Divided back, Canadian, used postcard. Publisher: J. Howard, A. Chapman, Victoria, B.C. Number or series 1180. Incoming postmark dated December 22, 1908. Sent from Alberta, Canada.
Availability Status: SOLD
These Mr. and Mrs. O. F. Henning postcards have a real knack for finding me! I keep discovering that I have more of these. I believe they may have all been in the same postcard dealer’s collection, but in that collection there are thousands of cards. After the cards are bought, the seller organizes them all into state or country categories, or themes, like holiday or teddy bears, or what have you, so for that reason the cards from the same family tend to get separated (akkkk!) So, it’s remarkable that I seem to keep picking out the ones that happen to be addressed to this couple. This one of Lake Louise will be the sixth in our “Dr. Oswald Henning Collection.” And the reason I chose it is because I have a fondness for Lake Louise, though I’ve never been there; and also because you don’t see as many older Lake Louise cards.
Anyway, this is addressed to Mrs. O.F. Henning (Helen Muirhead) at Fort Sheridan, Illinois, and shows a woman in a rowboat out on the lake. The sender wrote, “Christmas Greetings” and signed it, “E.J.M.” It looks like the type that would have been produced from a photograph, as it seems these normally don’t come out with an extreme amount of clarity, but it’s still lovely.
A Wikipedia entry describes Laggan as the former name of the hamlet of Lake Louise. Lake Louise was named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta (1848 – 1939.) She was the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and the wife of John Campbell, who was the 9th Duke of Argyll, and who served as Governor General of Canada from 1878 – 1883. If you didn’t already know, you probably correctly guessed, that the province of Alberta was also named after Princess Louise. Laggan, built in 1890, was a station along the Canadian Pacific Railway route.
The card is postmarked from Alberta in December 1908, the outgoing date being difficult to read. But the incoming date to Fort Sheridan, Illinois reads December 22.
Last but not least, we happen to have a beautiful trade card showing a drawing (or some type of print) of Princess Louise. This was the first posting here at Laurel Cottage Genealogy and definitely one of my favorites. It’s just gorgeous.
Sources: Lake Louise, Alberta. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Louise,_Alberta. (accessed December 10, 2014).
Alberta. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberta. (accessed December 10, 2014).