Clearing out my Grandmother's house, I found an ancient postcard.

[Coventina]

It was sent to a "Maggie" from a "Nellie" on Jan 5th (no year given) mailed with a Half-Penny stamp to an address in Edinburgh.
(no country or postal code, but I found the address in Edinburgh, Scotland, where one branch of my family is from).

Of course, there was no return address, but the picture side of the postcard depicted the Clock Tower in Nelson.
(Again, no country given).

A phone call to my dad identified the two women: Aunt Meg and Aunt Nellie, two sisters of my Great Grandfather. Aunt Nellie died at the age of 27 in 1913.

Aunt Meg died in 1952 at the age of 77.

Nelson turns out to be Nelson, New Zealand. Nellie did some traveling in her short life. Had to have been by boat, of course. Quite the journey for the unmarried, single woman at that time!

How the postcard came into the possession of my grandmother is somewhat of a mystery. My Great-Grandfather died in 1927, so he would not have inherited Aunt Meg's things, as she outlived him.

Cool postcard, though. That thing has traveled from NZ. to Scotland, to the US!

[dawg day]

1. That's a pretty amazing find.

And you discovered your great-great aunt was quite an adventurer!

[panader0]

2. Good story. I love old family history.

We all have stories to tell.

[wnylib]

23. Yes we do. That's what got me hooked

on genealogy. I was trying to see whether some family stories were true. So I entered my gg-grandparents' names at Ancestry.com and found that a very distant, unknown to me relative had researched that family branch going back a few centuries. In the process I discovered several interesting stories about how and why they came to America and what they did when they got here. Reads like an American history book because that branch arrived in colonial times and lived through major colonial and later American events.

We all have ancestors who lived through "interresting times" or we would not be here now. The stories of where people were and how they lived during those times make history more personal and interesting than dry facts in history books.

[Coventina]

4. In this case, it prompted me to send an email to my relatives in Scotland about it.

Hopefully, we'll keep in better contact, now.

on edit: typo.

[yellowdogintexas]

11. frame it in one of those frames that is glass on both sides

so you can see the front and back of it.
I have a couple of old Silver Certificates that I framed that way. Worth nothing because they are well used but have very sentimental value.

[yellowdogintexas]

9. I have a friend who has a huge collection - his focus is Fort Worth

and surrounding area. His collection is pretty cool

[Skittles]

20. I have a book of about 90 postcards from 1923

it's a "Souvenir of India" my English grandfather picked up when he was there

will eventually donate it to someone interested in India / Pakistan history

[shanti]

6. Interesting!

How was the handwriting? I've found that there was a lot of beautiful cursive back in the day.

A stranger contacted me out of the blue and she had purchased a photo album from an auction house in Portland (OR) with pics of many family members from my dad's maternal line. She uploaded the pics for me and now I have one of my great grandfather, who I had never seen before, as well as my 2nd and 3rd great grandparents. It was so exciting!

[Coventina]

8. I knew it was old the instant I saw the handwriting.

It was in a style of cursive that looks nothing like what was taught in the 20th century in America.

Also, the ink was quite thick, probably a fountain pen, obviously pre-ball point pens.



That's a super cool story about your family photo album!!

[safeinOhio]

7. I have a large # of cards.

A trunk full. To me they an early form of texting. A few lines about where you are who you are with.

[cwydro]

10. Post a pic for us!

Love old postcards!

[bobbieinok]

12. When I was in jr, sr high, dad joked about sending old post cards to friends in college

Years later when I got interested in genealogy I realized these were probably saved by older people---early day photos of IA

Dad's mom was born in IA and when a little kid she traveled with her parents to homestead northwest NE. Her father fought in Civil War from IA.

She and 2nd husband and parents moved to OK in 06. There was lots of contact between them and her maternal and paternal relatives who remained in IA.

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. Just checking - are you sure it's the clock tower of Nelson in New Zealand?

Because the Nelson in Lancashire, England, had a clock tower built in 1913:



https://wanderersintimeandplace.wordpress.com/2017/03/31/nelson-lancashire-england/

It's just that a half-penny stamp is cheap; I'd be surprised at a postcard being able to make it halfway round the world with that. I think the postcard must have been posted in Britain (though it would be possible for Nellie to bring cards back with her, of course).

[Coventina]

15. You could be right. I assumed Nelson, NZ just based on Nellie's reputation.

However, by 1913 Nellie had stopped traveling and was bedridden with TB in Phoenix, AZ. (And died that year).

I was really surprised that you could mail something for Ha'penny and have it shipped around the world.

Who knows? Maybe it was Nelson OK (I haven't looked to see if there is a Nelson, OK)

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. Well, a ha'penny turns out to be not far out - a penny for a postcard from NZ to UK

according to this:

J.G. Ward, the NZ Postmaster General, announced the beginning of Universal Penny Postage in NZ 1 January 1901. The rate for a postcard �inland� was half a penny, and one penny for overseas. These rates lasted a long time, until 1918.

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~nzlscant/postcards.htm

But her being in Phoenix by 1913 does rule out that tower in Nelson, Lancashire. I'd still think the very cheap ha'penny indicates it being posted in the UK (then including Ireland), whatever year it was.

[Coventina]

19. Yeah, sadly she didn't date it, and the postmark says Jan 5 but doesn't give the year.

Thanks for the info!!

Very interesting!!!

[sinkingfeeling]

14. Neat. I have several from late 1890s to 1900s, but all are USA stamped.

[MontanaMama]

16. I collect vintage Halloween postcards.

Only Halloween cards and I like them 1950 or older. They’re pretty tough to come by in good shape anyway. I’ve never spent less than $5-$10...and usually $25-$40.

[kimbutgar]

17. I have this job ( that is gone for now) that we move and clear out seniors homes when they move to

To Assisted living. My last job was for a lady who was 100 ( she was still pretty sharp also) who lived in an apartment for 79 years. I found so many postcards from her days there and stuff she had from her family. It was so fascinating to see how people lived so many years ago.

[klook]

21. Pretty neat.

In a century, I wonder how many old hand-written letters and post cards there will be? I treasure the ones I have saved from my parents, children, aunts and uncles, siblings, and friends. My mother wrote with a beautiful, flowing script that came naturally to her, while one of my grandfathers' handwriting betrays his angina.

A beloved uncle who died tragically young wrote me letters and cards that treated me like an equal when I was a pre-schooler. A dear friend felled by cancer a couple of years ago was a prolific letter writer and hilarious amateur cartoonist. I have notes and letters from him dating back to our high school years. I own no more precious possessions.

[brush]

22. Unfortunately most records of present-day communication will be lost unless servers remain and still

be powered to hold 100-year-old texts, tweets, emails etc. Not many still write letters, even post cards.

Birthday, Christmas, anniversary cards and such yes.

[klook]

25. Yeah, I remember a cartoon about modern legacies...

the caption said, “Son, I want you to have my book and music collection.” The picture was just a hand extending a thumb drive.

Gave me pause.

[wnylib]

24. I was going through my mother's things

when she died and found an unusual post card from her aunt, sent when the aunt was in a TB sanitarium. It's leather, and has a profile of the aunt burned into it, like a cameo. I looked it up and found that they were a fad from 1903 to 1907. Then the Post Office banned them because they got stuck in their sorting machines and the stamps fell off of them too easily.

On Edit: The card was not sent to my mother,who was born 25 years after the cards were banned.

[LeftInTX]

26. I inherited a bunch of postcards and photos after my dad died

Most of them are from the Middle East. It's pictures of people, not scenery.
I have no idea what any of it says. The writing is in Armenian.