I rescued this fine drawing from a box of cheap postcards – there were some disfiguring marks and some spots of foxing on the face that I was able to repair digitally.
Apart from the quality of the postcard art, I was curious also about the two place names in Pennsylvania.
Kelso Good was living in Marion Center, a small borough in Indiana County of west-central Pennsylvania.
The borough was connected to a spur of the “Buffalo, Rochester, and Pittsburgh Railway” in 1903.
The borough enjoyed a vibrant social life in the early 20th century, boasting two hotels on Main
Street.
The last train left the borough and the area in 1950.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Center,_Pennsylvania
In September of 1913, Kelso received a postcard from an unidentified friend.
The postcard was mailed from Rochester Mills, a village in northern Indiana County of Pennsylvania.
A state highway once ran through this village, until it was de-commissioned in 1985.
Rochester Mills is about 5 miles northeast of Marion Center.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochester_Mills,_Pennsylvania
The face of the postcard bears a lovely image of a rural path beside a still pond.
The full foliage of the trees and the plants, the utter stillness of the scene, the moored boat at the dock – all suggested, to me, that this was late Summer.
The scene is not titled.
There is a copyright emblem on the lower right of the face, but I cannot distinguish any further markings.
The art postcard was published by “Gartner & Bender, Publishers” of Chicago.
Although there are many tiny scratches on the reverse, I do not believe that any message had been inscribed.
The postcard was preserved in good condition throughout the life of Kelso Good.
One hopes that he and the unknown friend enjoyed many years of correspondence.
GENEALOGICAL NOTE:
Albert Kelso Good was born in Marion Center in 1894, the son of Abraham Davis Good (1867-1931) and Nora Elizabeth Ashbaugh (1869-1909).
Kelso had two brothers and two sisters – Kelso’s youngest sister was only 7 when her mother died.
Kelso was 19 years old when he received the postcard.
In 1915, when he was 21, Kelso married Verna Blanche (“Vernie”) Hopkins.
The couple had a son and a daughter.
Kelso registered for the draft in 1917, but was never called up -possibly because he had married and was a father.
Kelso was driving a farm tractor, pulling a hay rake, when he was struck by an automobile in 1974.
The 80-year old man was airlifted to a hospital in Pittsburgh, but he died several hours later.
Kelso is buried in Marion Center.
