Happy New Year 1911 - and welcome back to Sweden!
From: Oscar (one of Gustaf's brothers back in Sweden)
Hjärtligt tack för presenten och bref idag. Skall snart skrifva bref. Roligt se du är kry, och dess bättre äro vi äfven alla krya nu. Kärt se att du tänker komma åter snart. Får nu tillönska ett lyckosamt godt nytt år. Hjärtliga hälsningar från oss alla! / Oscar
Linking to: Sepia Saturday 591
"... an unknown lady, striding purposely into the future. Little does she realise that there is a lawn roller coming up behind her ready to flatten all her dreams! Such is life."
(A. Burnett)
A short re-introduction of this blog for Sepia Saturday:
In the autumn of 1902, Gustaf (elder half-brother of my grandmother Sally) emigrated from Sweden to America. He spent most of his eight years there working at a lumber yard in Galeton, Pennsylvania. His sister Gerda emigrated at or around the same time, and worked as a maid at various addresses in Chicago. She too returned to Sweden in 1911. (Whether brother and sister actually also travelled together across the Atlantic, I've not yet managed to establish.)
In Gustaf's old postcard album, I'm now reaching the end of their America years. I'm still only half way through the postcard album, though. New adventures are awaiting - especially for Gerda. For example, when returning to Sweden in 1911, she would hardly have foreseen that in 1914, she would find herself stuck in France as WWI broke out...
Your collection of family correspondence is a wonderful treasure. It's amazing how the postal services in this era could connect people for just a few pennies. I've seen so many postcards of this time that thanked someone for their letter that it seems like a postcard was used as a backup to assure the sender that their message got through.
ReplyDeleteSince I am often looking for postcards to add to my musical collection, I've learned to check the card's address on dealer's listings and often I'm rewarded by finding a set of several postcards connecting two people or families. Lately I've been searching for photo cards from WW1 French soldiers in a German POW camp and have acquired several series of postcards, each set sent by a different soldier. When you have more than one card it begins to tell a better story.
Yes, I sometimes get the impression that postcards in those days were used almost like we use text messages these days :) Between Gerda in Chicago and Gustaf in Galeton, cards seem rarely to have taken more than one day to travel.
DeleteWhen I get round to WW1, there will be postcards from France showing British camps, cannons, soldiers and whatnot. Besides some such cards sent from Gerda to Gustaf, I also have some unwritten ones collected by Gerda.
How amazing to have the postcard albums with correspondence among your relatives. And what a great vehicle for exploring your family history. I have only a few postcards among ancestors and treasure them.
ReplyDeleteMolly, I found these cards as well as a lot of old photos, and also some notes from my father and grandfather about family history, when going through things in my parents' house after they died, around a decade ago. Sorting it all out is a huge challenge (and a job that will probably never get "finished") but I have found periodical blogging about "one thing at a time" helpful. :)
DeleteYou are so right - postcards are a wonderful family legacy. I am lucky to have a number sent by my grandfather back from Flanders to his family back home, and they mean a lot to me.
ReplyDelete