To: Mr. August Fry. From: Donna. 1924
Blakeslee Ohio
May 3, 1924
Dear Uncle Gust,
How are you and Aunt Tillie? I like school very good. I like my teacher very well. I was very sick yesterday. I thought I would not to get to my first communion.
So good bye.
From,
Donna
In the United States, the 20’s were a relatively prosperous time. World War I was over, our production was booming. Movie stars graced the silver screen, roads began to stretch across America, and shopping became an experience. On May 4, 1924, the Summer Olympics opened in Paris — a fun coincidence since the games have returned to Paris 100 years later.
At the time that Donna wrote her card to “Uncle Gust,” Calvin Coolidge was president, Adolf Hitler had begun his jail term for the Beer Hall Putsch (he would serve 9 months), and the Soviet Union was in the process of becoming recognized as a nation. Though things were looking bright, there were ominous signs on the horizon.
But, not for little Donna, eight years old and living in Blakeslee, Ohio. For her, the glittering lights and industry hadn’t reached Blakeslee, Ohio, a small village of primarily German and French immigrants in the Northwest corner of Ohio. Currently, it houses some 100 odd people. In 1924, it was much the same, though it grew because of the railroad that went through town.
There’s something perfectly sweet about this postcard. Here we have a young niece not far from her uncle (roughly ten miles), but still far enough that a postcard is warranted. Further more, she calls him “Uncle Gust” which is adorable. AND, she has an Aunt Tillie? Fantastic. This postcard holds all the innocence of childhood: school, sickness, fear of missing something important, stilted, yet careful writing. It conjures an image of a little girl sitting in her room carefully and dutifully writing out the postcard, perhaps with her tongue sticking out of her mouth, maybe by candlelight. Even in the 30’s most rural spaces had yet to be strung up with electricity.
I’ve also had quite a stroke of luck in researching our sender and recipient. I found August AND Tillie Fry (or at least their graves). According to find a grave, August was a veteran of World War I, and raised dairy cows on a farm in Montpellier, Ohio. In 1924, he was 35 years old and Tilli 34. According to their find a grave, the two were married in 1922 and went by “Gust and Tilli.” There are pictures on the website, and they look like a beautiful couple.
And I even found Donna! This is a first for me, as I’ve never been able to find everyone listed on a postcard, however after some digging through the family tree, I found our postcard writer. She was blood related to Tillie. Her mother, Viola Elizabeth Walley Wherle, was Tillie’s older sister. Donna was an only child, and raised on a farm in Blakeslee. Donna grew up to have two children and was beautiful. I’ve linked her information a few times, but if you are interested, you can do a deep dive on her family tree here.
It’s so rewarding when I’m able to find a bit of information about my senders. I feel so privileged to be the custodian of Donnas hopes, worries, and childish scrawl, and I know I will continue to think of her writing a postcard to her Uncle Gust and Aunt Tillie.
Front of Postcard. A beautiful watercolor.
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