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Of all the funeral cards, that circulate out there, I wonder how many ever find their way back to the families of origin. A simple funeral card is the summation of a life lived.
Enjoy the discovery process.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Sell It Now

After three weeks into the blog world, I picked up the telephone and rang Chris at Sell It Now.  His latest sell item on eBay included a grouping of seven funeral cards for sale.  The standard advertisement depicts a photograph of seven cards pleasingly arranged, however, missing was the most important part to a genealogist--the name on the card and any other life events identified.
From the background telephone ringing, I deducted that Chris was a busy man and I would most likely receive a quick response to my questions.  Not so, Chris took an interest in the Funeral Cards blog and  retrieved the cards from a box nearby and provided the following information.
Card 1:  William Herbert Seccombe, died 28 Dec 1899; at time of death, he was 6 years, 10 months, 22 days.  A child that may otherwise be lost to a family tree, if not for this documentation.
Card 2:  Catherine A. Collins with (no death date), age 67 years.  This would take a lot of detective work to determine family tree placement.
Card 3:  James Davidson, died 5 May 1888, age 67 years.
Card 4:  John Nelson, died 26 Apr 1888, no age listed.
Card 5:  Jane Cottrell, died 12 Nov 1892, age 72.  She will most likely appear in a future article.
Card 6:  Not identified
Card 7:  At Rest - photograph only, published by P. A. Miller at Arkansas City, Kansas.
It is good to know that retailers are curious about the ephemera they sell.
If I won the lottery, I would create a huge collection of cards to return to family historians.

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