Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from July, 2019

US Postage Stamp Day

My Aunt Helen used to write me long letters about various family stories and information. Sometimes the letters were nothing more than a specific line's names and vitals. Sometimes she would include little stories about her mother or family stories she had heard growing up. Sometimes it might be a newspaper clipping she thought I'd enjoy. No matter what she sent, even if it was simply a birthday car, she always found the most interesting stamps. Today, it is US Postage Stamp Day. T he United States issued its first postage stamp on July 1, 1847. They were not mandatory thou until 1855. Today, not only are they mandatory, but they cost an arm and a leg. To put this in perspective, Aunt Helen was actually my great grandfather's youngest sister. Born 24 August 1903, Helen Mae Still was the youngest of six children of Franklin & Sarah Jennie Van Horn Still. She was an incredible woman. She grew up on the family farm. All the Still girls were educated and Aunt Helen w