Easter Greetings from - Elton?!

No, not Elton John. More than a century ago, "Master Wallace Wood" in Cleveland, Ohio received this penny postcard from his relative "Elton" in Toledo, Ohio.

"Master Wallace" was an inaccurate but common misspelling of my husband's uncle Wallis Walter Wood (1905-1957). The correct spelling is in pencil, below the greeting from "Elton," the sender.

Which Elton in the Wood Family?

Originally, when I saw this, I thought the sender might be Marion Elton Wood (1867-1947). He was an uncle. A few of the Wood aunts and uncles wrote to their nephew, I know from reading all those post cards.

But rereading recently, it dawned on me that this had to be a young person writing, the way Wood first cousins were encouraged (possibly strongly encouraged, as in "you will do this") to send postcards to each other for holidays and birthdays.

The handwriting doesn't look like that of a very young person, but probably a teen. So the sender was, I now realize, almost certainly Charles Francis Elton Wood (1891-1951), the son of Marion Elton Wood in Toledo, Ohio.

About the Younger Elton

The younger Elton and Wallis Walter Wood were first cousins. They each had many first cousins because their fathers were among 17 siblings. Imagine a lot of penny postal greetings flying through the mails between all these cousins!

The younger Elton went by the name "Elton" in the 1910 US Census, where he is shown as as "Elton C.F. Wood." His parents, Marion Elton Wood and Minnie C. Miller, told the Census they had had 2 children in all but only 1 was now living--the younger Elton.

By 1918, when the younger Elton filled out his WWI draft registration card, he was a farmer living in Lenawee, Michigan, with a wife and child. By 1920, when the US Census was taken, "C. Elton Wood" and his growing family were living back in Toledo, where he was a "city salesman" for a bakery. His occupation was still "salesman" in the 1928 Toledo city directory and the 1930 US Census (where he was "Elton C.F. Wood.")

By 1940, the younger Elton is listed as "Charles F. Wood" and his occupation in the Census is "shipping foreman." His WWII draft registration card shows him working for a bakery. His name is now listed as "Charles Francis Elton Wood."

Unfortunately, Elton died in a car accident 1951. His death cert calls him "Charles Francis Elton Wood" but his obit in the Toledo Blade newspaper calls him "Wood, Elton."

The name "Elton" did live on in, as the middle name of one the younger Elton's grandsons.