The MacLaren Tartan – Halifax, Nova Scotia (1906)

Miss Ethel Fritz worked at the Alpha Portland Cement Company in Easton, PA.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easton,_Pennsylvania

Ethel worked at the company headquarters; the quarries were in New Jersey and (in later years) in other states.

https://canals.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2020/11/AlphaPortlandCement.pdf

In October of 1906, Ethel received a postcard at her business address.

The postcard was sent from Halifax, Nova Scotia, by H. Drew.

Halifax, the largest city in the Atlantic Provinces of Canada, was a center of industry and transportation for many years before the visit of Mr. Drew.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax,_Nova_Scotia

The name of “Nova Scotia” (New Scotland) was given to the area by Sir William Alexander, the Scotsman who was given the first Royal Charter to establish settlements along the eastern coast of what is now Canada.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia

Ironically, after centuries of hostilities between the French, English, and Indigenous peoples, the modern metropolitan area bears little reflection of the Scottish name.

We might assume that Mr. Drew had some connection to the MacLaren Clan as the face of his postcard bears an illustration of a Scottish swordsman wearing the MacLaren tartan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_MacLaren

This illustration was copyright by S. W. and A. K. Johnston of Edinburgh.

One hopes that the fine drawing brightened the workday of Miss Fritz.

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