To: Miss Tillie Seedorf. From: Stella Ford. 1907
Dear Friend.
I received your postal O.K. It was very pretty.
Yours truly,
Stella Ford
As you know, 1907 and 1908 are some of my favorite years to collect postcards. I’m particularly drawn to period in history that are transition years — where rules are not yet fully written on how to deal with a changing landscape. It’s small, but the switch from un-divided back postcards to divided-back postcards feels like a space where rules aren’t quite clear yet. This particular card notes that if it’s to be sent abroad, it can only be used as the address to the sender. Even though a place like England got rid of the divided back earlier than the United States.
The theme for this week seems to be “young friends,” which I’m perfectly content with. I think so many of us forget that young children and teens have ALWAYS been young children and teens throughout history. Their brains developed roughly the same as ours (not accounting for environment). They struggled with adults and loved their friends, even when those friends were far away.
In something that’s close to a miracle, I’m pretty sure I found both girls, though I’m a little dicey on Tillie. I don’t have a lot of information for either of them, though. It’s one of those situations where the trail runs cold because I won’t pay my way past an information wall. But, allow me to introduce them to you.
Stella Ford was born on June 10, 1892, the third child of four children born to Benjamin Ford and Hulda Wells. When she sent her postcard, she would have been 15 years old. In 1916, she married Charles Kinney. I don’t have record of children between the two, so I’m unsure if the record is true, or if the children simply aren’t attached.
Tillie was a bit of a more difficult find. There were Seedorf’s living in Kanakee in 1907 and beyond, and I had to do some family tree digging. However, I finally found (what I think is) a match.
Mathilda S. Seedorf was born on March 25, 1885 to Friedrich Seedorf and Mary Mueller. She was the third child, but first daughter to the couple, and one of 8 children. She doesn’t appear to have married, and died relatively young: October of 1931 at the age of 46.
What’s interesting about her record, is that there’s a probate document attached. When her father died in 1920, she received an $8000 inheritance. The inheritance is one of those cold, black and white facts that carries a lot of weight. I can’t possibly know exactly what was going through her mind, but we can know that there was grief, possibly loneliness, and maybe even anger.
What is clear, however, is that Stella Ford and Tillie Seedorf cared for each other. This card is beautiful, with colors that are vibrant and descriptive over a hundred years later. I hope Tillie and Stella maintained a friendship for the rest of their lives.
“Strengthening rows prone from the mountain run. The flocks–their fleeces glistening in the sun.”
Hipstory 