Vintage Postcards

Several years ago (shortly after Summer was born) I inherited these vintage postcards from Rick's family.

I have a stack of them.  This is just a sample.

Most of them were actually sent through the mail.

They were all written either TO or FROM Miss Elsie Hansen.

I have always heard Elsie referred to as "Aunt".

Aunt was the one who raised Clead Blackett, Rick's Grandfather.

A little bit more about Aunt.  Or Elsie Hansen...

She was born December 15, 1883 in Salina, Sevier County, Utah.

She was one of ten children.  When she was six years old the family moved to Scipio and lived there until she was 21.  She attended school in Scipio.  At the age of 18 her mother passed away and she took card of 6 younger brothers and one sister and her father.  Her baby brother, Marion was just 1 month old.  She also had some help from her little sister, Augusta.

At this time her father moved his family to Mills, Utah where he bought a farm thinking that was a good place to raise a bunch of boys.

While living at Mills, she met Delbert Ward and later they were married on March 15, 1911 in Nephi.  Later solemnized in the Manti Temple.

She and her husband bought a dry farm in Mills and their main crops were wheat and rye.  They lived there until 1920 when they decided to give up dry farming and moved to Scipio.

They were there 2 years when her sister Augusta passed away leaving 4 small children; the baby, Clead, was only eleven days old so they took the children to care for and raise.  She still found time to raise a garden, can fruit, and help her friends and neighbors in many ways.

Her husband died April 23, 1942.  She stayed in her home in Scipio raising a garden and many beautiful flowers.  

In August 1964, she moved to Nephi to help Clead and Randy.  (Clead's wife had passed away).

Some things that Grandma Bette remembers about Aunt:

"We knew when she was miffed at us because she would begin to hum or sing a church hymn.  The hymn message would usually teach us the lesson we needed to learn. 

A brown leather purse accompanied Aunt wherever she went.  Clead had carved and tooled the purse for her.  Within the purse you would find many goodies.  Black Jack gum was a favorite of Aunts.  The gum may have been chewed for a couple of days, at bedtime or when she was tired of chewing, she would carefully wrap it back in its wrapper and it proved to be quite satisfying at a later time.

'Tammee Tea' was a treat we learned about in Scipio.  It was good and we sort of felt grown up drinking it.  Aunt made it for us often on our visits.  The recipe was quite simple:  hot water, a little milt or cream and a heave dose of sugar. Sometimes Aunt would take us along the ditch banks to gather mint leaves and then we had fresh brewed mint tea."

So, as we were putting together a family history for Clead Blackett, we also put together a few pages and stories for Elsie Ward, the woman who cared for and raised Clead.  When we were going through papers, documents and photos, we found a stack of post cards, all of them written over 100 years ago.

So, Amara, because you asked...that is where I get some of the post card images that I post.  Some of the postcards I have framed.  There is a cute one of a lady hanging laundry on a clothes line that I put up in my laundry room, a few valentines cards, and a few Christmas ones.  (And a few of the images I have just found on the internet)

**If there are any more of Aunt's postcards sitting around collecting dust and nobody wants them...send 'em my way.  of course.