To: Nellia Frey From: Lola Frey Circa 1910-1920
Hollo (sic) Nellia,
What are you doing now days. Answer soon.
From,
Lola Frey
From the “what are you doing now days” (without a question mark) to the childish script so lovingly labored over, childhood innocence spills out of this postcard. In fact, it’s what truly draws me to this particular card in my collection. I get this vivid image of a young girl writing at a small table, her tongue stuck out in concentration, her palms sweaty as she tries to perfect each swoop of the cursive lettering. Truly beautiful.
Unfortunately, there’s no postmark, so it’s hard to say when — or even where — the postcard is from. Based on the handwriting, my guess is that it lies somewhere between 1910 and 1920. However, without a stamp the only thing we know for certain is that it was after 1907 (the divided back strikes again!).
When setting out to research this card, I felt pretty positive I’d be able to find the sender or recipient. I had both names, a place, and some sort of family connection, so I really believed that I’d be able to go down a family line and find Nellia and Lola.
Oh, how naive I am.
Much to my chagrin, I couldn’t find Nellia or Lola at all. Even accounting for the fact that Nellia may be a pet name, and is more likely to be “Nellie” in the records. I immediately found a promising family, but there wasn’t a sister or cousin that I could trace to them. In that research, however, I did find a beautiful Nellie Frey Hagburg. Her photo is blurred, but she’s staring out of the frame with a slight smile on her face and has a Mona Lisa quality to her.
That Nellie is not our Nellia, but she died of consumption at 19, followed the next year by her mother. A pattern of loss that must have devastated the family.
As for Mapleton, it’s a small town located in the southern quadrant of Minnesota. As of 2020, the town only had 1,700 people, 3 full time police officers, and a volunteer fire department. I’m willing to bet that Nellia was of German decent, and was first generation in the midwest.
Without a postmark or stamp I have to wonder how Lola got her card to Nellia. I suspect they are cousins. Perhaps one brother was visiting the other and took the card. Perhaps Nellia and Lola were of the same age, and an older cousin was visiting Lola’s house and took the card. We can’t be sure of any of it. But, the card exists in the record as a memento to the love and innocence of childhood bonds.
Front of Postcard
Hipstory 