Xmas Greetings….
“Merry Xmas. Wish I had a sleighride. No such snow out here. They don’t know what a bob sled is. Am feeling fine now. Am looking for a letter too. A.W. 1222 N. Cascade Ave.”
Was that “Am looking far better too” ? (No, but hehe). ….And see the prior post if you don’t know where the term “Xmas” came from…..
What exactly is a bob sled? Have to admit I wasn’t sure. Growing up in Michigan we always either went sledding (the Flexible Flyer type and a little later that aluminum saucer-shaped thing for one person, I think you could tell how much fun you’d had with that one by the number of dents it had accumulated) or tobogganing (similar to the bobsled but with a curled front and without the runners on the bottom). Without getting technical, and just from looking at old photos the bobsled was a multi-person sled that fit two or four persons, sometimes more depending on size, or how many wanted to try to fit at once. Some old bobsled photos show a wheel at the front, some just controls with rope, and some show hitched to a horse. Bobsledding is also called bobsleighing.
Addressed to: “Mr. Harry Orr. Hillsdale, Ill.”
The sender, A.W., could be a relative of the Webb family, who were living at 1222 N. Cascade Ave in 1909 (city directory) and showing on the 1910 Federal Census, but there is no one with the first initial “A” in the household in 1910. From the note it sounds like the A.W. was visiting, anyway. But head of household at this address was Dr. Gerald B. Webb. Nothing was found for the recipient, Harry Orr, in Hillsdale or in Rock County, Illinois in general.
Divided back, embossed, used postcard. Postmarked December 22, 1909 from Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Price: $6.00
Sources: Bobsleigh. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobsleigh. (accessed December 19, 2015).
Year: 1910; Census Place: Colorado Springs Ward 1, El Paso, Colorado; Roll: T624_118; Page: 6A; Enumeration District: 0032; FHL microfilm: 1374131. (Ancestry.com).
R. L. Polk & Co.’s Colorado Springs, Colorado City and Manitou City Directory, 1909. p. 800. (Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.)