Miss Dora Wyckoff lived in Cranbury, a township in Middlesex County of central New Jersey – equidistant from New York and Philadelphia.
The community was first called “Cranberry” for the abundance of wild cranberries found there.
Today, it is the center of logistics businesses.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cranbury,_New_Jersey
In November of 1908, Dora received a postcard from Carrie L.
Carrie mailed the postcard from Hightstown, an historic borough of Mercer County in east-central New Jersey.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hightstown,_New_Jersey
Cranbury is three miles north of Hightstown – both communities are in the Raritan Valley.
The face of the postcard is a photograph of a romantic scene.
A young woman and a young man are seated at a small table which I covered with a colorful cloth.
The pair seem to be engaged in a friendly conversation – they incline slightly toward one another and their expressions appear calm and focused on one another.
The setting appears to be an indoor space well-furnished with potted palms; the walls are adorned with decorative plaster or a figured wall-covering.
The suitor is dressed in a dark suit; the heroine wears a white, high-necked shirtwaist and a long skirt.
There is no title for the photograph; the postcard was printed in Europe.
On the reverse, Carrie has not inscribed any message.
We don’t know if the postcard has a personal meaning – such as Carrie or Dora having a new boyfriend or entering into courtship.
One hopes that Dora was pleased by the image, and that she and Carrie remained friends and correspondents for many years.
Genealogical Note
Dora Berrian Wyckoff was born in 1893, the daughter of George T. Wyckoff (1865-1940) and Laura Berrian (1865-1905).
Dora was born in Middlesex County, but lived most of her life in Mercer County.
Dora had an older sister, Emma (1889-1922) and a younger sister, Verna (1904-1987).
Dora’s mother died when she was 11 or 12 years old, in 1905.
Dora’s father married Caroline Hutchinson Everett (1879-1955) in 1908.
(Dora’s step-mother was 14 years older than she was.)
Census records show that Dora never married – she resided in the home of her father (until 1940) and then that of her step-mother in Hightstown.
In 1968, Dora died in Trenton, NJ – but I believe that she was hospitalized there as her home address is listed as Hightstown.
Dora is buried in Cranbury, NJ -she was 75 years old.
Her obituary is behind a pay-wall, so I have not yet found any other details about her life.
