We met Mr. Charles Nagel in an earlier postcard story; his daughter expressed her loneliness while she was in Cleveland, Ohio.
“Adaline Is Very, Very Homesick” (1909)
Charles lived at the corner of Howard Avenue and Rockland Street in the city of Lancaster, PA.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancaster,_Pennsylvania
In December of 1920, Charles received a Christmas postcard from his son, Carl.
The postcard was mailed from Philadelphia, about 60 miles east of Lancaster.
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The face of the postcard displays a gold bell on which an enameled picture of a bird is inlaid.
The bell is suspended from a gold chain to which a red bow is affixed.
Sprigs of holly surround the bell.
Beneath the drawing, gilt letters proclaim, “Christmas Wishes”.
A rhyming couplet, attributed to Clifton Bingham, follows:
“A loving greeting to express
My wishes for your happiness.”
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On the reverse, Carl greets his “Dear Father” and offers a wish for “…a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year”.
Carl then offers, “Love to you and mother from Bertha and your son, Carl”.
Charles preserved the postcard throughout his life.
One hopes that he and his wife, and his son and his family, enjoyed a wonderful Christmas.
RESEARCH NOTE
I have not found a genealogy site with a comprehensive record of members of the Nagel family.
Charles Nagel, who received the postcard, was born in Germany.
In Philadelphia, sometime around 1890, he was married to Catherine – who was also born in Germany.
The records are very difficult to untangle as the immigrant, “Charles”, is sometimes rendered as “Carl” or” Karl” and the son named “Carl” later had a son Carl – and Carl Jr. is sometimes identified as Carl Sr. (because of the son of the same name) and Carl the third is sometimes confused with his father.
Carl Heinrich Nagel (also, Carl Henry Nagel), the writer of the postcard, was born in Philadelphia in 1893.
He married Bertha Miller in Philadelphia in 1912 when he was 18.
In the 1920 Census, the couple had two children, although later Census records show an additional two children -including a Carl and a Bertha.
