Category Archives: Women

From A Sister Of Yours

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Divided back, unused, embossed postcard. Publisher unknown. Circa 1908

Price:  $20.00

Here’s a wonderfully unusual one:  A postcard with a cropped photo attached to it! The card shows a likeness of a pink rose and bud with the stems holding an unfurled piece of birch bark which bears the inscription  “With Best Thoughts.”  Underneath these well wishes, the sender has glued a charming photo of herself, and written,  “from A Sister of Yours.”  At the top corners she wrote,  “Oakland, Calif.”  and  “September 1, – ’08.”

The card is addressed to:  “Mrs. L. L. Collins, Iola, Kansas”  and signed,  “With Love.” 

Thankfully, for research purposes, the date and place of the card were given, if not the sender’s name. The addressee turns out to be Lydia Loretta (Pember) Collins, born Michigan, July 19, 1867, died Alameda (county or city) California, February 19, 1946; parents John Wesley Pember and Sarah Elizabeth Christie. The Iola, Kansas city directory for 1908, shows Lydia married to Louis L. Collins, occupation travel agent, with their residence at that time being 414 S. First St., Iola, KS. Later, on the 1910 census, Lydia and daughter Lucille are shown living with Lydia’s parents and some of the siblings in Oakland, CA.

The identity of the woman in the photo has to be either Goldie, Edith or Alice Pember. The 1910 Federal Census for Oakland, California shows the girls living with their parents and a brother James Lewis Pember. Goldie, Edith and Alice were all born in Kansas, and at the time the 1910 census was taken, Goldie was about 23, Edith about 22, and Alice about 19. The photo would have been from at least a couple of years earlier, so it could be more likely that it is of one of the older two girls. (Doesn’t she look like she might be in her early twenties rather than seventeen?)

Were we doing a family tree for the Pember and Collins families, we would have plenty to work with, and would be including records from locations in Ohio, Michigan, Kansas, California and Canada. (Interesting to note some moving back and forth between Kansas and California and to take note of Louis Collins’ seemingly unusual occupation, for that day and age, of travel agent – but this likely meant traveling salesman, as we see the term come up in pretty often in census records.) And per the census records, the full list of Pember children appears to be:  Lydia, Valentine, Charles, Miles, Mary, John, James Lewis, Goldie, Edith and Alice. The 1880 Federal Census for Jamestown, Michigan shows Mary, age three, and she could be the woman in this photo but this seems highly unlikely, as no other records were found on her. So, we’ll venture to go out on a little bit of a limb and state that here is either Goldie, Edith or Alice Pember! We hope the answer to which Pember sister this is will come to us at some future date.

Sources:  Year: 1880; Census Place: Jamestown, Ottawa, Michigan; Roll: 601; Family History Film: 1254601; Page: 559A; Enumeration District: 247; Image: 0319. (Ancestry.com)

R. L. Polk & Co.’s Iola City Directory including Gas And LaHarpe, 1908. p. 60. (Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989)

Year: 1910; Census Place: Oakland Ward 1, Alameda, California; Roll: T624_69; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 0077; FHL microfilm: 1374082. (Ancestry.com)

California, Death Index, 1940-1997. Place: Alameda; Date: 19 Feb 1946. (Ancestry.com.)

Mother And Son RPPC

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Divided back, unused, Real Photo Postcard. PMC stamp box showing diamonds in all four corners. Circa 1907.

Price:  $15.00

Real Photo Postcard (RPPC) showing a studio portrait of a beautiful young mother and her adorable, approximately three year old son. They are both fashionably attired. The little boy, who has blond curls, wears a sailor suit, belted romper-type outfit with a large bow. The mother wears a dress, or it may be a matching skirt and blouse, in a dark material with a squarish neckline, trimmed in matching braid, and a white insert with a double row of dark braid on the high-necked collar. The bodice shows a double row of buttons which continue onto the skirt and flare out to the sides. The woman wears a chain with a round pendant, and a bracelet over the right sleeve of her long sleeved blouse, but one of the most striking things about her ensemble is the Breton style hat. The description found on the excellent Shappos blog under types of hats for the Breton or Bretone is a “women’s hat with ample round crown and brim turned up all around.”

This postcard’s date is estimated at 1907. The stamp box shows PMC with diamonds at each corner, which is a design that is at least from 1907, according to the stamp box examples on the excellent playle.com website. There does not seem to be much known about the company that produced this type of “printing out” paper for Real Photo Postcards. Playle.com shows six different PMC designs ranging from approximately pre-1907 to 1915, and shows a known year for the design we have here of 1907. You may have to take a closer look at the letters in the stamp box, as at first glance they may look like PMO.

Lastly, when viewing photos we sometimes have strong impressions about a person’s nationality (and wonder a little about the political correctness of saying someone “looks” like they are from a certain country) but for me I’m thinking immediately of Ireland when looking at this woman’s photo.

Sources:  http://www.shappos.com/blogs/how-to/9021445-hat-terminology

http://www.playle.com/realphoto/photop.php

Father, Mother And Dewey In Omaha

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Divided back, Real Photo Postcard. AZO stamp box. Circa 1917 – 1919.

Price:  $10.00  Size:  3 x 5 and 1/4″

Real Photo Postcard from the WWI era of an older couple, and a young man in U. S. Navy uniform who is holding the American flag. They are posing in front of what is probably their home or the older couple’s home. This one was not postmarked, and has identification in pencil on the back showing:  “Father and Mother and Dewey taken at Omaha.”  In very faint writing, and appearing upside down here it says,  “For Pa & Ma.”  I guess one would presume that Dewey is either the couple’s son, grandson or maybe nephew, but if he was the originator of the faint writing then he would likely be the son. This postcard was trimmed by someone, and thank goodness, does not have any of the black photo album paper glued to the back which so often ends up covering up the identifying information. The size is an uneven, approximate 3 x 5 and 1/4.”

Wow! Who would guess that there would so many Deweys showing up in Omaha, Nebraska in the U. S. Draft Registration records for WWI? There are at least 57 entries for young men with Dewey as a first name, or more commonly, as a middle name, residing in Omaha and registering for the draft. When I bought this postcard I thought there might be a possibility of tracing the people in the photo, since Dewey (so I thought) would be an uncommon name. This brings up the question of the name’s origin, and after checking online, I found a website that states Dewey (Dewydd) is the Welsh form of David. Interesting! And though WWI ended on November 11, 1918, one can well imagine that this photo could also have been taken after the war ended, maybe on the Fourth of July, the following year.

Source:  http://www.behindthename.com/name/dewey

Dear Erin

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Divided back, unused postcard. Publisher:  Wolf & Co., New York. No. 1503. Card date unknown, possibly circa 1910.

Price:  $10.00

“Wishing You a happy St. Patrick’s Day.”

“Dear Erin how sweetly

thy green bosom rises,

An emerald set in

the ring of the sea.”

Beautiful postcard and verse for St. Pat’s Day, showing a drawing of a young woman, representing Ireland, in a white gown and unusual head covering with cape attached. She is standing on the world. The flowing lines of her long hair, dress and cape, the graceful placement of her hands, and her expression make this a particularly lovely card. The verse is the first two lines of a poem by John Philpot Curran, (1750 – 1817) noted Irish speaker, politician, wit, lawyer and judge. Curran was born in Newmarket, County Cork, and it’s interesting to read that at the start of his career he struggled with public speaking and had a speech impediment. The speech impediment was overcome by reciting Shakespeare and Bolingbroke (an English politician and philosopher) in front of a mirror.

Sources:  Williams, Alfred M. The Poets and Poetry of Ireland With Historical and Critical Essays and Notes. Boston:  James R. Osgood and Company, 1881 (Google eBook)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Philpot_Curran

 

Sweetest Girls in New Mexico

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Divided back, Real Photo Postcard, unused with writing. Circa 1910-1920.

Price:  $10.00

Real Photo Postcard of the “Sweetest Girls in N. M.” This caption may have been written by their father (Or possibly the man’s wife appears in the photo with their three daughters.) The girls appear to be wearing man’s hats and posing for the camera. The girl on our right wears a wedding ring. Were the hats the normal attire of the day? Or maybe they were putting on a skit for entertainment, or just clowning for the camera. The hats don’t necessarily seem to fit them, and the coat the woman in the center wears appears to be a man’s coat, a little too big (look at the sleeves.) On our far right we see a young boy standing, and sitting in front of him a youngish looking woman. (This woman’s pose is so funny because she looks like she’s talking on a cell phone.) In front of her it looks like there may be at least one other person but it’s hard to tell what we’re looking at here (backs of heads or is that a part of a blanket in the right corner?) In any case, this an awesome photo, and it’s nice to have one from New Mexico.

The back of the postcard shows what appears to be “Neva Nimmo,” as the name of the person to whom it was given. With the S and what looks like the beginning of a W on the left side of the card looking like the writer was going to put the caption here again, but didn’t. Neva Nimmo does come up in Ancestry searches. The 1900 Federal Census taken in Rindoso, New Mexico, shows Samuel Nimmo, born about 1860, his wife Sarah, born about 1863, son George born about 1888, daughters Neva, born about 1892, Ruby born about 1896, and Ethel born about 1898. All are natives of Texas. Based on this and other census records and Ancestry family trees linking Neva to the Monterey County area (where this photo was found), I think this photo is from the family that appears on this census.

Source:  Year: 1900; Census Place: Rindoso, Lincoln, New Mexico; Roll: 1001; Page: 14B; Enumeration District: 0064; FHL microfilm: 1241001. (Ancestry.com)

Girl With Bow

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Divided back, Real Photo Postcard, unused, circa 1907 – 1909. Feeser’s Studio, 24 E. Middle Street, Hanover, PA.

Price:  $15.00

See John G. Feeser, Photographer.

Beautiful young girl wearing very large hair bow. Her gorgeous dress is decorated with what looks like brocaded or velvet (or both) ribbons, with an insert of satin at the top of the scoop neck, and lace from the satin up to the neckline. You can see that the lace is topped with it’s own decorative border, which at first glance appears to be a necklace. Upon closer scrutiny we see that she wears just one necklace:  a double strand, choker-style pearl or faux pearl, that is centered with a small bow design. The finishing touch to this (can we say slightly Bohemian?) look, is a slim, crescent-shaped pearl type pin. (Not that the neckline was unconventional but it has a little bit of a gypsy look to it, with the double strand, the lace and the pin.) All in all, a stunning fashion choice and an excellent photo. This postcard is unusual in that it is presented with a separate card-type backing; both portions being held together loosely at the top, by a flowered, and by this time frayed, ribbon.

The back of this Real Photo Postcard shows the AZO stamp box with four triangles up (approximate date 1904 -1918), and something that we do not usually see, but are most happy to have included:  the photographer’s stamp. The stamp shows “Feeser’s Studio, 24 E. Middle Street, Hanover, PA.” We then find an entry in the 1898 York City and County directory (Hanover section) for a John G. Feeser, photographer, business address at 24 Middle St., residence at 26 Middle St. (Eureka!) So, it’s likely that this photo is the work of John G. Feeser. (Of course, it could have been taken by an assistant.) Additionally, a Google search for the address brings up an approximate street location showing a photo of a present-day business:  Poist Studio and Frame Shoppe, located at 20 E. Middle Street. Their website indicates they’ve been in business since 1883.

More research under a separate post will be put up under the Photographer heading of this website, but just to narrow down the date of this RPPC the 1900 Federal Census shows John Feeser and family, his occupation photographer, but the 1910 shows he is working as a “retail merchant.” So, this info, along with the AZO stamp box, plus the fact that it’s a divided back, dates the postcard at about 1907 – 1909.

Sources:  York, PA City and County Directory, including Hanover for 1898. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

http://www.poiststudio.com/

Year: 1900; Census Place: Hanover Ward 1, York, Pennsylvania; Roll: 1501; Page: 22B; Enumeration District: 0150; FHL microfilm: 1241501. (Ancestry.com)

Year: 1910; Census Place: Hanover Ward 1, York, Pennsylvania; Roll: T624_1433; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 0058; FHL microfilm: 1375446. (Ancestry.com)

Salinas, California Couple

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Salinas California Couple

Old photo mounted on cardboard frame, circa 1880s – 1900.

Price:  $7.00

Size:  About 2 and 3/4″ x 3 and 3/4″ and about 5″ x 6″ including frame.

Lovely (despite “foxing”) studio portrait of a couple who must surely be husband and wife, and who presumably lived in Salinas. Studio stamp on the cardboard frame is “Butler. Salinas, Cal.” There are a couple of possibilities for the photographer:  Edward Payson Butler (1834-1923) who was active in Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties, and George R. Butler (1861- c.1935.) If this is the work of either one of these gentlemen, I believe it to be more likely that of George R. Butler, as he did have a photography studio in Salinas, while no record has been found of a studio or home address in Salinas for Edward Payson Butler. See the two separate posts on this site in the photographer category.

Handsome Sailors

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Real Photo Postcard with white border, unused. AZO stamp box, circa 1918 – 1930.

Price:  $7.00

Great photo, a little blurry but really nice content of two guys on board some type of vessel, grinning for the camera. Both wear hats but the hat insignia is not very clear. You can see that the eagles’ heads are facing to the guys’ left, and the eagles’ outstretched wings are quite a bit lower than the heads of the eagles. I am not finding this same design in online searches. The insignia most closely resembles that of the U.S. Navy, but we wouldn’t want to assume that these guys were Navy, for sure. You can see the star on the jacket sleeve of the guy on the left; a good detail that should help in the i.d. process. For now we have more questions than answers, so this is one for the “needs more research” category.

Congo Girl

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Congo Girl

Real Photo Postcard. Black and White. Circa 1957. Photographer:  Casimir Zagourski.

Price:  $45.00

This is a postcard that was sent from Saratoga, California, postmarked October 29, 1957. To protect the receiver’s privacy, the back of the postcard which shows the address, is not included here. The sender’s writing on the side states,  “One type of hair dress in the Congo.”  It is assumed that this photo was taken in the Congo, because of the sender’s remarks, but there is no description on the back of the postcard. It is possible that the sender had traveled to the Congo and sent the postcard upon his or her return to the United States but we would not know that for sure; there is no indication in the writing on the back, and no way to research the sender as it is signed with  “love from a friend.”  The photographer’s stamp on the back appears to read as:  “C. Zagourski   Photographie. Léopoldville – Congo (Belge) Reproduction Interdit.” (Most of the stamp is readable)

Research shows this photographer is Casimir Zagourski. (1883 – 1944) Casimir, the son of a Polish nobleman, was born Kazimierz Zagórski, August 9, 1883 in Zytomierz, Ukraine. After serving in the military, he headed for the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of Congo.) He established a studio in Léopoldville in 1924, and ran this until his death in 1944, selling photographic albums and postcards and making expeditions to photograph and record on film, other areas of Africa including Kenya, Rwanda,Tanzania (Tanganyika) and Uganda. He recognized that he was capturing a way of life in Africa that was disappearing, as evidenced by the title he gave to a grand body of work: L’Afrique Qui Disparait. His work was viewed in Paris at the Colonial Exhibition in 1937, and he won a gold medal, the grand prize at the 1937 International Exhibition at Brazzaville. These are just a few simplistic facts included here with this post, however the life of this influential photographer has been written about by author Krzysztof Pluskota, and appears in the book entitled In and Out of Focus: Images from Central Africa, 1885-1960 edited by Christraud M. Geary.

For this blog’s author, this postcard is yet another example of how research on one photo, one postcard, one trade card, one whatever, is like opening a door to a whole other world. Check out the incredible collections online in the Yale postcard collection and Gallery Ezakwantu.

Sources:  Geary, Christraud M. (Ed.) (2003) In and Out of Focus: Images from Central Africa, 1885-1960.  London:  Philip Wilson Publishers. (Googlebooks)

Gallery Ezakwantu (www.ezakwantu.com)

Yale University, Casimir Zagourski Postcard Collection (www.library.yale.edu)

Detroit Girl

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Detroit Girl

Cabinet Card, circa 1880s. Charles A. Millard photography studio, Detroit, Michigan.

Price:  $15.00

A beautiful but seemingly sad Detroit girl. Why the sad look? And we wonder what her ethnic background was. Too bad there is no identifying information on the card for the young lady. But it’s a wonderful portrait from the Charles A. Millard studio, guessing from the 1880s. Charles A. Millard teamed up with Benjamin F. Powelson, and in around 1879 or 1880, Millard bought out Powelson. Besides artistic photography, Millard’s studio also offered portraits in pastels, India Ink, oil and watercolors. For more information on Charles A. Millard see the prior post.