To: Mr. Warren Spitler From: Effye 1920
Am having the time of my life. Can you find me on the beach? Come down, the water is fine. All well and able to sit up an take notice.
Effye.
The 1920 census was the first census to record a population of over 100 million in the United States. 192o was the ACLU was founded, and Congress decided not to join the League of Nations. By August 26, the 19th Amendment of the Constitution was passed, granting women the right to vote. Racial tensions, however, ran high in the nation. Lynchings occurred in throughout the year in both the North and the South. The Roaring Twenties had truly begun.
If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you may recognize this card. This is one of the first cards I posted, and I didn’t research it. Since I had a bit of a late day at work, I decided to revisit the card and do a little bit of research. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find anything — as you know that’s how the jelly rolls sometimes, but I like the art on this card. I think it’s beautiful and I love the beach scene. So, I figured I’d give it a go.
Imagine my surprise when I easily found a Warren Spitler in the family search records. Even stranger, Warren was born on September 18, 1884. The post date of this blog will be the anniversary of his 140th birthday! I’m a bit of a superstitious gal, and I can’t help but think Warren may have had something to do with the timing. Let’s get into it.
As I said, Warren was born on September 18, 1884 in Augusta, Virginia. There’s no (accessible) information on him until the 1930 census, which places him in Covington. He was 45, and living with his brother and his brother’s family. He’d remain there in the 1940 census as well. Both the census records and Find a Grave indicate that he was a salesman in a department store, though was type I don’t know.
It seems that Warren never married, so I wondered who Effye may have been and what relationship the two of them had. I thought perhaps a sister, though there was none that stood out as having the nickname Effye. There is an Abbie, so maybe that’s it? The handwriting also seems a bit childish to me, so I thought niece perhaps? But, searching through the family tree I can’t find many of his siblings who married. If you note the grave, Warren is buried next to his brother Clarence, also unmarried. I didn’t go deep into the family tree, but there weren’t many nieces or nephews to be found.
So, who is Effye? Is it a nickname for a sister or a niece? Is it a friend of Warren’s, or perhaps even a cousin? There’s a few cousins that could fit the bill, but again I came up short. Still, I hope that Warren found time to “sit up and take notice” on the beautiful beach with the people he loved.
Happy birthday Mr. Warren Spitler!
Front of Postcard, 1920
Hipstory 