Black Cat, Hat, Jack O'Lantern, and a Broom, 1913

 

On Oct 28, 1913, Rachel Ellen "Nellie" Wood Lewis Kirby (1864-1954) mailed this Halloween postcard from her home in Chicago, Illinois to her 8-year-old nephew in East Cleveland, Ohio.

By this point in her life, Nellie had experienced many losses. Her first child (Nellie Lucy Blossom Lewis) sadly lived only two months, passing away in December of 1895. Earlier in that same year, her older brother Alfred Olando Wood died (1855-1895) and her younger brother Charles Augustus Wood died (1862-1895). Just two years later, she lost her husband, Walter Alfred Lewis Sr. (1860-1897).

Nellie remarried in 1907, to Samuel Arthur Kirby (1860-1939), and they soon moved to Chicago. Not too long afterward, she began sending holiday and birthday postcards to her Wood nephew in Cleveland, often signing "Aunt Nellie & Uncle Art." 

Unfortunately, Nellie's son Walter A. Lewis Jr. died in 1915, just shy of his 27th birthday. We have no postcards from Nellie after that date--either the cards didn't survive, or Nellie didn't send more. But her nephew treasured the cards from this favorite aunt, and the cards remain in the family to this day, shared among descendants.

The Penny Postcard Craze and Family History

Early in the 20th century, my husband's Wood family stayed in touch frequently via colorful penny postal greetings. 

Any holiday or celebration was a great reason to write to a young relative.

Not just on birthdays but also for Abraham Lincoln's birthday and July 4th and everything in between!

Penny postcard craze

The Wood family was completely caught up in the postcard craze of that era. 

It really took off when the price of mailing a postcard was lowered from two cents to one cent. 

At the time, the highest quality postcards were printed in Germany and shipped across the Atlantic. Most of the postcards sent by Wood ancestors in Ohio and beyond were, in fact, made in Germany. 

Postcards as family history clues 

Wallis Wood (1905-1957), my hubby's uncle living in Cleveland, received dozens of birthday postcards during his preteen years. Happily, the family held onto these postcards over the years.

Thanks to the addresses and postmarks, I was able to track this Cleveland branch of the Wood family as they moved to different houses nearly every year from 1905 to 1917. 

Why? Because Wallis Wood's papa (James Edgar Wood, 1871-1939) was a home builder. 

James constructed a new house roughly every year, moved his family in as he finished the interior, and sold that home. Then he moved the family to another home being completed by his crew. 

James, his wife (Mary Slatter Wood, 1869-1925), and their four sons had lots of different addresses over the years. In between Census years and in between directory listings, the postcards showed me where they were living.

These are just three of the fun birthday postcards sent to Wallis before 1915.

This is my post for week #46 of Amy Johnson Crow's #52 Ancestors challenge.

Easter Postcards from Family History

In the early 1900s, my husband's Wood ancestors exchanged postal greeting cards to stay in touch across the miles. Aunts, uncles, cousins, and close friends wrote cards for birthdays, Easter, Christmas, New Year's, and other special events. 

The cards flew through the mail to and from Cleveland, Ohio plus Toledo, Ohio and Chicago, Illinois. Writing on the back helped me track movement of family members from one address to another, as well as giving clues to relationships, both in the family and in the FAN club (friends, associates, neighbors).

For Easter, let me share four of the still-colorful cards that have survived in great shape within the Wood family for more than a century!

New Years Greetings from the Past

Enjoy these colorful postal greetings sent by cousins and aunts/uncles to my husband's Wood family in Cleveland, Ohio, during the first two decades of the 20th century. 

May 2021 be a much better year for all!

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.

New Year's Greetings from 1913

"Dear Nephew, Don't forget in the coming year that Uncle and Aunt wish you all good cheer--live and grow strong--careful to do no wrong. - Art & Nellie"

This was the new year's wish for hubby's uncle Wally in Cleveland, OH from the aunt and uncle in Chicago who never missed an opportunity to stay in touch via penny postal greeting card. The card was sent during the last days of 1913.

As 2018 winds down and 2019 begins, I wish you all good cheer!

Happy New Year 2019

Sent in 1913 to a cousin in Cleveland, OH, the message on this nostalgic penny postcard was handwritten in cursive by the mother of the sender. The mother was Adelaide Mary Ann Slatter Baker (1868-1947) and the sender was her daughter, Edith Baker (1901-1989).

The recipient was Wallis W. Wood (1905-1957), Adelaide's nephew and Edith's first cousin on the Slatter side of the family. Wallis was my husband's uncle and we are so lucky to have been able to scan many of the colorful postcards he received from family during the early 1900s.

Happy new year 2019 to all!