Postcards From The Past
For example, Emily Rule, Tennessee, had been looking for clues in two scrapbooks full of early 19th century postcards that belonged to her great grandmother and great grandfather. To her amazement she has found out much she didn't know about her family and her roots.
Emily is now using postcards to locate descendants of her great grandmothers who married and settled in Virginia before 1893. "From the postcards relatives sent her great grandparents we know where her family was before marriage and other little details about their life at that time," she says.
Another favorite motif for postcards was transportation, which includes ship advertising, railroad stations and trains. Some collectors look specifically for postcards of the ships that brought their ancestors to America or other parts of the world. American Line, Anchor Line, Cunard, Hamburg-Amerika, Holland-America, Norddeutscher Lloyd, Red Star, White Star and many other smaller lines issued advertising cards that featured views of their ships accompanied by some size and tonnage facts.
It is fun to trace the footsteps of your ancestors from different shores. Railroad depot postcards were very popular and still are today. It would be fantastic to find a real photo card of your ancestors standing in front of an old depot. All the different trains throughout history and how they were used to transport people and goods in the early years are very collectible as well.
Town and city views, another popular postcard subject, show courthouses, schools, streets and post offices. They're available for many localities worldwide, and can be a way of connecting with your ancestors even if they didn't send the postcards themselves. People have researched and found churches where ancestors have married, schools they attended and places they visited. These items are priceless!
It is amazing to see how many photo cards were developed from your own hometown even showing individual streets. You can buy them fairly cheaply too. Most are from shortly after the turn of the century, following the 1900 introduction of "Real Photo Cards".
Similarly, roadside cards depicted restaurants, petrol stations, hotels and motels and shops. Perhaps your ancestors frequented a particular eatery or stayed at a certain hotel during their travels.
The ideas of how to trace your family using postcards from the past are endless and can be a great way to share your family history. Also, what a legacy to pass down to your children and grandchildren. These type of items are interesting even to people outside the family.
You will be quite surprised at the amount of information online, including postcards, concerning your family history. Small towns that your ancestors have come from, or cities around the world, are just a click away. You can use the hobby of collecting postcards from the past as a great way of finding out more about the history of your ancestors.
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