This is the last of the Maher Postcards! This final one, scheduled for the holiday, features “Easter Greetings” with a center image of two yellow chicks hatching out of white eggs, surrounded by pussy willow branches and some sort of pink and white floral garland. The corners are a little torn, and the image is heavily embossed as can be seen on the back side.
The back features a green George Washington one cent stamp with a postmark date of 7 April 1911, sent from Patton, Pennsylvania. The addressee is Master James Maher at 113 Aldrick St, Buffalo, NY, who would’ve been about 6 years old at the time. The message reads, “Hello James, How are you? Anyway I would love to see you and baby brother. We get very lone[some?] for you all. What is the …” and the rest is illegible or missing from the tear on the postcard, but I suspect it asks, “What is the Bunnie going to bring you?” It’s signed upside down at the top, “Love, Your Aunt Sara,” where Sara was likely the sister to James’ father, Bernard. Nice way to wrap up this series with a pretty little card!
Tag: postcard
Randolph Field, Texas
Just a quick one today. This postcard was sent by grandpa to grandma with a postmark date of 7 August 1941. They were still just dating at that point since it’s addressed to her maiden name. There’s a one cent George Washington Stamp on the back. Grandpa had joined the US Army Air Force (before the two were separate branches). The front of the card, at the bottom, states, “USA Formation, Randolph Field, Texas,” and shows what looks like 35 planes flying in a formation of the letters U, S, and A over the base administration building which was nicknamed the “Taj Mahal.” The planes look to be biplanes, and quite possibly are the PT-13 which was the Air Corps primary trainer plane at the time. My grandpa wasn’t an aviator, but I believe he was doing basic training there. The return address states he was in the “Recruit Detachment.” Still a neat photo, and I love the cars on the ground too!
Valentine Greeting – c. 1910
In the ongoing publishing of these Maher Postcards, I think this should be the final card, and I saved it for this post, because, well, timing. There’s no date and it didn’t have a stamp or postmark so it was either hand delivered or put into a larger package delivered to Lee Maher whose name appears on the back. I’m guessing this falls in the same time frame as the others, so 1910 or so.
The back is really nice in comparison to other cards. It has a little leaf design and notes that it’s “Whitney Made, Worcester Mass.” The stamp square also says it’s once cent for domestic mail and two cents for foreign. It’s a shame that it’s a little beat up with part of the front design torn away over the years, but again, for over 100 years old, it could be worse!
Darling Baby Postcard – 1909
Yet another in the set of Maher Postcards! This features, “To Darling Baby” on the front with a heart made out of roses and clover surrounding the heart. It’s pretty heavily embossed.
The postmark stamp on the back is 9 September 1909. The only other identifying mark is “Printed in Germany” on the left side. The card was sent to William Maher at 113 Aldrich Ave in Buffalo, NY, in care of BA Maher (his father, Bernard). William appears to have been born on 17 August 1909, so he would’ve been only one month old at the time this was sent. The message reads, “Hello baby, wish I could see you. I hope mama & Brothers are well. From Aunt Nell.” Aunt Nell is likely Bernard’s sister Ellen. I’m still not sure how my grandma came into possession of these cards, but they’re such a neat capsule of communication to the family who left home in PA and went to Buffalo, NY.
Rivery Slaney at Killurin – 1912
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.
Windber High School Postcard
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.
A Merry Christmas – 1913
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.
RMS Canopic
A postcard of the RMS Canopic, probably from WWI during her service between 1917. On the back is written in my great grandma’s shaky handwriting from her later years, “Ship Earl was on in the Navy.” Seeing as Earl, her brother, was serving in WWI for the USA, I doubt he was stationed on this ship, but he may have traded postcards with someone or picked this up for his family back home, and Olga may have gotten it confused with a ship he actually served on as time passed. This website gives more detail about the ship and its time at sea, but it was scrapped in 1925. The “RMS” indicates at the time of printing, it was designated as a Royal Mail Ship. The back states it was published by C.W. Hunt & Co. in Liverpool, and a mark stating, “Printed in Britain,” is in the stamp corner.