Master B. Meikle was growing up in Westerly, a town on the Pawcatuck River, that was settled by English colonists in 1661.
Until the 1950’s, Westerly was renowned for its granite quarries and stone-cutting industry.
Today, Westerly is a popular summer resort with several beaches.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westerly,_Rhode_Island
In February of 1906, the boy received a postcard from an unknown person.
The postcard was mailed from Fall River, the busy port city in southern Massachusetts that was a center of textile manufacturing at the beginning of the 20th century.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_River,_Massachusetts
Fall River was also an important transportation center – in other postcard stories we saw references to travel on a steamship of the “Fall River Line” to New York City.
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The face of the postcard is a charming art print of animals feeding in the barnyard.
Several chickens peck on the ground, while a horse leans over the feeding trough.
The horse wears a tasseled headpiece which adds a festive touch to the scene.
The postcard is from the “Royal Series” of M. Ettlinger & Company; it was printed in Great Britain.
There is a tiny inscription on the lower left of the face which might be an artist’s signature.
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Because the postcard was printed circa 1905, it has an “undivided back” which eliminates the space for a message.
Consequently, we have no clues about the sender or of his relationship to young master Meikle.
We also do not know if the postcard celebrated a special occasion such as a birthday.
The postcard was preserved in very good condition for more than a century.
RESEARCH NOTE
On January 25, 1904, Robert Burns Meikle was born in Fall River, Massachusetts.
(His memorial indicates that he was called “Bob”).
He was the son of Archibald C. Meikle (1880-1946) and Isabella Hendry Jack (1881-1954).
Archibald and Isabella were both immigrants from Scotland (Archibald from Glasgow, Isabella from Edinburgh); they married in Fall River in November of 1901.
Sadly, the first two children of the couple died in infancy – R. B. Meikle was the first of five children who reached adulthood.
By 1905, R. B. Meikle and his parents were living in Westerly, Rhode Island.
Sometime around 1927, Bob married Elizabeth S. Wheeler (1907-2001).
The couple lived in Westerly throughout their lives.
Bob died in 1983, at the age of 79.
Elizabeth died in 2001 at the age of 93.
They are buried together in the River Bend Cemetery in Westerly.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/129038166/robert-burns-meikle
