A Journey through New England's History

A few years ago I had an opportunity to serve a mission through my church in the New England area. I was there for a year and a half and while I was there I truly grew fond of the people and the community. Upon arriving home my paternal grandfather informed me that he found a collection of postcards that were sent to my great-great-grandfather from some of his family members all over New England and whenever they would travel. My grandpa organized them into two full 3-inch binders and gave them to me as a gift. He wanted to keep them in the family and I wanted to see all of the history that was contained in these postcards. It has been so fascinating to look through them all so far and find connections between the writers and receivers and simply see the beauty in the old art.

This one is a beautiful picture of the
small town of St. Johnsbury, VT. Written
on the postcard is one sentence that says:
"Are you lonesome without your hubby?"

Although this has been fun to look through them, my husband and I agreed that they wouldn't do much good to anyone if we just let them collect dust in storage. So, I decided to work on scanning each one into the system (both front and back) so that people can enjoy the old beauty of these postcard paintings and photographs. I also feel like introducing them to the internet can help in someone's pursuit of researching their family history. Although this did belong to my great-great-grandfather by law, I was not actually blood related to him.
My great grandmother Hilda was born to loving parents of four other children older than her. Sadly, her mother died only days after giving birth to her due to complications. This all occurred in the early 1900s, which meant Hilda needed a mother to feed and take care of her during these first few months of life. Hilda's father, felt it would be best to give her up for adoption to the Marks Family. They took her in and after a few months of caring for her they officially adopted her and she was raised as a Marks for the rest of her life.
To separate her from our blood line even more, she married my grandpa's step-father after his mother had died soon after giving birth to my grandpa's youngest sibling. My grandfather's father had died nearly exactly after he had been born. So he knew Hilda and his step-father as his parents for the majority of his life.
Now, back to the present time, these postcards have been saved by Hilda after her adoptive parents passed away. Following her death, my grandfather organized her collection and then gave them to me as I have a personal connection to the New England area. Long story short, these cards have gone through quite the journey!

A picture turned into a postcard that features Company E of
the 1st Regimen in the Vermont National Guard of 1907.