“Each year holds special gifts in store

You would not want to miss one

My wish is  ‘Many Birthdays more.

And happiness on this one.’ “

This cute little card of Birthday Wishes used to have a gold ribbon (of which there was just a small piece left) hence the discoloration where the ribbon was….The card came with an insert on which the daughter wrote:   “Dear Mother:  This little card come to you on your birthday. We got home OK this eve and we all feel good. Paul & his girl are at the house.”
And on the inside of the card was written,  “Jean will come home next Wed. for a few days. Love from us all. Margaret.”

We find a Margaret H. Copeland (this makes sense after looking at the second card) on the 1930 Federal Census for Logansport, Indiana; married to Percy H. Copeland, both born about 1877; their son, Paul H. Copeland, born about 1907, is single; and daughter Ada, is born about 1916; all are born in Indiana. With the family are lodgers Ethel Richardson and Alice Shorter. This is a good possibility for the correct family. Shoring up the odds we see that the 1920 census for Jackson Township, Indiana, shows all the same family members with the addition of daughter, Jean, born in Indiana, about 1909.

An index of Paul H. Copeland’s marriage record was then found. He married Alice M. Tucker on August 8, 1931 in Cass County, Indiana. This record shows his parents Percy H. Copeland and Margaret Hester. So, it looks like Margaret used the initial of her maiden name as her middle initial, after she married, which was a very common thing to do at this time. (We see Ancestry trees with Margaret’s middle name as Pearl.) We could estimate then that these two birthday cards were from about 1926 – 1931. From here we found Margaret’s parents Barbara Ann Loop and James William Hester. Ancestry family trees have Barbara’s date of birth as January 29, 1855. If this date is correct, this means that these cards were sent in 1926, since Margaret put  “Thursday…Tomorrow is your birthday….”  on the second card (below) and the 1926 calendar shows that January 29th fell on a Friday.

Above is the second card, found along with the first. It has a name written in pencil on the front which is,  “Aunt Maggie Copeland.”  And this must be the sender who’s initials on this one are M.H.C. So, maybe Maggie’s niece wrote on the front later. In any case, the sender wrote:

“Thursday….Dear Mother:  Tomorrow is your birthday and I wish we might be together. This weather is terribly cold and I hope you are comfortable. We got more cole and can be nice and warm. If I send you some material & that wool do you feel like making a comfort for our little bed? I’ll send Pa a card soon as I find a good one. Love, M.H.C.”

Ha, it looks like Margaret is saying “we got more coke”  but I think she meant coal…..I especially love the design of this card. (For me those flowers have a “sixties look” to them. I’m thinking of an album cover with similar flowers but forget who the group was.) This second card has the artist’s initial’s  “E. N.”  with copyright.

Set of two birthday cards, circa 1929. Artist on the second card shows initials “E. N.”

Price:  $15.00      Size:  About 4 and 1/4 x 3 and 1/2.”

Sources:  Year: 1930; Census Place: Logansport, Cass, Indiana; Roll: 579; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 0017; Image: 805.0; FHL microfilm: 2340314. (Ancestry.com)

Year: 1920; Census Place: Jackson, Cass, Indiana; Roll: T625_426; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 50; Image: 113. (Ancestry.com)

Ancestry.com. Indiana, Select Marriages, 1780-1992

“United States Census, 1880,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MH94-G8Q : accessed 3 February 2015), William Hester, Howard, Howard, Indiana, United States; citing enumeration district 48, sheet 339B, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 0285; FHL microfilm 1,254,285.