For this weeks Sepia Saturday foursome, I put together 4 postcards that my grandfather sent my grandmother that I am not able to fit into my A-Z Challenge format. They were all sent by him the summer he worked on the steamer Eastern States between Detroit and Buffalo. I wonder what he meant when he wrote that he sent her a song on two of the cards. The messages match the pictures in the same space – top left, bottom right etc.
Top left.
Buffalo – 7/28/’09
Dear Pearl – I see that a new danger has arisen about which I must warn you – beware of the waves as well as of snakes and ___. I guess you remember my advice. A.B.C.
Top right.
Aug 21 – ’09
I mail you a “song” I heard yesterday & liked. Don’t laugh at my taste, the sentiment is what appealed to me. A.B.C.
Lower left
Buffalo – 7-20-’09
Dear Pearl – I was disappointed yesterday and today in Buffalo in not getting a letter – “If a body write a body and get no reply, is it wrong for a body to write a body and ask the reason – Why? Albert
Lower right
Detroit
Sept 3 – 09
Hope you will like the accompanying music. I do. Your letter and the P___ will be mailed to you Sunday. Albert
I wonder what the “danger” was? Those gaudy artificially coloured night-time postcards of holiday attractions were popular in England at around that time too. I’ve seen quite a few of seaside locations such as Blackpool. Nice postcards, thanks.
By the way, Kristin, you’ll need to redo the Linky thing on SS, as yours isn’t working.
Regards, Brett
I just fixed it. Thanks! The danger was that she was visiting her sisters and all those young men were coming around and she needed to watch out for them. He made this clear in a letter. Also, she was going into Lake Michigan and he was warning her about the waves.
No idea what he meant by the song thing! Maybe it would make more sense if you knew all the music of the day?
That is a rather nice collection – and what seems like an interesting story half told (half told stories are always the best).
Kristin, you link from the Sepia Saturday Blog seems to be broken – do you want me to repair it? Alan
I fixed it! Could you remove the first link that links back to Sepia Saturday for me?
The “if a body [something] a body” thing was a sort of humor catchphrase of the era, from parodies of the Robert Burns poem “Coming through the rye”.
I recognized it. “Coming through the rye” was song I wanted to learn to play on the piano but never did.
I recognized “If a body meet a body coming through the rye” too but the rest is too cryptic, I guess. All I could think of was “Bridge Over Troubled Water” but that song is more recent than the postcards. HA!
You just have to squash the rest into “comin’ through the rye.”
Having post cards like that just add so much to a family story, but I can’t help with the song either, how tantalizing.
It really does.
So the “snakes” in the postcard message are really all those men hanging around? These are wonderful cards, Kristin…
Yes, that’s right snakes = men hanging around.
A fun post! “If a body write a body–” brought back memories of when my husband & I were little more than pen-pals, both seniors in our respective high schools 400 miles apart after a short summer romance, & I failed to answer a letter of his for 3 weeks. He wasn’t happy about that & the pen-palship ended. It began again sometime later, but failed again. And again! So it’s rather remarkable we’re coming up on our 46th anniversary.
Guess you just weren’t a consistent writer in those days 🙂
Waves and snakes oh my! After reading these sweet postcards from your grandfather to your grandmother, I believe he was a romantic at heart!
These are wonderful postcards!
I want to let you know that your blog post is listed in today’s Fab Finds post at http://janasgenealogyandfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2014/04/follow-friday-fab-finds-for-april-11.html
Have a wonderful weekend!
Thanks Jana! You have a wonderful weekend too.
I love these postcards! Like it was said above, they really do add to the family story.
These are quite a treasure to have, a record of a relationship on a postcard. In 1909 it was a novel and dependable way to stay connected. Today’s cellphones and text messages are not the same, and no one will save them for 100 years.
There are letters too. Sometimes a postcard and a letter in the same day.
I think the postcards and the messages are very sweet and romantic. Your’e lucky to have them.
I wonder if you have her side of the correspondence.
I really love the Robbie burns allusion with the If a body ….. So what was the song that he referred to. Could it have been Coming through the Rye ?
I hate to admit my naivety but as an Aussie, I don’t know much about American geography. I looked up Lake Michigan at the warning about waves surprised me. A warning about waves is normally reserved for the ocean in Australia. WOW! That is one big lake!
Good Luck with the A-Z challenge. I decided not to participate as work is just too busy and I cannot commit.
Yes it is.The great lakes are like internal little oceans.
Great scanning job! Another bit of history preserved. Well done you. They didn’t have 45RPMs then did they? So I wonder what he meant? Maybe he just meant that he hummed a song in his head and sent it by mental telepathy….????
No they didn’t even have 78s. I’m thinking he sent it by mental telepathy 😀
It is great that those postcards were saved in your family. They are an interesting part of your family history, but they probably wouldn’t mean much or appeal to other people.
Gasp! So you mean you aren’t enjoying them?