January 18, 1947
Dear Dad,
It took longer than we expected to get here but we made it O.K. only to find the bottom dropped out of the used car market and now you can’t even give one away.
Love, Herb
Mr. James A. Parker
482 Main St.
Groveland, Massachusetts
I admit that it gave me a little comfort to know that the story of being unemployed in Florida has been experienced by many people, and as far back as 1947.
This postcard is the first of two from Herb (Parker) to his Dad, James A. Parker. I'll go over the research on what may have become of the despondent Herb in a later post, but let's focus on the elder Parker in this one.
First, the house at 482 Main Street still stands, and the earliest online record of the property from the Essex County Reigstry of Deeds shows an easement granted from James A. Parker in 1973. James A. Parker is also listed in a 1950 book by a Sarah Parker as a World War I veteran, and the family may have been (according to Wikipedia...) descendants of a Benjamin Parker who was the second postmaster of Groveland, having relocated the post office to his store. An 1884 atlas shows many Parkers in residence along the same area of Main Street where this card was sent. As to what became of the store, the Parker-Hannifin Company boasts a division in nearby Haverhill, MA amongst its worldwide locations. It is conceivable that many Parker family members are still thriving in Groveland, and hopefully passed on that survivability to poor Herb looking for work in post-war Florida.
This postcard is the first of two from Herb (Parker) to his Dad, James A. Parker. I'll go over the research on what may have become of the despondent Herb in a later post, but let's focus on the elder Parker in this one.
First, the house at 482 Main Street still stands, and the earliest online record of the property from the Essex County Reigstry of Deeds shows an easement granted from James A. Parker in 1973. James A. Parker is also listed in a 1950 book by a Sarah Parker as a World War I veteran, and the family may have been (according to Wikipedia...) descendants of a Benjamin Parker who was the second postmaster of Groveland, having relocated the post office to his store. An 1884 atlas shows many Parkers in residence along the same area of Main Street where this card was sent. As to what became of the store, the Parker-Hannifin Company boasts a division in nearby Haverhill, MA amongst its worldwide locations. It is conceivable that many Parker family members are still thriving in Groveland, and hopefully passed on that survivability to poor Herb looking for work in post-war Florida.
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