Postcard to Miss Leora Goff, Exira, Iowa (c/o Jake Engle), May, 1910.
(I would like to go down Sat.) Audubon, Iowa. May 23, '10. Dear Sister: - Hello Leora! How you be? I am fine. Did you see the total eclipse of the moon last night? We did. Have you seen the comet yet? I have seen it 3 times and the rest of them 2. We saw it last night in the west. It had a long tail. Grand Mother & pap are going home tomorrow. Having "greens" for dinner. Was talking to M. & Ross Sat. Pa & Ma & the 4 little kids went to Sun. S. and then went to Leavens' Sun. (On the right: Your loving Sister Georgia. (On the left: Ans. soon Look under stamp
Now we know why the green one-cent stamp is missing.
Leora was attending Mrs. Connrardy’s sewing school. In her memoirs, she mentioned seeing Comet Halley, but it was fun to find her sister Georgia’s confirmation on an old postcard.
There are more Audubon County stories in Leora’s Early Years: Guthrie County Roots. Audubon is the neighboring county to the west of Guthrie County. The Goffs lived there only six years, but some of my favorite stories are from those days.
To me, when someone looks to the skies, they exhibit a sense of wonder. How nice to know that Leora and her sister felt that sense of wonder.
And they were teenagers! Leora was 19, Georgia about 15 or 16.
Love! Thank you, Joy! From the “how you be” greeting to the secret message and missing stamp…I’m smiling! 🥰❤️🥰
Bless you, Vicki!
🥰❤️🥰
Love it.
She’d hoped to see its return in 1986 but couldn’t. Son Dan, then 11, and I may have seen its smudge. Just not plain enough to be sure. We were in a very dark area to try.
Maybe I missed it in my hasty reading, but what was it under the stamp?
No idea, but those 1 cent stamps stayed on all the other postcards, so I wondered why it was missing. Teenagers!
I enjoyed this post!!! Thank you for sharing it with us!!! I like the line about having ‘greens’ for dinner…No matter the time or place, some things never change in regard to teenagers…they are usually interested in, ‘What’s for dinner?’ 🙂
Oh, bless you, Linda. Those little details!
This whole post in exciting. From the information shared, to the fact that you HAVE this information to share!!! xx
Oh Annette, I became the “keeper” of letters, photos, etc., for three generations of my motherline! I can’t believe I’m still discovering delightful tidbits. Thanks for your encouragement.
How thrilling it must have been for them to see Halley’s Comet! What was under the stamp?
Got any ideas? I thought there’d be a little message, but nothing!
That’s a real treat of a postcard! A real bit of cosmic history.
Cosmic history! I like that Eilene.
Seeing a lunar eclipse or a comet is fascinating. I think it’s cool that she shortened up some words to fit everything on the postcard, almost like some people texting today.
Their mother, Laura Goff, was known as someone who could write more on a postcard than anyone!
How exciting, Joy! And greens for dinner and the one-cent stamp caught my attention too. Great post! xo
Thanks, Lauren. I’m sure surprised at what I’m still discovering. . .
Georgia must have been very excited about seeing Comet Halley and the eclipse of the moon. She imparted her endearing exhilaration on that little postcard! Sisters Leora and Georgia must have also been BFFs. 🙂
Thank you, Nancy. There were two brothers in between Leora (the oldest at 19) and Georgia (at about 16). Georgia was a prolific postcarder (is there such a word?), but only lived to the age of 28. Leora’s only other sister was 10 years younger. They had 7 brothers!
Oh my! Lots of good farm help in your grandmother’s family! It’s sad that Georgia died at such a young age. Leora must have been devastated.
They all were, even my 4-year-old mother: https://joynealkidney.com/2022/09/02/did-close-application-to-work-and-studies-cause-the-death-of-georgia-goff-age-28/
Thanks for Georgia’s backstory, Joy. That was such an unfortunate accident.
Very puzzling.
I’ve been hearing about tornadoes in Iowa, I sincerely hope you’re safe!! 🌪
Thank you, GP. One devastated Greenfield, a small (2000 folks) county seat town, with some fatalities, although they haven’t yet reported on how many. They’re just an hour SW of us, where we enjoyed lunch at a family-owned Greek restaurant. Ray Bubba Sorensen and his wife are from there (her father moved here from Greece). It’s remarkable to watch how towns around are helping in all sorts of ways. We lost power for about 16 hours and there are limbs down both back and front yards, just on the edge of the storm, but we’re thankful it wasn’t worse. (Yes, I spent some time hunkered in the basement. Guy did not!)
As long as you’re both safe. Take care.
A wonderful snippet from 1910 Joy. We travelled from Houston to Carlsbad Cavern in 1986 on its return to watch from their car park through the night away from all other light sources. An amazing experience which included a raccoon making off with the rucksack with our breakfast in lol.. ♥
What a terrific memory! Thanks, Sally.
How exciting for Leora to see Comet Halley and share that with her sister. Someone must have gotten that 1-cent postage as a stamp collection!
Yes, thank you, Miriam! There were dozens of penny postcards, still with stamps affixed!
How precious, Joy! Those postcards tell wonderful stories!
This was really fun to read!🩷🌸
Thank you, Kymber!