Family History in a Postcard



 The above images are front and verso of a postcard I purchased recently at an antique store. For the last couple of years now, I have developed a habit of looking for interesting postcards in local shops that I frequent as a small hobby.

I often look for cabinet card photographs that were taken by local photographers in the area back in they day. At least that's what started my antiquing adventures. This has morphed into looking for interesting postcards as I said, as well as any other photographs or ephemera that I might be able to connect with families using records websites such as familysearch.org. 

I purchased this particular one because it shows the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and I have visited that campus in times past. Philadelphia is also home to one of my most beloved family members and therefore has a place in my heart.  

I did not think it had enough details to identify the recipient or sender but I was pleasantly surprised to have success after all. The postcard was sent in 1909 to Mr. Carroll Rager of Adamstown, MD and penned by "Amy" who wrote: "This place would suit you. People are allowed to burn leaves[?] in the street. I guess you would be having a fire all the time you were not in school."

I started out by typing "Carroll Rager, Adamstown, MD" into the records search bar at Familysearch.org. A few records with that name came up. The most promising candidate was that of a Carroll A. Rager (1899-1950) who was buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Frederick, Frederick County, Maryland according to FindAGrave.com. Because Adamstown is also located in Frederick County and is about a twenty minute drive from Frederick, this appeared to be a likely match. The proximity was not quite enough to say for sure, although this Carroll Rager lived in the right time period and would have been about ten years old at the time. Was Amy attending school at the University and writing back to a younger family member?

Luckily, one additional address detail is included showing that the card was sent in care of "Mrs. J.F. Scarff." With that information, I decided to look for any Scarffs who may have also been buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery while still on the FindAGrave.com website. Indeed, there were about nine Scarffs listed and two matched the initials on the postcard: J. Fenton Scarff (1877-1933) and J. Fenton Scarff Jr. (1910-1955). Even better, a Grace Irene Rager Scarff (1883-1941) was also buried there. Although it could, FindAGrave.com does not connect Grace to either J. Fenton Scarff at this time, but we just might have something here that clues us in to the right family. 

I went back to FamilySearch.org and found that helpfully, a suggestion shows that this FindAGrave.com record could be a possible Family Tree match to a Carroll Augustus Rager and bingo! After clicking on that name and seeing the family tree started for this family, we can see that Carroll was the youngest of eight siblings with Amy (1879-1946) as the oldest and Grace Irene (1883-1941) as the third oldest. Clicking on Grace Irene Rager shows her as the wife of J. Fenton Scarrf and mother of J. Fenton Scarff Jr. making the connection not noted on FindAGrave.com. Additionally, the 1910 census record that popped up as a possible match to Carroll A. Rager shows him, his mother and another sister, Clara living in the household of John F. Scarff and wife Grace in Frederick County, Maryland.

All of this information dovetails nicely with the details of the postcard and nothing contradicts. The records help positively identify both recipient and sender for this postcard mailed 115 years ago. Thirty-year old Amy was in Philadelphia, PA in 1909 and sent a postcard back to her little brother, Carroll, aged ten who lived in the home of their married sister Grace Scarff and her husband along with their mother and another sister Clara. There are so many more details that could be uncovered to further expand  information about the lives of these family members, but I will leave that work for someone else.

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