Silhouette dated 1935, artist-signed.
Price: $7.00 Size including background: About 2 and 2/3 x 3 and 1/4″
A beautiful little silhouette of a Mrs. Frederick Mason done in 1935. The signature of the “scissor artist” appears to be F. Castelhun, but we couldn’t find any reference to an artist by this name, or under the possible name of Castelton. Note the faint oval outline surrounding the figure, indicating that this elegant piece was once in a frame.
Trade card, 1882 – 1883, Lewiston, Maine.
Price: $12.00 Size: 2 and 1/2 x 4 and 1/2″
I was picturing someone searching the web for a photo or illustration of this jeweler’s store, thinking they’d found it, all excited, only to find this trade card (beautiful though it is and a wonderful find.) Hence, the long post title (which made me think of Bob Dylan’s lyric, “It’s your brand new leopard-skin pill-box hat.” Goofy sometimes, the associations we come up with 🙂 ).
The front of the card shows an illustration of a young woman in bathing attire with hand shading brow and looking off into the distance, alongside the title of “Old Reliable.” I’m thinking it must have been second nature to the artists that designed trade cards, but note the nice 3-D effect on this one with the insert of the girl, and overlapping that, the insert for the jeweler (associating himself with the term “Old Reliable”) and then the artistically arranged cutting of some type of flower draped over both (with shadows drawn in). The store’s address is given as “No. 93 Lisbon Street, Lewiston, Me.”
Find the typo
The back advertises: “George A. Drew, dealer in Watches, Diamons, Jewelry, Silver & Plated Ware, Spectacles & Eye-glasses. Sole Agent for Hand Engraved and Silver Plated ware, something new and beautiful, also Agent for Rock Crystal Spectacles, the best in the world. Fine Watch work a specialty, Watches Cleaned and Warranted for $1.00. 93 Lisbon St., Lewiston, ME.”
Reliable and reliably on Lisbon
George A. Drew was born in Maine, about 1836. On the 1870 Federal Census for Lewiston, he appears with his wife Alice and their children, Nellie and Fred. City directories for a twenty-year span, show five different addresses on Lisbon. Note the 1893 address below doesn’t match the one on the card.
1874 to 1880 at 83 Lisbon
1883 at 131 Lisbon
1885 to 1889 at 93 Lisbon
1891 at 75 Lisbon
1893-4 at 71 Lisbon
Sources: Year: 1870; Census Place: Lewiston, Androscoggin, Maine; Roll: M593_536; Page: 182B; Family History Library Film: 552035. (Ancestry.com).
Greenough Jones & Co.’s Directory for Lewiston and Auburn, 1874-5, p. 170; W. A. Greenough & Co.’s Lewiston and Auburn Directory for 1883, p. 226; W. A. Greenough & Co.’s Lewiston and Auburn Directory, 1885, p. 215; W. A. Greenough & Co.’s Lewiston and Auburn Directory, 1889, p. 269; W. A. Greenough & Co.’s Lewiston and Auburn Directory, 1891, p. 286; W. A. Greenough & Co.’s Lewiston and Auburn Directory, 1893-4, p. 301. (Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.)
Divided back, unused, Real Photo Postcard. Circa 1902 – 1910.
Price: $12.00
“With Love & affection to add to your collection. Mizpah. Lizzie.”
Addressed to: “Miss Dora Dixon, 10 Glenfield St. Glasgow.”
Which young lady in the postcard photo is which is unknown, but Dora Dixon, was found on the 1901 Scotland Census, listed at the above address, born in England, about 1882, living with her parents, William and Margaret Dixon, and siblings Mary, Elizabeth, John, William, Henry and Robert. Dora in 1901 was age 19 and working as a waitress.
An emotional bond
The given name Mizpah, sometimes spelled Mizpeh, is one we’d never hear before. The word means “watchtower” in Hebrew and denotes an emotional bond between two people who are apart. The ancient settlement of Mizpah is thought to have been in one of two locations, both just north of Jerusalem, though several other possibilities exist. There is also a Mizpah, Montana, New Jersey and Minnesota, as well as a whole category of jewelry which began in the early Victorian Era, and enjoyed a resurgence during WWI. See Michelle Graff’s article on the history of Mizpah jewelry. In the screen shot below you’ll see one or two pieces of Scottish origin, with the thistle, but many more can be found online.
Sources: Parish: Glasgow St Mungo; ED: 64; Page: 20; Line: 4; Roll: CSSCT1901_276. (Ancestry.com).
Mizpah. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizpah_(emotional_bond). (accessed July 15, 2018.)
Mizpah in Benjamin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizpah_in_Benjamin. (accessed July 22, 2018).
Graff, Michelle. “The History Behind … Mizpah jewelry.” (https://www.nationaljeweler.com/independents/2059-the-history-behind-mizpah-jewelry). Accessed July 29, 2018.
“images of mizpah jewelry” Google.com search, July 22, 2018.
Divided back, Real Photo Postcard. AZO stamp box, circa 1907 – 1918.
Price: $3.00
I couldn’t get the title of this post out of my head for possible names. Not to liken the two beautiful ladies to rattlesnakes (of all things!) And then not to say that rattlesnakes are not beautiful (though understandably not wishing to encounter one, except for maybe at a nice distance) but it’s their hairstyles: the hair wound into a side bun for each, and a very elegant style it is. Both have a glittering hair clip as an accent. Guessing the two women might be sisters.
Divided back, Real Photo Postcard, postmarked February 23, 1917, Dundee, New York.
Price: $12.00
“Dear Brother, Wish you a happy Washing tub day also a happy birthday. I am down in the holler and am doomed to stay, by the looks at present. I suppose you have lots of snow there we have not. I am teaching today or rather am going to and as it is about time to go I will quit my scribling . Excuse pencil. Your little sister as shown on the other side. L.”
Addressed to: “Mr. Stanley B. Todd, 127 Middlesex Roads, Rochester N. Y.”
Washing tub day, February 23rd (just kidding)
We could not find any reference to an official “washing tub day” therefor, just evidence of the sender’s sense of humor. She is Lucy J. Todd, the young woman on our right in the photo, and I’m thinking she’d be laughing if she saw me searching for this “official day” online. (Hope she is getting a chuckle out of it, wherever she is.)
Lucy J. Todd
Lucy was born in New York, about 1895. The 1920 Federal Census for Barrington, Yates County, NY, shows her occupation as teacher. She’s staying with her parents, Charles H. and Lucinda A. (Sheppard) Todd, along with Lucy’s brother, the recipient of the postcard, Stanley B. Todd. He’s about five years older than she; Stanley was born in New York, February 23, 1890.
Heirloom day
The girl in the photo, on our left, is unknown, maybe a student? The location the card was sent from, had been a mystery, until finding the following newspaper article, mentioning Lucy Todd, a teacher in Dundee (Yates County, NY). Ahhhh, it’s Dundee! Lucy is mentioned below as the owner of an old trunk that was covered in buffalo hide which was held on by over 500 brass tacks….
Sources: Year: 1920; Census Place: Barrington, Yates, New York; Roll: T625_1281; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 189. (Ancestry.com).
“Many Rare Heirlooms Brought To Notice.” Star-Gazette (Elmira, NY). March 24, 1917. Saturday, p. 14. (Newspapers.com).
Old photo, cardboard mounting. Photographer unknown. Circa 1890s.
Price: $6.00 Size of photo: About 2 and 3/4 x 3 and 7/8″ Size including frame: About 5 x 6 and 3/4″
Lottie Bather (on our right) and friend or relative: The two ladies appear in uniforms; they are housemaids or perhaps nurses, and this photo was probably taken in the 1890s, note the wider sleeves (than the 1880 decade) and the Gibson Girl hairstyles. We searched census records for Lottie or Charlotte and even Lollie, as well as possible spelling variations for what appears to be Bather, but nothing definitive was found. But it’s a lovely photo, and you might have noticed the bottom right corner being raised just a tad. Yep, we looked underneath, ever so slightly, but no inkling of writing appears.
Cabinet Card, circa 1880s. Photographer: William Marratt. 131, 133 and 135 Woodward Ave, Detroit, Michigan.
Price: $7.00
Here’s another Cabinet Card with no writing on the back, but at least we have the location and photographer or studio on this one. See our post on William Marratt. But the subject is a beautiful young lady, a Detroiter, we presume, posing with hands resting on the back of a wooden chair with brocade fabric (I’m guessing brocade). Note the wedding ring on her left hand. She bears a strong resemblance to a friend, which is neither here nor there, but it’s funny how closely someone can resemble someone else….The time frame is probably the 1880s due to the dress style, the type of sleeves (close-fitting) but this is a semi-educated guess from me, after consulting a lovely book from my shelf, Dressed for the Photographer, Ordinary Americans & Fashion, 1840 – 1900, by author Joan Severa, (a great reference, and I hope I’ve applied the correct interpretation for this photo.)
Old photo, circa 1900.
Price: $5.00 Size: About 4 and /14 x 3 and 1/4″
“One of my luncheons. I am not in it.”
…..or Twelve Ladies and the Floating Tea Cups…..
A beautiful moment in time, of twelve lovely women gathered round the hostess’ dining table for lunch and conversation. Wonder what the topics of the day were? Men and children, politics and fashion, books and art, friends and family….Don’t you love the varied expressions, some looking at the camera, one in profile, all with the hair swept up, and then the ruffles, the polka dots and the high-necked collars…..But the icing on the cake, so to speak, is the floating teapot-teacup effect: the big teapot just left of top-center and the teacups to our right (hanging from hooks in the tall cupboard) and directly above them….some kind of reflection between the cupboard glass and the mirror above the buffet?…..And note the beautiful pitchers resting on the buffet with their reflection behind them, not to forget to mention the wallpaper, most easily noticed behind the set of four cups and saucers displayed on the small wall shelf.
Love and gratitude
Like the image two posts ago, this one was scanned with a background we grabbed that was handy. In this case the photo rests on the back of a coupon we got yesterday from Second Chance Thrift Store in Monterey, where the most wonderful book was found: The True Power of Water by Masaru Emoto. I feel compelled to mention this book here, check it out if you haven’t yet, highly (ever so) recommended (!).
Old photo on cardboard frame. Circa 1900 – 1901. Photographer: Ammon M. Lease.
Size including cardboard frame: 3 and 7/16 x 4 and 11/16″
Price: $10.00
Here’s a portrait of someone about teenager age, a young girl right at the turn of the last century, in skirt and blouse and wonderful hat, posing in a beautifully ornate, but common for the time-period, wicker photographer’s chair.
Lease is Ammon M. Lease, photographer, who was listed at the address of 742 Penn Street in 1900 and 1901. Below, from the 1901 Reading city directory, and this seems a little unusual, there are eight photographers on Penn St., who all must have been fairly close to one another, per the street numbers.
Sources: W. H. Boyd & Co.’s Directory of Reading, 1900. p. 58. (Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.)
W. H. Boyd & Co.’s Directory of Reading, 1901. p. 60. (Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.)
Cabinet Card, circa 1883 – 1885. Photographer: Lewis & Gibson, Ypsilanti, Michigan
Price: $15.00
Photographers, Jefferson Gibson and Emerson Lewis, had reportedly teamed up for only about three years, giving us a very good estimate for this Cabinet Card date, 1883 to 1885, with this portrait of the beautiful Anna Gibson (no relation to the photographer that we know of). Though she wears a ring that might indicate that the photographic duo continued into late 1886, just as likely, this image was taken before her marriage to John Young Ely, December 22, 1886. The marriage record lists both bride and groom as being native residents of Farmington, Michigan, he age 22, occupation farmer, and she age 20. John, died very young, we’re sorry to report, at age 32 of peritonitis. Anna was the daughter of Joseph Gibson who was born in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland (an inadvertent Irish connection with our last few web posts) and Martha Morrison, of Michigan.
The 1900 Federal Census shows Anna, widowed, with her three children, Martha, William and Joseph, renting at 304 N. Hamilton, Ypsilanti, with her sister, Mary Gibson and three lodgers, though numerous later records show a longer residence at 307 N. Hamilton (including some that show Anna’s occupation as nurse).
Sources: “Jefferson Gibson.” Portrait and Biographical Album of Washtenaw County, Michigan. Biographical Publishing Co. Chicago 1891. pp. 228 – 229.
“Michigan Marriages, 1868-1925,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N3K4-MP8 : 10 March 2018), John Young Ely and Annie Jennie Gibson, 22 Dec 1886; citing Farmington, Oakland, Michigan, v 2 p 38 rn 1121, Department of Vital Records, Lansing; FHL microfilm 2,342,479.
Year: 1900; Census Place: Ypsilanti Ward 3, Washtenaw, Michigan; Page: 6; Enumeration District: 0112. (Ancestry.com).
Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 27 March 2018), memorial page for Anna Jane Gibson Ely (27 Jan 1867–22 Jul 1956), Find A Grave Memorial no. 11715472, citing Oakwood Cemetery, Farmington, Oakland County, Michigan, USA ; Maintained by Kätzchen (contributor 47304829) .
“Find A Grave Index,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVVD-GQWR : 13 December 2015), John Young Ely, 1897; Burial, Farmington, Oakland, Michigan, United States of America, Oakwood Cemetery; citing record ID 11715471, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.
Death Records. Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics, Lansing, Michigan.
R. L. Polk & Co.’s Ypsilanti City Directory, 1931. p. 84. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.