I think I've seen it all in my mother's collection of diaries when out pops this 100-year-old postcard. It was sent to my grandparents, the Merediths, by James' grandfather, William Henry Olmstead, age 92. William was living with relatives, the Conners, in Saranac MI. Olmstead? It was James' mother's maiden name.
RR No. 2
Saranac, Mich.
Sept. 20, 1915
Dear James & Lola,
Please accept this card as a token of our remembrance
of you and of your birthdays - which occur, we think, James' 35th on Sept. 23rd and Lola's on Oct. 1st.
We hope they will prove joyous change to you both, such
that you will live to enjoy many holiday returns and may the
Dear Lord's blessing attend you all the way.
Your aunt, Mary G. Conner
Your Grandfather, Wm. H. Olmstead
My grandmother, Carlotta Lola Lucretia Weekes Meredith, was called "Lola" and "Lottie." She was to turn
29 on Oct. 1, 1915, but perhaps William Olmstead was unsure of her age. It was difficult to read the faded brown ink and tiny, fine writing, especially in the second paragraph when William was running out of room. William lived to be 93, dying on June 1, 1916. James' father, Nathaniel, was a Civil War veteran, and had died in 1907 at 63. Oddly enough, that was the age at which James himself would pass away in 1944.
At this time, the Merediths lived at 3855 Park Avenue in Chicago, according to the postcard. Their two children, Ruth Viola and Jimmie, were 9 and 4. This postcard was not in Pieces of a Life.
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