Picturing the world of these postcards

A picture of an old farm house and car, near where my family had our farm in Raymore, Saskatchewan. Painted by my mother, Ellen Griffith.

The pictures on these faded old postcards are romantic in themselves.
They're of buildings -- many of which have now probably been surrounded with new developments, replaced or burned down.

But they're setting the scene for a different time where people write letters that say such things as: "Had a lovely day. Trains were dreadfully crowded -- 14 in a carriage coming. A smoking (car). Nearly stifled."

I'll update this posting with a few more...

Apparently, there's a family tree somewhere that my great-uncle, who is now gone, gathered together. I'm going to have to find it if I want to figure out who all of these people are.

I've been told that there were once letters that explained far more detail, but they might have been burned two years ago when my family finally sold Nelly's farm.

Found one! The romance begins...

Nellie and her sister May are staying in Moosomin, Saskatchewan with their brother. He's farming there, I think, and they're just visiting. Nellie is still going by her maiden name.

The date stamp has been rubbed off, but the letters surrounding this one in the book are from 1906-08. The postcard, from a cousin in NY, says, "Very much disappointed to hear that neither you nor May are coming to see us. Who is the attraction? Let me know."

Who?? Haha! This is maybe where the story begins to unfold.

Do your families keep old letters? I'm so sad that mine is missing so much of this story.

Getting deeper into the letters from 1904

I am so lucky that a friend of mine just called to see if I wanted to go skating on the Canal. I told her I can't because I have a few hundred postcards to scan so I can have the information with me in France for the book. The postcards are fragile, old, yellowed and my luggage is already dealing with weight issues. This friend suggested that I photograph them rather than scan them... which is brilliant!

I'm now laying them out on the kitchen table to see what I've got. I'll let you know a few details as the love story unfolds... (I still don't even know the story yet.)

The maiden voyage to Canada...

When I was downstairs putting my plate in the dishwasher, my parents were having lunch. They filled me in on a few more details.

My great-grandmother was named Ellen, like my mother. But she went by Nelly. She had a brother in Canada, who she came to visit one year. In the 1904 letters, she's signed her name "Nelly Smith", which means she wasn't yet married. But she's sending them from the Northwest Territories, which means she was already here.

To get to Canada, Nelly took a boat. And on that boat, my mother just told me, she met a man who was moving to Canada to start his life as a farmer in the Prairies.

I'll tell you more as I go... it's best to hear the story from Nelly, I suppose.

p.s. I'm posting a picture of the farm painting to set the scene.