Master Maurice Smeal was growing up in Clearfield, a borough on the west branch of the Susquehanna River (and the county seat of Clearfield County) in central Pennsylvania.
Located on an ancient trail of indigenous peoples through the Appalachian Mountains, Clearfield was home to some small industry in the early 20th century.
Unfortunately, the population of Clearfield peaked (at 9,372) in 1940.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearfield,_Pennsylvania
Sometime around 1917, Maurice received a humorous postcard from Eva.
From the postcard message, it appears that Eva may be an older relative (sister, perhaps) who has her own family.
In the Research Note (below), we learn that Eva is an aunt, the sister of Maurice’s father.
The stamp has been detached from the postcard – and, with it, the postmark.
Consequently, we don’t know how far away Eva lived from Maurice.
+ + + + + + +
The face of the postcard is a drawing of a tall, brightly-colored rooster standing outside the hen house.
Within the coop, we can see a hen on a perch.
Beneath the simple drawing is the printed boast of the rooster:
“I can make any chicken come off her perch”
The simplicity of the design and of the coloration is consistent with the printed attestation, “Printed in the USA.”
The postcard was copyright by the artist, G. Bergman, in 1917 – from this we have inferred the approximate date of the postcard mailing.
+ + + + + + +
On the reverse, Eva asks Maurice, “How are you”.
She indicates that she “would like to see you but I have a little girl over here.”
Eva then makes a reference to leaving, which suggests that she once resided with or near to Maurice.
She asks, “Does Howard give you any chewing gum since I left”.
From the postcard, we do not learn any more about Eva and her little girl or about Maurice or Howard.
We know that Maurice preserved the postcard in very good condition throughout his life.
RESEARCH NOTE
On December 19, 1913, Maurice McClelland Smeal was born in Clearfield, PA.
He was the son of Bruce Calvin Smeal (1880-1947) and Mary Catherine Mays (1876-1913).
Maurice was the youngest of three children; he had an older brother and an older sister.
His mother appears to have died in childbirth.
In 1915, father married again – to his late wife’s sister (Clara Jane Mays) who lost her husband in 1915.
(After the death of his second wife, Bruce Smeal married for the third time – the third wife survived him.)
Bruce Calvin Smeal had a younger sister, Eva Agnes Smeal McCormick (1884-1949).
This is “Eva”, the sender of the postcard.
Eva and her husband had a daughter, their third child, in1916.
Mary Margaret McCormick (1916- 1999) is the “little girl” at Eva’s home in Clearfield.
The Smeal family was Lutheran, and Maurice attended Gettysburg College.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_College
In September of 1938, Maurice was ordained to ministry in the Evangelical Lutheran Church and one can find numerous internet references to weddings or baptisms that he performed over the next 63 years.
In 1942, Maurice married Rebecca Kincaid (1916-1981).
The couple had one son.
(According to his obituary, Maurice married Edith Kommel after the death of Rebecca -but I could not find the marriage record.)
The Rev. Maurice M. Smeal died in Butler County, PA on November 17, 2001 – aged 87.
The obituary was printed in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/23601729/maurice-mcclelland-smeal
