“May every hour that fleets away bring

Blessings bright with you to stay true

Blessings all your life to cheer, shield

You from harm, and protect you from fear, in

Sending the season’s Greetings I wish to tell

You dear, that I wish you a prosperous and a

Happy New Year”

The funny thing about this card is the way the poem is arranged. In reading the lines you can see that it wasn’t organized correctly for riming, and that might make you wonder a little about the process that took place in getting this particular postcard set up for production. Perhaps after deciding on the border and large M, they discovered that they didn’t have enough room to have the lines come out right. This kind of thing, and other things, like funny spellings of words and odd capitalizations, always add a little to the charm of these old postcards (in the opinion of this blog’s author.) Anyway, it’s a beautiful card and poem. The scroll work around the M and the border of bells are both great.

Addressed to:  “Mrs. C. E. McGown, #30 Williams Ave., East Lynn, Mass.” It looks like the card was signed “D. Mc.G.” (as in D. McGown) and then dated by whoever received it, as the date in the bottom left corner shows “Jan 1st – 1913.” The card is postmarked Dec. 29, 1912, Lynn, Mass, and the postmark also shows East Lynn Station.

Mrs. C. E. McGown is not showing up in records online. However, there is a Clara E. McGown born about 1887 in Massachusetts, at the address of 30 Williams Ave, on the 1900 Federal Census taken in Lynn, Mass. Clara is shown there as age 13, living with parents, Serimos and Lizzie R. McGown, and boarder, Thomas B. Stewart. And there is a marriage record dated March 31, 1907, for Clara E. McGown and Gerrish B. Wiggin. Clara’s parents are listed there as Cyrenus E. McGown and Lizzie R. Martin, and Gerrish’s parents are listed as James B. Wiggin and Frances M. Hazen. Perhaps the sender of these New Year greetings simply forgot to write Clara’s married name, or maybe they weren’t sure what it was. If so, this would account for the fact that Clara is addressed as “Mrs.” while still in her maiden name. Then if all of this is correct, we would assume that Clara and her husband Gerrish were either living with Clara’s parents at the time the card was sent, or the sender did not have the Gerrish address.

Divided back, used postcard. Postmarked December 29, 1912. Publisher unknown. Card is on somewhat heavier card stock.

Sources:  Year: 1900; Census Place: Lynn Ward 3, Essex, Massachusetts; Roll: 644; Page: 7B; Enumeration District: 0366; FHL microfilm: 1240644. Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.

Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Marriage Records, 1840-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. Massachusetts Vital Records, 1911–1915. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts.