“Carrie’s Brother is Busy” – Rome, NY (1908)

Miss Carrie Sterling lived in Oneida, the city in Madison County of central New York.

Due to its connection to the Erie Canal, and then to the railroads, Oneida became an important commercial and transportation hub.

The manufacture of cutlery and silverware is associated with the city.

A utopian, communitarian religious society, The Oneida Community, flourished near the city in the third quarter of the 19th century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oneida,_New_York

In October of 1908, Carrie received a post card from her brother.

The brother is identified only by initials, “W. E. S.”

The postcard was mailed from Rome, a city of Oneida County in central New York.

Located on an indigenous portage path that connected waterways, Rome was a strategic point in early European settlements.

The “Leatherstocking Tales” of James Fennimore Cooper are set in this region.

Oneida is about 15 miles southwest of Rome.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome,_New_York

The face of the postcard is a photograph of the First M. E. Church and Parsonage in Rome.

(Until the United Methodist denomination was formed in 1968, the Methodist Church was formally known as “The Methodist Episcopal Church”.)

This church building, erected in 1868 is still in use and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The parsonage appears to have been replaced with another church building.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Methodist_Episcopal_Church_of_Rome

We do not know if this was the church home of Carrie’s brother.

The postcard was published by the American News Company of New York, Dresden, and Leipzig.

Printed in Germany, this postcard with an undivided back was made a year or two before it was mailed.

On the reverse, the brother earns the positive regard of all readers – he notes the date of his missive, and his handwriting is mostly legible.

Brother reports that he has “no time to write you a letter”.

The post card “will have to do”.

Nevertheless, brother asks for “news” if there is any.

In closing, brother asks when Henry is going to do something, but I cannot decipher this activity.

Carrie preserved her brother’s postcard throughout her life.

One hopes that brother had moments of less busyness and that he was able to maintain his share of correspondence with his sister.

Genealogical Note:

Carrie Norris Sterling was born in 1887, the daughter of James G. Sterling (1852-1920) and Ella Mae McGuire Sterling. (1859-1917).

Carrie had seven sisters and two brothers; her elder brother was John Benjamin Sterling (1882-1946) who sent the postcard.

Within a year of receiving this postcard, Carrie married Carl J. Mayer (1884–1968).

Carrie and Carl had two daughters and two grandchildren.

Carrie’s brother, John, made his life in Rome, NY.

John married in Rome in 1911, and became a Plant Superintendent there.

John died suddenly, at home, in his 64th year. 

His pretty fame home on North George Street (built in 1890) is still standing, but has been converted into apartments.
































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