Mrs. S.C. Wilcox lived with her daughter in Alfred, a town in Allegany County of south-central New York.
The first European settlers in this area were a group of Seventh-Day Baptists who who built log cabins and pole barns in the wilderness here in 1807.
The lack of roads and navigable rivers made logging possible, so the early settlers cultivated crops around the stumps of trees and planted orchards.
By the middle of the 19th century, clay deposits were discovered in the area and Alfred became the center of a terra cotta industry through the early 20th century.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred,_New_York
In October of 1920, Mrs. Wilcox and her daughter received a postcard from their son and brother – who is not named.
The postcard was mailed from Waverly, the largest village in Tioga County of New York’s “southern tier” of counties bordering Pennsylvania.
This site, near the confluence of the Chemung River and the Susquehanna River, was first known to Europeans by French explorers.
Mills were established on creeks and waterways in the area, but Waverly began to grow (and was incorporated) when the New York and Erie Railroad began to build a rail line eastward from Binghamton toward New York City in 1849.
Waverly is about 90 miles southeast of Alfred.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waverly,_Tioga_County,_New_York
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The face of the postcard is a drawing of a tree-lined street and the Waverly Baptist Church.
The postcard was published by H. F. Burnell of Waverly.
On the reverse, we learn many things about events in Waverly:
“Ethel got home tired yesterday, but seems some better today.”
This morning, the writer “went to Oswego” and “won’t be back before tomorrow night”.
“Edward is planning to take a trip to Penn Yan tomorrow.”
(Oswego and Penn Yan are other towns in western New York.)
The message concludes with the wish, “Hope you are alright” and is signed “Your son and brother”.
There is a postscript added beneath the address, “(Name Name) spoke on China here”.
I interpret the postscript to mean that a visiting speaker made a presentation on China at the Waverly Baptist Church.
One hopes that Ethel remained healthy, that the writer and Edward returned successfully from their trips, and that Mrs. Wilcox and her daughter appreciated the souvenir of Waverly.
The First Baptist Church of Waverly continues to meet in the well-maintained property shown on the postcard.
Although several internet listings of this congregation offer details about congregational beliefs and missions, I could not locate a history of the congregation.
