Mrs. J. B. Wagoner lived in Burlington, a city in Alamance County of north-central North Carolina.
Burlington was platted on the route of the North Carolina Railroad, between Goldsboro and Charlotte, and became a center of rail car maintenance and repair.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burlington,_North_Carolina
In April of 1934, Mrs. Wagoner received a postcard from Irvin.
In the Genealogical Note (below) we learn that Irvin is 17 years old and is the son of Mrs. Wagoner, who was widowed in 1931.
The face of the postcard is a lovely drawing of the Washington Monument, the tallest structure in the world from 1884-1889.
Begun in 1848, the work on the imposing obelisk was suspended from 1854 to 1877 due to financing issues and the American Civil War.
The monument was completed and dedicated in February of 1885.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Monument
In this picture, the Monument is framed by cherry trees – the blossoming of which are celebrated with enormous ceremony in Washington,
(The tale of how the cherry trees came to ornament the Tidal Basin and several avenues in the city deserves a separate post.)
https://www.nps.gov/subjects/cherryblossom/history-of-the-cherry-trees.htm
This nice postcard view was published by the B. S. Reynolds Company of Washington.
On the reverse, Irvin reports that he is “having a good time”.
Mrs. Wagoner can expect that the boy will “be home Tuesday”.
Until then, Irvin is “taking in everything”.
One hope that Mrs. Wagoner was pleased by the souvenir postcard, that Irvin continued to enjoy the city, and that mother and son remained correspondents for many years.
GENEALOGICAL NOTE
On April 26, 1892, Minnie Pearl Garrison was born in Alamance County, NC.
Minnie was the daughter of John Franklin Garrison (1849-1892) and Eliza J. Sartin (1849-1909).
Minnie was the youngest of nine children (seven boys and 2 girls), although one older brother may have died before she was born.
We do not know anything about Minnie’s early life, but her father died in the year she was born and her mother died when Minnie was 17.
In December of 1909, when she was 17, Minnie married Henry James Brackman Wagoner (James) (1884-1931) in Burlington, NC.
Sadly, the first child of James and Minnie (James Frank) died at one year of age.
The couple proceeded to have three more sons, all of whom lived into the 21st century.
In 1931, when the youngest boy was 10, J. B. Wagoner died.
The middle surviving son, Irvin David Wagoner (1917-2008) is the sender of this postcard to his mother.
After 3 years as a widow, Minnie married George Thomas Sutton (1870-1959).
Based on the address to “Mrs. J. B. Wagoner”, we know that Minnie’s second marriage occurred later in 1934.
After the death of her second husband in 1959, Minnie married Jefferson Monroe Robinette, Sr. (1891-1985) on December 29, 1962, in Winston-Salem, NC.
Minnie died in Burlington in 1983; she was survived by her third husband, Jefferson Robinette.
Minnie, her parents, and her first and third husbands, are buried in Pine Hill cemetery in Burlington, NC.
The Family Search website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints links pictures of Minnie and her first and third husbands.
