Tucked away inside an old book, I found an invitation to a 1946 wedding, complete in its original envelope (which was mailed with a purple, 3-cent Thomas Jefferson stamp).
The invitation was postmarked at 5 p.m. on June 15, 1946, in Bridgewater, Virginia. It was mailed to Mr. and Mrs. C.C. Moyers + Iva in Bergton, Virginia1.
The wedding invitation, also pictured in full below, states:
announces the marriage of her daughter
Mary Florence
to
Mr. Fletcher Pope, Jr.
on Saturday, the first of June
Nineteen hundred and forty-six
Mt. Solon, Virginia
Fletcher Pope Jr. died on January 23, 2009, at age 86 and was a notable figure as an agricultural economist, according to his obituary in The Washington Post. An excerpt:
"Mr. Pope worked for the USDA most of his career, until retiring in 1979. He then operated a consulting firm for almost 12 years, analyzing developments in Soviet agriculture.His survivors included his wife, Mary, two sons and a sister.
"He was born in Fort Seybert, West Virginia, and raised on a farm near Bridgewater, Virginia. He graduated from Bridgewater College, served stateside in the Navy as an aviator during World War II and received a master's degree in agricultural economics from the University of Maryland after the war. He attended Columbia University's Russian Institute, now known as the Harriman Institute."
Footnote
1. In 1936, Bergton and Cootes Store were affected by the Great Flood, which washed away many barns, cottages and other features in the area of Virginia.
This is an announcement, not an invitation. "please send a gift"??? Maybe that's why it was tucked away!
ReplyDeleteA litany of extended Pope family members (including the above-mentioned affianced Fletcher and Mary) are listed on this 2003 family reunion site: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wvpendle/2003reunions.htm
ReplyDeleteThe most active Pope family genealogist appears to be one Sandra Pope (LHPope@aol.com). Source: https://findagrave.com/cgi-bin//fg.cgi?page=mr&MRid=48954542
Although more than a decade has passed since this family reunion site was posted, her e-mail address may still be active. As a journalist, you may wish to give it a try, as bringing family ephemera to descendants and collateral relatives is a blessing.