These days the saying “Be My Valentine” brings to mind heart-shaped chocolates, long-stemmed red roses, romantic candlelit dinners and lovey-dovey greeting cards.

Greeting cards have long been a hallmark of Valentine’s Day. In 1916 John Lemp, owner of the local Drug Store, placed a front-page ad in the Tavistock Gazette advising readers to

"REMEMBER YOUR VALENTINE
The fourteenth of February (next Monday) is one of the happy days of the year when it is customary to exchange greetings with your sweetheart. Our Valentine Cards this year are away ahead of anything we have heretofore shown. It will pay you to look over our extensive line.
Valentines from 1 cent to 25 cents."

Romantic dinners in days gone by were more likely to be afternoon social teas or occasionally a Valentine’s Supper. In 1919 the Tavistock Women’s Institute placed the following advertisement in the Gazette.

"A Valentine’s Supper will be given by the Women’s Institute on Thursday, February 13th, from 6 to 8 pm in the Library Hall. Admission 30 cents. Proceeds to be used for boys’ gymnasium classes. A large attendance is hoped for."

The newspaper report the following week proclaimed the dinner a “grand success” and went on to state that “hundreds of people were served with a tasty and appetizing supper for the small sum of thirty cents which would cost one in any restaurant or cafe at least one dollar”.

Searching the word “Valentine” in the old Gazettes (searchable digitized issues accessible at the Tavistock Public Library) turned up these advertisements and something perhaps a bit surprising to some.

In the years 1900 - 1919 there were 26 men mentioned in the Gazette whose first name was Valentine. Their last names were Alles, Appel, Crayan, Daub, Foerster, Fuhr, Gerhardt, Gischler, Glebe, Grenzebach, Heinbuch, Henry, Hohner, Kaufmann, Knechtel, LItt, Neeb, Otto, Ratz, Stock, Weitzel, Wettlaufer, Wilhelm, Winhold, Woelfle and Yeager. Perhaps there were more but these are the Valentines that made the news. So many of the old names are coming back into vogue. Perhaps this is the year a baby boy in our community will be named Valentine.