← Back to "Annie E. Chaney"

Maud's Postcard to Annie, 1913

Sent by Anna Maud (Woodruff) Davis to her mother — using the name Annie Fry at the time — on 30 December 1913. This postcard is the discovery described in Annie's journal entry: the first primary-source evidence placing Annie in Colorado during the years she was believed to have vanished after her 1899 divorce from John Farney Woodruff. Original in Shannon's possession.

Handwritten postcard message in cursive ink, addressed to Mrs. Annie Fry at 518 E First St, Trinidad, Colorado, postmarked Buena Vista, Colorado, December 30, 1913. Additional handwriting appears upside-down along the top edge of the card. — Postcard, Maud to Mrs. Annie Fry, postmarked Buena Vista, Colorado, 30 Dec 1913. Original in Shannon's possession.

Transcript

Postmark: Buena Vista, Colorado, 6 PM, 30 December 1913

Addressed to:
Mrs. Annie Fry
518 E First St
Trinidad, Colo.

Message:

Dear Mama I hope you had a Merry Christmas and I wish you a Happy New Year. Why don't you write. With lots of love, Maude

Written upside-down at the top of the card, referring to the photograph on the front:

This is near were [sic] we live now.

Sepia-toned photograph postcard of Chalk Creek Canyon near St. Elmo, Colorado, showing a narrow canyon with steep rocky walls and scattered pine trees along a creek bed. — "Chalk Creek Cañon near St. Elmo, Colo." — the photograph Maud references in her upside-down note. Hartley 125.

St. Elmo is now a ghost town.