Mrs. Joseph Pepper lived in Rome, a city established on an ancient portage path of indigenous peoples in the area that became Oneida County in central New York State.
The portage path connected the Mohawk River (flowing east to the Hudson River) and Woods Creek (which flowed west to the Oswego River and, eventually, to Lake Erie).
Many of the novels of James Fennimore Cooper (e.g. “The Last of the Mohicans”) take place in this region which was contested between various coalitions of native tribes and European empires.
The construction of the Erie Canal in the early 19th century made the portage path unneeded, But Rome became an important center of cheese-making and, later, cooper crafts (Revere Copper Company).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome,_New_York
In September of 1907, Mrs. Pepper received a postcard from Jessie W.
The postcard was nailed from Oneida, a city in Oneida County that became famous for the utopian community that flourished there in the mix-19th century and which operated cooperative businesses in silk manufacture, production of canned goods, and one of the nation’s most important companies in the production of flatware.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oneida,_New_York
Rome is about 15 miles northeast of Oneida,
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The face of the postcard is a photograph of the First Baptist Church of Oneida.
The church combines several distinctive features, including sections of “checkerboard” masonry and a tall clock tower.
This structure was completed in 1890, replacing an earlier building that had been remodeled extensively as the congregation expanded.
The structure contains an important George A. Andrews Tracker Pipe Organ and sixteen stained glass windows created by Charles P. Davis of Utica, New York
https://oneidabaptistchurch.com/about
The postcard photograph was published by the American News Company of New York and Leipzig, Berlin, and Dresden.
The printing was done in one of the German cities.
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On the reverse, Jessie begins her type-written message without a greeting.
(That she was using a typewriter indicates that she was not doing menial labor.)
She reports, “I am now working here, for a while”,
Jessie does not offer any indication of her own heath or happiness, but states, “I suppose you are all well”.
The message concludes with “Love to Margaret and Joseph.”
There is a tone to the brief message that could suggest estrangement or discontent.
One hopes that the work was satisfactory, that she came to enjoy the city of Oneida, and that she exchanged many more postcards with family and friends.
