Here’s a clipping from the newspaper, announcing his candidacy.

During the election on Tuesday, November 6, 1951, his name appears on the sample ballot printed in the newspaper, and the final, official count posted a few weeks later shows he won his election.

He served four terms as Register & Recorder for the county until he lost his election in 1967 to Louise Mahaffey.  Searching through Ancestry.com shows he passed away in October of 1986, and his full name was Richard George Reed (born 31 Oct 1904).  Dick Reed doesn’t appear to be related to any branch of my own family, but I found it interesting that this little piece of advertising was tucked away for over 70 years in a box of correspondence that grandma saved.