Divided back, embossed postcard. Postmarked December 30, 1910, Visalia California. Copyright John Winsch. Printed in Germany.

Price:  $6.00

With best New Year Wishes

One more for the New Year…..backtracking 107 years…a profusion of pansies to welcome 1911.

The name or initials of this sincere sender is open to interpretation, but the card was sent to:   “Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Blake, 1426 J. St., Fresno, Cal.

John H. Blake appears on the 1911 city directory at the above address, working as a clerk for the S J L & P Corp (San Joaquin Light & Power Corporation). The 1910 Federal Census for Fresno shows he is single, boarding, and living next door at 1424 J. Street, working as a self-employed electrician, and born in California, about 1885. From an Ancestry tree, John Howard Blake married Lydia Mae Clewett in June 1910 (after the census was taken). They didn’t stay at the J Street address long, as the 1912 Fresno directory shows 1019 R Street, with John working as an electrician for Valley Electrical Supply Company. By the 1920, the couple had moved to San Jose.

See Metro Postcard’s entry on John O. Winsch for more on the publisher.

Sources:  Polk – Husted Directory Co.’s Fresno and Coalinga City and Fresno County Directory, 1911. p. 48. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.

Polk – Husted Directory Co.’s Fresno and Coalinga City and Fresno County Directory, 1912. p. 53. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.

Year: 1910; Census Place: Fresno Ward 2, Fresno, California; Roll: T624_76; Page: 6A; Enumeration District: 0037; FHL microfilm: 1374089. (Ancestry.com).

“John Howard Blake.” Clewett/Larson Family Tree. (Ancestry.com). accessed January 14, 2018.

Year: 1920; Census Place: San Jose, Santa Clara, California; Roll: T625_148; Page: 11A; Enumeration District: 177. (Ancestry.com).

“John O. Winsch. 1910 – 1915.” W – Publishers. Metropostcard.com. (accessed January 14, 2018).