Genealogy Chat

I can't do this on my own so please help. I've embarked on sending certain online postcard sellers a message requesting that when they list cards they put the name of the addressee and town or address details in the listing or description. As you can imagine there are an awful lot of people selling postcards on the web so I need some help. Next time you're on such a site take time to send them a message requesting the above. If you like you can use mine shown in first reply. So far I've contacted 65 sellers and they are all interested in the idea. To keep within GR's Terms & Conditions please do not blatantly promote any specific commercial site in this thread or it will be removed. Please add a reply if you are going to help contact sellers.

Message: Hi, A general request for all used cards: Can you add the names of addressees and the town to which the card is sent? My apologies if you already do. As a geneologist researching my family tree I, like thousands of others would be thrilled to uncover a postcard that was sent to, or from a member of my family. I have put my family name and their home village in favorite searches and just need people like yourself to add those small details (just surname and town, mine is olley runhall) to your listing to be able to find and bid for such cards. I hope you think this is a good suggestion and one which would benefit buyers and vendors alike. I'm pushing the idea to members of Genes Reunited to encourage their participation Thanking you in anticipation,

If you do search online auction sites for postcards use the advanced search and choose collectables. Enter your surname and the town and select the option to search Title and Description.

Previous replies have recommended Colin Buck 's Postcard Index which is a good site to try but to give you an idea of how many cards might be out there, by 1917 the British Forces Postal Services alone employed 4,000 staff to handle the 2 million cards and letters a day. A friend once showed me a series of cards sent from the front over a one month period that just had a 4 day gap which was the result of his capture by the Germans. They returned him after a few days as with a shattered elbow he was no use to the British and a burden to the German's who could only wrap his arm in newspaper. So if we want to stand a reasonable chance of finding cards that belonged to our ancestors we need to get the message out to sellers.

If you intend to contact even just one card seller do please tell me so I don't feel I'm doing this all on my own, which is how it feels at the moment.

Hi Muswell Hill Billy, This is a great idea! You're not alone. Cheers, Horatia

Hi, im with you on this one,should be easy for me i live on here and ebay!!! Thanks

Excellent idea. I already collect old postcards of my ancestors' birthplaces and always hope the addressee might be a rellie. No luck yet, but this scheme could really help.

As I said in a previous thread have already contacted quite a few ebayers and the response has generally been good. Though do remember to add your surname/place name to the advanced search in my favourites! Keep going Billy!

Ah thanks guys, that's cheered me up. Just hope GR don't delete this thread like the last one. All they said was ''Threads that are in the wrong message board and those that breach the Terms and Conditions are removed.'' I'm none the wiser for that. Much less grumpy Billy

See Clause 10 Relevance of the Terms and Conditions

Thanks Tish, I've removed all my references to those who shall not be named.