Aunt Annie's Postcards

The collection contains over 600 postcards collected between 1904 and 1912. My Great aunt, Ann Emily Oxby wife of Daniel Brundige was know for her expectation that, everyone she knew must send her a postcard during their travels. Between 1904 and 1913 her collection grew to over 600 postcards.

The collection contains 40 photo cards and postcards from all over the world including historic photographs of castles in England and small settlements in Northern Ontario . Many of the cards have never been mailed and those containing personal communications are from friends and family in England and Canada. The collection also contains some international postcards, received from her cousin Sarah Welpton who was an international missionary. Before her marriage Annie commonly travelled between her home in England and the Welpton home in Burk's Falls Ontario. Mrs. Ann Welpton and Annie's mother, Emma Oxby ( Simpkin ) were sisters. Annie was also had relatives in Sadowa, Ontario. Her father's brother, Robert Oxby husband to Anne Kemp were also raising a large family in Sadowa, so between the two families, Annie had a total of at least 15 cousins of her close age residing in Ontario. Through this network of relatives, Annie and her cousin Charlotte Brown Oxby would meet and marry the Brundige brothers, Daniel David and John William Brundige.

I reflect back on my early years where this collection was stored in our attic crawl space extending over the eves of our house. I would sneak out into the crawl space fearing I may fall through the supports and crash through the front room ceiling if I should place my foot in the wrong place. The postcard collection was stored in a wedding box about the size of a shoe box which contained pictures of far away places of which I dreamed. As I grew up I considered the monetary value of the postcard collection and considered that perhaps the cancelled stamps were worth some money to a collector. I did not realize I would discover the true intrinsic value of the collection through researching my family lines. Nor did I realize the sense of union I would encounter as I shared researching my family lines with other genealogists.