Valentine Traditions

My great grandparents, Vincencia and Joseph Mattas did not bring a Valentine’s Day tradition with them from Czechoslovakia. Nor did their neighbors, like the Brinks and Braatzs, many of whom came to the Milltown hills from places other than England. Valentine’s Day was an Anglo-Saxon thing, then adopted by  American society in the late 1800s.

The children of those early Milltown families, American born, embraced this holiday tradition!

Card. Circa 1907

Though they may not have given Valentines to one another, Vincencia and Joseph remained sweethearts through their over - 50 years of marriage.

Article from the Parkston Advance Newspaper, 1929.

The Mattas Family

Standing, l-r: Henry, Lillian, Joe. Jr., Vincencia, George, Joseph, Steve and Bill. Seated,  l-r: Mayme and Amelia.

Circa 1929

Many of the young people in the Foster township of Milltown attended the Stainbrook school. Perhaps those teachers in the 1900s encouraged the giving of Valentines as an expression of friendship, or perhaps it was a way to ward off the February cold with a party in the one room school house!

Pictured below are teacher's signatures from  report cards, 1901-1906. 

Picture of the Stainbrook School drawn by George Mattas. Circa 1900s

Background picture, Valentine Envelope. Circa 1908

Valentine. Circa 1908

Valentines were terms of endearment between friends. Lillian Mattas sent her good wishes to neighbor and friend, Grace Adkins, both living in the Milltown hills and students at the Stainbrook school.

Lillian Mattas. Circa 1908

Grace Adkins. Circa 1908

“Calling cards” were also used as Valentines in the Milltown community. 

Many of the friendships that were formed there lasted decades. Myron Brink gave his card to Grace Adkins in 1908. They kept in touch for years. After both were married, Myron writes to Grace Adkins in 1929, she is now married to George Mattas. 

As the generations moved forward, so did the Valentine traditions. My mother, Margaret Adkins, descendent of the Mattas family and married to Pete Adkins, brother of Grace, was a teacher for years.

Like those early teachers in Milltown, she and her students celebrated the day. In the 1950s, her role was as a single instructor in a one room school house in the Lincoln District, some things had not changed for 50 years.

Margaret Mize Adkins. Circa 1950s

The Valentines had changed, though. They were no longer calling cards or hand made. Printed in packages, they were available at Statz Drug in Parkston. The families at the Lincoln School were Schultz, Luebke and their neighbors. 

From Harvard Schultz. Circa 1950s

From Richard Luebke. Circa 1950s

The celebration of Valentines was passed on to me, the fourth generation of the Parkston-Milltown families. As a family we shared cards. This one from my cousin, Jackie, the great grand-daughter of  Vincencia and Joseph Mattas. Circa 1957

Like the friendship between Myron Brink and my Aunt Grace Adkins Mattas, over 100 years ago, I treasure friendships that were formulated in grade school and the Valentine cards given there. My dear friend, Susan Winter Buxcel and I are friends to this day, 70 years later.