This weeks' blog prompt brought to mind telegrams, where someone could send a few lines of important information to their loved ones. You might say that today's telegrams are known as texts.
My family left a lot of telegrams for me to ponder. During the courtship of my paternal grandparents, Sig Levy and Loraine Gunzendorfer, Sig spent time preparing for war in 1918 and wrote to Loraine about what was going on with those preparations. And, of course, he sent a few telegrams along the way. Loraine kept a scrapbook during those times and fortunately for me, kept a lot (was it all?) of those telegrams. You can read about them HERE.
They've clearly seen better days!
It was fun to see the things that Sig found important enough to drop her a line with the information. Such sad news when he said that his father, Herman Levy, had passed away....
March 6, 1918
But then there was happy news when the war was over......
November 12, 1918
Loraine's brother, Wilt Gunzendorfer, sent a telegram to my dad on his 1st birthday. The problem with telegrams was that you were unable to proof before it was sent so Wilt was changed to Will.
My dad sent a few telegrams home telling his parents when he was moving from one base to another.
I wonder what the present was?
I love that he added "tell Gerry" (that was my mom).
My parents received telegrams congratulating them on their marriage.
A few samples. That's Loraine's handwriting giving them the address of the sender so they could write and thank them.
Aunt Bella was Bella (Schwartz) Benas
First cousin of Loraine's mother, Bertha Schwartz
Lionel Traube was the brother of Loraine's brother, Wilt Gunzendorfer's, wife Natalie Traube
What's really interesting about all of this is that my mom's step-father, Sheldon Hunter, worked for Western Union Telegraph for most of his life. He was an "office clerk" in San Francisco in 1910 and 1920 - being that he was born in 1895 he started pretty young. Sometime in 1920 he moved to Fresno and was the manager there - did they relocate him? And there he stayed in 1930, 1940 and as late as 1942. He retired sometime between 1942 and 1959 so I'll be interested to learn what he was doing when he was enumerated in the 1950 census which comes out NEXT YEAR!
As I was going through some things I came across this photo which shows Managers Attending Seminar Number 16. Based on the pictures on the wall I'm assuming this was a meeting of the Western Union Managers. Shell is kneeling, 2nd from the right.
I wish telegrams were used today - what a fun look into the past.
Are telegrams used at all today? Has it become an obsolete technology? I recall sending one or two to Europe when we were planning our first European trip in 1978. And maybe one or two as wedding messages---I know we received some as well in 1976.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite telegram is the one I found in my parents' papers---one he sent to my grandparents (his in-laws) when he and my mother were on their honeymoon. He thanked them for the wedding and told him how happy he was to have married their daughter.
That is so sweet - I can see why it's your favorite! I doubt telegrams are used today :-(
DeleteLove all the telegrams, but having an employee of Western Union in the family really makes this post unique.
ReplyDeleteMy dad and/or grandfather once wrote in one of the letters about sending a telegram directly to Shell at his office - he was my mother's step father.
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