- Joined
- May 12, 2010
- Location
- Now Florida but always a Kentuckian
Since tomorrow is Valentine's Day, thought I write some interesting facts about the cards. According to legend, an English Valentine received by Esther A. Howland in Massachusetts inspired the beginnings of the American Valentine industry.
Esther who was a student at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts began making Valentine cards after she received a card produced by an English Company. Her father was a stationer and she began selling the cards in his store. The business grew and she soon hired friends to help her make the cards. Soon the hometown of Worcester became the center of the American Valentine production.
By the mid-1800s the sending of manufactured Valentine's Day cards was very popular. It flourished through the Civil War years and beyond. In the late 1860s most Valentines were modestly priced and targeted a mass audience.
The Kansas Historical Society has a great article on three examples of cards sent during the Civil War. It is at http://www.kshs.org/p/cool-things-civil-war-valentines/10346
The three cards pictured were sent by Joseph Forrest to Elizabeth Ehrhart during the Civil War. They were both residents of Macon County. Illinois who had become engaged in 1858. They delayed their marriage because of Elizabeth's young age, and then because the war broke out. Joseph had enlisted on July 25, 1861 and was mustered into service in Company A of the Eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. They finally married in August, 1863.
The Eighth Illinois saw much action during the war. It was involved at battles of Shiloh and Corinth and Vicksburg. Joseph was wounded and recovered at a hospital in New Orleans. The couple's first child was born there but died shortly after birth. Joseph was finally honorably discharged at Marshall, Texas on July, 1865. Four more children were born to the Forrests. They moved to Kansas in 1872. He became a Methodist minister. Joseph always suffered poor health from the wounds he had received during the war and died in 1875 at age 35. Elizabeth died in 1920.
Esther who was a student at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts began making Valentine cards after she received a card produced by an English Company. Her father was a stationer and she began selling the cards in his store. The business grew and she soon hired friends to help her make the cards. Soon the hometown of Worcester became the center of the American Valentine production.
By the mid-1800s the sending of manufactured Valentine's Day cards was very popular. It flourished through the Civil War years and beyond. In the late 1860s most Valentines were modestly priced and targeted a mass audience.
The Kansas Historical Society has a great article on three examples of cards sent during the Civil War. It is at http://www.kshs.org/p/cool-things-civil-war-valentines/10346
The three cards pictured were sent by Joseph Forrest to Elizabeth Ehrhart during the Civil War. They were both residents of Macon County. Illinois who had become engaged in 1858. They delayed their marriage because of Elizabeth's young age, and then because the war broke out. Joseph had enlisted on July 25, 1861 and was mustered into service in Company A of the Eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. They finally married in August, 1863.
The Eighth Illinois saw much action during the war. It was involved at battles of Shiloh and Corinth and Vicksburg. Joseph was wounded and recovered at a hospital in New Orleans. The couple's first child was born there but died shortly after birth. Joseph was finally honorably discharged at Marshall, Texas on July, 1865. Four more children were born to the Forrests. They moved to Kansas in 1872. He became a Methodist minister. Joseph always suffered poor health from the wounds he had received during the war and died in 1875 at age 35. Elizabeth died in 1920.