Mr. Lewis Himes lived in Orestes, a small town in Madison County of central Indiana.
The town was founded when the railroad reached this agricultural area in 1876.
Today. Orestes remains an agricultural area, and the population is less than it was when Mr. Himes lived there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orestes,_Indiana
In May of 1910, Mr. Himes received a postcard from his grandson, Roy.
The postcard was mailed from Fort Wayne, the largest city in northeast Indiana and a center of heavy industry until the mid-20th century.
The first European settlement in this area was a French trading place and fort.
The indigenous peoples were caught in the struggle between France and Great Britain in the French and Indian War – and Fort Wayne was the scene of native uprisings after Britain assumed control of the territory.
Orestes is about 75 miles southwest of Fort Wayne.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Wayne,_Indiana
The face of the postcard contains a medallion drawing of a rural stream over which a large structure (perhaps a village church or a mill) looms.
Beneath the placid scene is a close-up view of flowers, and the printed messages, “Sincere Greeting” and “For a Happy Birthday”.
Some broken lines of a verse complete the design:
“May sweetest / pleasures your / heart delight,
To render / your Birthday / very bright”.
On the reverse, Roy greets, “Dear grandpa”.
Roy explains that “I thought I would send you a birthday card.”
After repeating a happy birthday wish, Roy adds the common plea for more correspondence, “Ans.”
In case grandpa has forgotten, Roy seems to have scribbled a street address -although I may be mistaken about this.
Mr. Himes preserved the postcard throughout his life.
One hopes that he and his grandson enjoyed many years of friendship and postcard correspondence.
RESEARCH NOTE
We can find ample records for Lewis R. Himes, Jr. who lived in Orestes, Indiana in 1910.
Unfortunately, not all the details of the postcard can be confirmed – so that the identity of the grandson (Roy, Ray, or Rory) is not clear.
Lewis R. Himes was born in Delaware County, Indiana in 1933.
He was the son of Lewis Himes (1799-1866) and Martha Dykes (1802-1853).
The parents were married in Virginia in 1827.
Lewis Jr. had four brothers and four sisters, although at least one sister (possibly three) died in childhood.
In September of 1855, Lewis Jr. married Frances Poff (1835-1900) in Howard County Indiana.
Lewis Jr. and Frances had a daughter and a son, but the son died in his 10th year, in 1870.
In 1878, Lewis Jr. and Frances adopted a boy, recently born in Wisconsin, who they named “Lewis Ellison Himes”.
That son, the third generation of “Lewis Himes” lived in Madison County, Indiana throughout his life.
In November of 1903, Lewis Ellison married Zora Frances Cooper (1888-1957) in Marion County, Indiana.
This couple had three sons and one daughter, all of whom lived to adulthood.
Thus, in 1910, “Grandpa” (Lewis Himes, Jr.) had two grandsons old enough to send a postcard.
https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/MZR8-7ZM/lewis-r-himes-jr-1833-1912
Alas, the grandchildren did not live in Fort Wayne, nor did their recorded names include a Roy, Ray, or Rory.
In any event, “Grandpa” died at his home in Orestes in 1912 – ten days before his 78th birthday.
The adopted son, Lewis Ellison Himes, died in 1962.
