Tag: postcard

Another edition in the Maher Postcard set (click the tag above to see all the Maher Postcard posts).  This one is a postcard featuring an image of the River Slaney at Killurin, Co. Wexford in Ireland.  I did a quick image search and while I found views of this bridge from the same time period that are similar, I didn’t find this exact same card.

The back says, “Best Wishes from Mary McDonald,” and is addressed to Mrs. Bernard Maher.  The postmark is from Lackawanna, NY, dated April 24, 1912, with a one cent Ben Franklin stamp.  There’s a mark next to the stamp that says, “Printed in Germany” and printing on the other side of the card that says, “Lawrence, Publisher, Dublin.”  I’m not sure who Mary McDonald was since I don’t see her in the family tree and the majority of Bernard and his wife’s family were in Pennsylvania.  I’d guess Mary McDonald was a local friend who traveled and then sent the postcard locally instead of from abroad.

The front of this postcard shows the Windber High School in Windber, Pennsylvania. I wasn’t able to find a similar postcard online, so this is definitely worth posting here!  I couldn’t find out much about this building, and it probably doesn’t exist anymore.  A new high school was apparently built in 1924 and that has since been demolished as well, so, it’s probably safe to assume this isn’t standing.

The back has an errant “1909” from a possibly misplaced postmark, the stamp is missing, and it’s pretty hard to read.  Identifying marks are that it’s published by Chas. George & Co., in Windber, PA, printed in Germany by “SL & CO,” and has “E 10664” as an identifying number.  It’s addressed to Mr. Bernard Maher at an unreadable address in West Seneca, New York.  Even after running some Photoshop filters, I still find the message VERY hard to read.  Best guess on the message:
“Hello Bernard, How is all the family.  I am in Windber two weeks today and will not get home before next Saturday. [illegible section] From Mother.”
When I say that was hard to read, it wasn’t the handwriting, but the thoroughly degraded pencil on paper.  I mean, for over 100 years old, stuffed in a box in unknown conditions, it’s pretty impressive it’s even here.  At least we know it’s from his mother, Catherine Garrity and I can tell from the 1905 NY census that they were living in West Seneca New York, and it looks like it’s 613 Second St per the census which is why the street line in the address might be crossed out.

Another Maher Postcard to share!  This one has “A Merry Christmas” greeting printed in gold.  The scene shows a snowy house with a mill building and water wheel.  The scene is surrounded by green holly and red berries and some decorative gold accents.

How about that back though?!  Nearly unreadable without some Photoshop magic/filters.  The postmark appears to be December 20 and it’s either 1913 or 1918, though given the span of most of these postcards, I’m going to say it’s probably 1913.  This is again addressed to Lee Maher though at a new address in Pennsylvania instead of in Buffalo, New York which appears to be 170 Promenade ave, Crafton, Pennsylvania.  There are no real identifying marks on the back to indicate a publisher or printer, but I really like the font used for “Post Card” on the right side.  There’s also a George Washington one cent stamp still affixed.  The message:
“Hello Lee, How are you all.  What do you want Santa to bring you.  Hope you get lots of tinker.  From Aunt Nell.”
That last part, “lots of tinker” was really hard to read and I may be completely wrong on that.  It appears Tinker Toys came out in 1913-1914 which may put this postcard at the later date of 1918 instead, but it could’ve also been a slang term for toys?  I’m not really sure.  Aunt Nell is likely his father’s sister, Ellen.  Still not 100% sure about the message, but it’s still a great postcard.

Yet another postcard in this series of Maher postcards.  This one brings “Glad Easter Greetings” and has a design on the front featuring a fluffy yellow chick sitting in a hammock of pink flowers that’s held up by two pussy willow branches.  Clovers sprout up underneath the hammock and a city scene is in the far background.  On an image search, I did find an old ebay auction with the exact same postcard.

This postcard is addressed to Lee Maher, and is postmarked 4 April 1912.  Lee would’ve been 8 when he received this.  Here’s the message:
“Hello Lee, how are you.  Do you go to school.  Summer will soon be here then you can play ball.  Tell your mamma to write.  From Uncle James.”
Uncle James Maher on Lee’s father’s side would’ve only been born a year before Lee, so I guess it’s possible he wrote this, maybe with the assistance of an adult.  Not entirely sold on that being the case, but it’s possible!

Another in the set of Maher Postcards, this one has a design on the front featuring pink and red roses with gilded accents and a message that reads “A Happy Birthday” in red ink.  A delicately gilded heart that looks like a small mirror sits just left of center.

Addressed to Lee Maher, and missing a stamp, this postcard is from his aunt Stella, his mother’s sister.  The writer is wishing him a happy 6th birthday and since part of the cancellation stamp is unclear, that helps tremendously to show this was sent 27 December 1909 (Lee was born 27 December 1903).  Here’s the message:
“Hello Lee, So today you are 6 years old, soon to be a man.  What did Santa bring you for Christmas.  Goodbye, from your Aunt Stella.”
The only identifying marks on the back is that it’s Serie 1600b and printed in Germany.  A quick image search didn’t turn up any duplicates using those details.

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!

Timely, given the upcoming holiday!  I found an interesting set of postcards in my one grandmother’s box of correspondence which included this postcard.  It doesn’t appear to be sent by or received by anyone related to us, and while I did at one point connect to a living relative of the recipient, we weren’t able to figure out how on earth grandma came into possession of these postcards.  Patton, Pennsylvania isn’t far from where she lived, but the recipient was in Buffalo, New York, so it’s all a little confusing.  Either way, it’s an interesting postcard, over 100 years old.  The front has an image of a blue egg filled with pink flowers and two little yellow chicks, with gilded decoration on the egg and a message that says, “Easter Greetings.”

The back is postmarked Patton, PA, Feb 25, 1910 at 3am, and is sent to Master Lee Maher at 113 Aldrick Ave, Buffalo, NY.  Immediately, I hit the census records for 1910 since looking up an address should be pretty easy.  I did find a Lee Maher at 103 Aldrick Ave, living with his parents, Bernard and Hattie and younger brothers, James and William.

The message on the postcard says, “Hello Lee.  How are you and James and Baby.  When are you coming to Grandma’s, I would like to see you.  Is the Easter Bunnie coming to your house.  From Aunt Sara.”

The message lines up with the census record that shows a James and an 8 month old child (William) as of the census date in April, so that checks out pretty well!  Aunt Sara is probably Bernard’s sister Sara who was still living at home in Patton, PA on the 1910 census.  Lee appears to have passed away in 1966 in New Jersey (born 1903).

As far as the postcard itself, the only identifying marks on it are “Made in Germany” and “Serie 742” printed on the back, and in a quick search, I wasn’t able to turn up one exactly like it, though it’s definitely in the same style as postcards of the time.  You can see from the back of the postcard, it’s also a pretty heavily embossed design.