“Aunt Essie Sends Pansies” – West Willow, PA (circa 1905)

Miss Clara Mowery lived in West Willow, an unincorporated community south of the city of Lancaster in southeast Pennsylvania.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Willow,_Pennsylvania

Sometime near 1905, Clara received a postcard from her Aunt Essie Myers.

The postcard was not mailed; we may assume that Aunt Essie lived nearby.

The face of the postcard is a bright drawing of yellow and purple pansies.

The petals of the flowers are outlined in glitter.

The announcement of “Best Wishes” is made with pasted glitter.

It is unclear if Clara was celebrating a birthday or some other special occasion.

The postcard was published by T. P. Inc. of New York; the print was made in Germany.

Although no message was to be written on the reverse of a mailed postcard, Aunt Essie has identified herself in a penciled inscription on the edge.

Below the publisher’s mark, we can read the faint writing, “from Aunt Essie Myers”.

It seems that Clara appreciated the pretty pansies as she preserved the postcard in good condition throughout her life.

One hopes that Aunt Essie and Clara maintained a friendly correspondence for many years.

Genealogical Note

On March 11, 1895, Clara Mowery was born in Strasburg, Pa.

She was the daughter of Howard Elmer Mowery (1872-1955) and Mary Myers (1873-1947).

Clara was the oldest of three children; she had two younger brothers.

Sometime around 1917, Clara married Frank Foutz Eshleman (1886-1970).

(I could not find the marriage record)

Clara and Frank had 5 sons between 1918 and 1930 – each of the sons survived into the 21st century.

That Clara’s mother was a Myers suggests strongly that “Aunt Essie” is from that family, but the main data base I consulted lacked information about the parents and siblings of Mary Myers.

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