Now that the Christmas season is in full swing for 2019 I can pull out of our little family archive some of the seasonal cards that have been passed down to us. First up this Christmastide is one I've shared before on Facebook but it's a goodie and is worth repeating.
It is a Christmas postcard dated 23 December 1918 and postmarked from Madison, Nebraska. The sender is "Mary Stenger" and the recipient is "Mrs. Frank Schlink" at 1610 Smith Street in Peoria, Illinois. [1]
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| See below for transcription. |
There are several "Mary Stenger"s in my maternal grandmother's (Clementine Stenger Miars) family tree but after a process of elimination using the postmark and the recipient's address I believe that the sender is Mary (Stenger) Borer. Mary is a first cousin of Clem's (my first cousin twice removed) and is a descendant of Frank and Catherine (Van Dyke) Stenger. Frank Stenger is an older brother of my great grandfather, Joseph L Stenger. Frank was born and raised in Kickapoo, Illinois and moved to Platte and Madison Counties in Nebraska as a young adult. There he married and raised his large family of twelve children. Our "Mary Stenger", the author of this card was his oldest child, born in 1901. She would have been 17 at the time she sent this holiday greeting. Mary went on to wed Anton S Borer in 1926. They lived most of their married life in Minnesota and raised a large family of their own.
The recipient, "Mrs. Frank Schlink", is Elizabeth "Lizzie" Stenger and would be an older sister of Frank and Joseph L Stenger and an aunt of Mary (Stenger) Borer. Aunt Lizzie is my great-great aunt. She and her husband, Frank had no children and lived their lives in Peoria County, Illinois. Lizzie and Frank Schlink lived at 1620 Smith Street in Peoria for the last couple of decades of their lives. I've written about this couple before. See the "Related Blog Posts" section below for the link to that article.
It is very likely that Mary (Stenger) Borer came to Kickapoo and Peoria from Nebraska to visit her family while she was growing up. We know that the Nebraska and Kickapoo members of the Stenger family went back and forth over the years to visit and spend time together. Mary no doubt got to know her Aunt Lizzie through those trips and other letters that the families exchanged.
This card is interesting also for what it says about a historical event that was happening at the time it was written - the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918. It is one of the first items that Mary writes about so it must have been a concern of her Illinois family that she wanted to respond to.
Why did Clem have this card? The sender and recipient are not her direct ancestors so there is not a direct generational hand off that would have occurred for this card. I really do not know why Clem had it. Aunt Lizzie had no children and died in 1949. Maybe Joseph L Stenger got it when his sister died and then it came to Clem after that. The why and how of when this card ended up in my grandmother's possession is unclear but how glad I am that it did.
For me the card is a connection to extended family that I never knew or met. What a great way to start the Christmas season - remembering family with a 100 year old card.
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| Mary (Stenger) Borer |
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| Elizabeth "Lizzie" (Stenger) Schlink |
Transcription of back of postcard - Written by Mary Stenger
Madison Nebr.
Dec 23 1918
Dear Aunt [Lizzy]
Ho are you[??], we are
all well did not have
the flu yet. the weather Mrs. Frank Schlink
is rather cold now 1610 Smith St.
it rain Thursday & Peoria
Friday and tried Ill.
to snow but couldnt
it froze awful hard
we all wish you's a
Merry Xmas and
a happy New Year.
Your Niece
Mary Stenger
Related Blog Posts -
Anna Maria (Schmitt) Stenger - 177nd Birthday 14 October 1842
Joseph L Stenger - Kickapoo, Illinois
Sunday's with Grandma Stenger
Bibliography -
[1] "Mary Stenger" to "Mrs. Frank Schlink," Christmas post card, 22 Dec 1918; from the Clementine (Stenger) Miars collection, privately held by the author.
