When we received a note from Alexandra (she didn’t want her last name used) of the United Kingdom on the Journal-Tribune Facebook page, we wondered what could we do with it. I decided to see if you could help us locate the family of Charles Montgomery. An old postcard was addressed to him. He was alive in 1910 and lived in Marysville, Ohio.
Here’s how the story goes. The person who brought the story to us, Alexandra, was born and lived in the United Kingdom. She apparently moved to Coral Springs, Florida, with her family. While there, she became a fan of the TV show “American Pickers.” It’s a program that features hunters who look for hidden gems in basements, garages and barns. One day she and a friend were out hunting for those treasures and paid about a dollar for a box of bric-a-brac items.
This took place in 2010 and at that time she went through a few items and remembered reading the post card, but didn’t know what to do with it. The card apparently made its way to the UK with her and recently she saw it again. Could she find the descendants and give the card to them?
That’s where you come in. The postcard has a note and is dated May 26, 1910, the day of the appearance of one of Halley’s Comets. The sender who may be Mama Nellie (it’s difficult to read) has a little baby with her, who she says is one year and 11 months old. In the postcard she mentions she and baby Charles have been out looking at Halley’s Comet and she hopes that he may live to see it again in about another 75 years. That last appearance of the comet was 1986 and the next will be in 2061.
The card is addressed to Mr. Charles Montgomery, Marysville Ohio. Isn’t that amazing that in those years you didn’t have to have any more address than that and it would be delivered to the person listed. Whether or not it was ever mailed, the postcard ended up in a box of other things in Florida. On the front of it there is a picture of a baby, possibly the young Charles Montgomery and maybe this man’s son.
Alexandra now lives in Cheshire, England. She describes it as a beautiful old Roman city. There, she works in a beauty salon as a manager and administrator. She returned to the UK because her family left the United States and said it just wasn’t the same without them.
We thank her for her input and to help her solve this mystery and send the postcard to a descendant of the Montgomery family, we need your help. Do you know who this might be? Adult Charles would no doubt be deceased, and baby Charles would be well over 100 years old if he is still alive. So, who was Charles Montgomery? Who was Mama Nellie. Maybe you know their family, some of whom might still be in our area. Let me know!
Then I just found this somewhat related story …
A man writes: “Who wants to be 100? It begins, when my grandmother was in her late eighties, she decided to move to Israel. As part of the preparations, she went to see her doctor and get all her charts. The doctor asked her how she was doing, so she gave him the litany of complaints – this hurts, that’s stiff, I’m tired and slower, etc.
He responded, ‘Mrs. Goldstein, you have to expect things to start deteriorating. After all, who wants to live to 100?’ My grandmother looked him straight in the eye and replied, ‘Anyone who’s 99.’”
(Melanie Behrens – melb@marysvillejt.com)
Wednesday, January 19
