Category Archives: Holidays

A Jolly Christmas To All

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Divided back, embossed postcard. Postmarked December 1910 from New York.

Price:  $10.00

Hello, Santa! A lovely rendition of Santa Claus wishing all a Jolly Christmas. In the background some holly decorating a rectangular tableau of a small house in winter at sunset or sunrise (glass half empty or half full? 🙂  as in, if you’re a morning person and your glass is full it would be sunrise.)

Sent to:   “Miss Reeta Peet, Hallcot Center, N.Y.”

The sender wrote:   “Wishing you a Merry Christmas. Write soon. Ethel.”

Reeta Peet would have been about about ten years old when she received this postcard. The 1905 New York State Census shows Reeta L. Peet, age five, along with her family:  father Horace B. Peet (occupation blacksmith), mother Mary E., and older siblings, Maritta M., Edith M., Arthur W. and James E.

Source:  New York State Archives; Albany, New York; State Population Census Schedules, 1905; Election District: E.D. 01; City: Halcott; County: Greene; Page: 8. (Ancestry.com).

Thanksgiving Day From Anna Budd

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Divided back, embossed postcard. Postmarked November 25, 1907 from Pensacola, Florida. Publisher:  Raphael Tuck & Sons. “Thanksgiving Day Post Cards” Series Number 123.

Price:  $12.00

Happy Thanksgiving!  Here’s a charmer from publisher Raphael Tuck & Sons, a turkey couple out for a drive in 1907.

Mailed to:   “Miss Grace Snyder. Stevensville, Sull. Co., N. Y.”  That’s Sullivan County. Stevensville later became Swan Lake.

The sender wrote:   “We are all well and hope this finds you all the same. I wish you and your mamma a happy Thanksgiving – With love from Anna Budd.    will write soon.”

Grace Snyder, born about 1892, was the daughter of Nelson H. Snyder and Evelyn Racine. On December 4, 1911 Grace married William Hathaway, born about 1887, son of Eli Hathaway and Lettie Van Orden. Bride and groom were both living in Stevensville, NY at the time of marriage.

Anna is Anna H. Budd, born January 1893, daughter of Morris D. and Carrie E. Blackmon. The 1900 census shows Anna, her parents, her old brother John (all born in New York) and her younger sister Florida, who was born in……..Florida (awww!)

Sources:  Marriage Records. New York Marriages. Various New York County Clerk offices.  (Ancestry.com).

Year: 1900; Census Place: Kupfrians Park, Escambia, Florida; Page: 4; Enumeration District: 0013; FHL microfilm: 1240168. (Ancestry.com).

“Mrs. Carrie E. Budd” obituary. The Herald-News. (Passaic, NJ). December 1, 1941. Monday, p. 8. (Newspapers.com).

Swan Lake, New York. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan_Lake,_New_York. (accessed November 28, 2019).

Easter Greetings To Elsa From Matilda

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Undivided back, used postcard. Postmarked March 30, 1907, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Publisher:  Raphael Tuck & Sons’ “Easter Post Cards.” Printed in Germany.

Price:  $12.00

Here’s another beauty, mega-charming…two bunnies setting off from shore in an eggshell boat. One rowing and the other at the rudder, off to deliver some eggs on Easter. The caption in light script in the clouds is  “Loving Easter Greetings”  and is signed at the bottom,  “From Matilda.”

Addressed to:  “Miss Elsa Bendschneider, 273 Belleview Pl, Milwaukee, Wisc.”

Yes, that surname is a little hard to read for handwriting but the city directories took the guesswork out of it. William H. Bendschneider is at this address in 1907, occupation janitor. An alternate or maybe earlier spelling of the family name is Bendtschneider. The 1905 Wisconsin State Census shows William Bendschneider, occupation janitor, born 1863 Wisconsin; his wife Sophie, born 1863 Germany; daughter Elsie, born 1889 Wisconsin; and son William born 1895 Wisconsin. Guessing our Elsa is the person on this census, and not the other Elsie in Milwaukee that is Elsie Bendtschneider under different parents’ names.

Sources:  H. C. Wright’s Wright’s Directory of Milwaukee for 1907. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.

Wisconsin Historical Society; Madison, Wisconsin; Census Year: 1905. (Ancestry.com).

Easter Greetings For Annetta

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Divided back, embossed, used postcard. Printed in Germany. Series 1520a. Postmarked March 25, 1910, Monmouth, Illinois.

Price:  $10.00

We can’t do Easter without bun-buns! So, here’s a brown bunny wearing a blue bow tie in a red Easter egg, doing his magician’s trick with that ribbon-wrapped egg. The sender writes:

“Dear Annetta :- How are you. Our spring vacation commences today. I am going out to Grandpas. Mamma and Mildred have allready gone. Give my love to all. Your Cousin, Helen.”

Addressed to:   “Miss Annetta Stevenson, 1912 Leland Ave., Ravenswood, Chicago.”

Ravenswood is a neighborhood on the North Side of Chicago. The address of 1912 Leland (if the numbering hasn’t changed down thru the years) today appears to be roughly at the present day Chicago Northside Church of the Nazarene at 1200 W. Leland. This is coincidental (or maybe not, depending on the history of the building and if it’s the same structure) because Annetta’s father’s occupation (from the 1910 Federal Census) is church minister. Annetta was born in Pennsylvania, about 1903, and is with parents Curtis R. and Mildred B. Stevenson, so she was about seven when she received this card from cousin Helen.

Sources:  Ravenswood, Chicago, IL. Google maps. Accessed April 21, 2019.

Year: 1910; Census Place: Chicago Ward 26, Cook, Illinois; Roll: T624_271; Page: 7B; Enumeration District: 1121; FHL microfilm: 1374284. (Ancestry.com).

An Easter Of Sunshine

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Divided back, lightly embossed, unused postcard. Made in the U.S.A. Series or number 556. Circa 1919 – 1920.

Price:  $8.00

From a bygone (but not forgotten) era……a young couple all decked out in their Easter Sunday finery stroll along a bright cobblestone path. In the distance is perhaps a church. Note how the buildings are elongated. We’ve seen this style before in May Your Christmas Be Merry, but the artist or artists are unknown. The stamp box for this postcard is printed as “Postage NOW one cent” and is the key to the card’s approximate date. The price for mailing a postcard in the U.S. went from 2¢ back to 1¢ as of July 1, 1919. It was changed to 2¢ again in 1925 and returned to 1¢ in 1928, so there is the possibility that this card could be from 1928 but we’re guessing the earlier change date applies. For the USPS list of changes for postcard stamp rates see Rates for Stamped Cards and Postcards. 

But, in any case…..

A Glad Easter To You

“An Easter of sunshine

Of skies that are blue

And and Easter of Gladness

I’m wishing for you.”

O Rhyme Of Sweet Saint Charity

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Divided back, unused postcard. Circa 1913. Number or series 7212.

Price:  $12.00

Looking more like a Saint Patrick’s Day card in design than Easter……a beautiful bouquet of lilies of the valley with a country home scene in the background and the following verse by James Russell Lowell:

“O rhyme of sweet Saint Charity,

Peal soon that Easter Morn,

When Christ for all shall Risen be

And in all hearts New Born.”

“March 15     Dear Sister, How are you. We are well, hope you are getting along all right. let me here as soon as it happens. have James to write, from Indie.”

Addressed to:   “Mrs. Maggie Dice, Neosho Falls, Kans.”

From Indie’s note to her sister, Maggie, it sounds as if Maggie is about to deliver a baby, which is a major clue for the year this card would have been written. Appearing on the 1915 State census for Kansas are James Dice, age 26, with wife M. R. Dice, age 22, and their son Morris M. Dice, age 2. Looking back to 1913, Easter was on March 23rd, and this card was written on the 15th. In 1912 Easter was not till the 31st of March, so 1913 seems to be the best fit….From later records, Morris is Merris Myron Dice and Maggie’s maiden name is Miller.

Sources:  James Russell Lowell. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Russell_Lowell (accessed April 21, 2019).

Kansas State Historical Society; Topeka, Kansas; Roll: ks1915_257; Line: 6. (Ancestry.com).

Year: 1930; Census Place: Iola, Allen, Kansas; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 0017; FHL microfilm: 2340427. (Ancestry.com).

From Mother to Roas and Mike

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Divided back, embossed, unused postcard. Printed in Austria. Circa late 1900s – early to mid-1910s.

Price:  $5.00

Hearty Easter Greetings

A sheep pulling a cart (note the wheels are made of or covered in flowers) holding a large red Easter egg. Underneath is a beautiful embossed spray of violets, roses, forget-me-nots and lilies of the valley, and in the background green snow-topped mountains and embossed snow falling in a  pink (!) sky. The age of this card is just an estimate, guessing it might be pre-WWI. And the recipients of the postcard, Roas? and Mike. Guessing Roas might have been short for Rosalinda (with odd spelling). Notice how two lines were drawn with a straight edge for the sender to write on. (These details seem to transport us back to the moment it was being written!)

Acme Bar And Oyster Saloon

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Trade card, circa 1882 – 1883, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Price:  $15.00                 Size:  2 and 1/2 x 4 and 5/8″

Acme Bar and Oyster Saloon. 9 and 11 Royal Street, Open at All Hours. J. M. Shannon, Proprietor.

“All are welcome to my shrine,

Call day or night, or any time,

My address is nine and eleven,

Embark for Royal street, then you are in Heaven.”

I’ve been away from posting new items a ridiculously long time, too much of the regular job rolling around upstairs and the laundry and dishes and gardening, etc. threatening to overtake, as usual. Or, at least that’s how it’s seemed. But back now, so here’s a leprechaun in a cabbage patch for St. Patrick’s Day, put out by J. M. Shannon, proprietor of the Acme Bar and Oyster Saloon. Oysters were big back in the day! My own great-grandmother, Sarah Durning, worked for a short time at the W. H. Dewey Ice Cream and Oyster House in Detroit, so we believe, from a city directory entry in 1880. Anyway, that’s nothing to do with J. M. Shannon’s Acme, but just mentioning, because Sarah was of Irish descent, like Shannon must have been. Notice how the  first letters of the verse above spells ACME. Clever!

So, where was the Acme Bar and Oyster Saloon? New Orleans and that’s a fact. There’s an Acme Oyster House in the French Quarter, present-day, established 1910, and one would think there might be a connection, at least as inspiration, since as we found out from newspaper clippings, the 19th-century Acme business had been a popular one of pretty long-standing, though it had changed ownership multiple times.

Appearing in the St. Tammany Farmer, April 21, 1883:

Below, two clippings from Commercial Bulletin, Price-Current and Shipping List. July 5, and July 12, 1882:

John M. Shannon, prior steward of the Pickwick Club

John Shannon, along with Peter McGrath to be more precise

Prior to Shannon in 1882-’83 we find the Acme Saloon, aka Acme Oyster Bay and Saloon under Gerome M. Borges, proprietor, circa 1876 – 1878, per city directories. This gem of an ad below is clipped from The New Orleans Daily Democrat, February 13, 1877:

Appearing in the Louisiana Review, September 11, 1889, the Acme was owned by Henry Langhetee:

By at least October 1893, the Acme had changed ownership again, this time to James McGowan, well-known in the New Orleans, according to the clipping below:

Sources:  “Acme Bar.”  St. Tammany Farmer, April 21, 1883. Saturday, p. 3. (Newspapers.com).

“The Acme.”  Commercial Bulletin, Price-Current and Shipping List. July 5, 1882. Wednesday, p. 2. (Newspapers.com).

“The prestige….”  Commercial Bulletin, Price-Current and Shipping List. July 12, 1882. Wednesday, p. 2. (Newspapers.com).

L. Sourds & Co.’s New Orleans City Directory, 1878. Page 97. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.

“Citizens and Strangers!”  The New Orleans Daily Democrat, February 13, 1877. Tuesday, p. 4. (Newspapers.com).

“The Acme bar, oyster saloon and restaurant.”  Louisiana Review, September 11, 1889. Wednesday, p. 6. (Newspapers.com).

“The Acme, 9 and 11 Royal Street.”  The Times-Picayune, October 2, 1893. Monday, p. 8. (Newspapers.com).

A Prosperous New Year To Vera Willson

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Divided back, embossed postcard. Postmarked December 31st, circa 1910, year missing. Publisher:  International Art Publishing Co. “New Year Post Card Series No. 19.”

Price:  $6.00

Two adorable bluebirds (artist interpretation) resting on an evergreen branch, are sheltering from the falling snow under an umbrella. This is the first item in The Willson Family Collection. Photos of some of the family members have been found, and will go up early this year. Lots to research!

Addressed to:   “Miss Vera Willson, Bx 543, Gilroy, Cal.”

Vera’s friend wrote:   “My dear friend:-  I thank you for the Christmas card. I am very glad you remembered me.Yours sincerely[?] HL. Bx 238.”

The front of the postcard has the sender’s last name but we didn’t find anything for him in census or city directories, likely due to the full surname being hard to read. Looks like Linden-something. We tried various possibilities but nothing came up.