Dad And Kids, Darlington, Wisconsin

Posted on February 11, 2018 by Annieoakley

Cabinet Card, circa 1870s – 1880s. Photographer: J. Polkinghorn, Darlington, Wisconsin.

Price: $7.00

A Cabinet Card by photographer J. Polkinghorn in Darlington, Wisconsin of….surely this must be the dad in the photo with his young daughter and son. He wears no wedding ring, but perhaps there was none, or he was a widower. An interesting detail in this image is the man’s shoes which show dirt and general wear on the half over the toes, as if he was accustomed to wearing gaiters. No names for this family, unfortunately, but we hope they will be recognized by someone with Darlington or Lafayette County roots. The photographer’s backdrop is interesting, quite vague with that blank expanse in the middle and something tall and carved on our left, what it’s depicting is anyone’s guess, and then on our right a fancy, curved railing leading off to somewhere in our imaginations.

The photographer

Nothing definitive comes up for J. Polkinghorn but he could well be the John Polkinghorn born in England about 1857 who appears on various census record in Darlington, or Lafayette County. This person’s census records show no connection whatsoever to photography (dealer in musical instruments) but it still could be him, and likely, whoever he was, he would have listed himself in the city directories, but we’re not finding the city, or even the county records, online at this time.

Władysław Jakubowski, Detroit Photographer

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Annieoakley

Władysław Jakubowski, Detroit photographer 1911 – 1920. Studio address: 1525 Michigan Avenue, Detroit, Michigan. Partners with Władimer Lityński 1912 – 1916.

From the photographer’s 1920 passport application, Władysław, wife Wanda, and daughter Sophie.

The photographer for the prior post, Władysław L. Jakubowski, was born July 12th or 22nd (22nd from his WWII Draft Registration), 1883 in Filipów, Suwałki County, northeastern Poland, son of Vitalis Jakubowski and Anna Szpakouska[?] He emigrated to the U.S. in 1903 and became a naturalized citizen in 1911. He married Wanda Gudowski (Kudowska on marriage record) in Detroit on August 25, 1915. By the 1920 Federal Census they had a daughter, Sophie. Jumping ahead to 1940, we find Władysław and Wanda in Queens, New York. He’s working as a printing machine operator. With them are son, Marion, born in Poland, about 1923, and daughter Alina, born New York, about 1931. The WWII Draft Registration shows Władysław working at Grand Prospect Hall, 263 Prospect Ave., Brooklyn. To fill in some of the time frame and view more photo examples, see Michigan Polonia, which includes the publication Portrait Studios of Detroit’s Polonia: The Face of Polish Immigration, (pages 26 – 28).

A little more info….

Władysław Jakubowski is shown in several Detroit city directory listings at his studio address of 1525 Michigan Avenue, but the 1912 entry under his partner, Władimer Lityński, gives us a little more information:

Sources: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; NARA Series: Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 – March 31, 1925; Roll #: 1139; Volume #: Roll 1139 – Certificates: 8626-8999, 03 Apr 1920-05 Apr 1920. Ancestry.com.

R. L. Polk & Co.’s Detroit City Directory, 1911. p. 3324. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.

R. L. Polk & Co.’s Detroit City Directory, 1912. pp. 1414 and 1654. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.

R. L. Polk & Co.’s Detroit City Directory, 1916. p. 3656. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.

Michigan, Marriage Records, 1867–1952. Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics. Ancestry.com.

Year: 1920; Census Place: Detroit Ward 16, Wayne, Michigan; Roll: T625_815; Page: 36B; Enumeration District: 502. Ancestry.com.

Year: 1940; Census Place: New York, Queens, New York; Roll: T627_2723; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 41-1886. Ancestry.com.

The National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Record Group Title: Records of the Selective Service System, 1926-1975; Record Group Number: 147. Ancestry.com.

Grand Prospect Hall. grandprospect.com. Accessed August 1, 2017.

Portrait Studios of Detroit’s Polonia: The Face of Polish Immigration. mipolonia.net. Accessed August 1, 2017.

Up On The Roof

Posted on July 4, 2017 by Annieoakley

Vintage photo, white border, deckled edge. Circa 1940s – 1950s.

Price: $3.00 Size: About 4 and 1/4 x 3 and 1/8″

A beautiful vintage snapshot, albeit in rough shape, of an African-American family posing together on a rooftop. It was found on my recent Detroit excursion in an antique shop in Dearborn. No writing on the back, and Detroit could be the location, but just on the off-chance that the photo had not strayed too far. The time-frame is 1940s and ’50s, a little hard to pinpoint without more detailed research. For one, we see girls’ and womens’ hemlines at the knee in both decades.

Alfalfa Farming Family On The North Smoky

Posted on March 13, 2016 by Annieoakley

Divided back, used, Real Photo Postcard. Postmarked February 2, 1909 from Wallace, Kansas. Artura stamp box.

Availability Status: SOLD

A beautiful young family on a Real Photo Postcard in 1909: Their names are unknown, but there’s the dad and mom, the daughter, maybe about four years old, and son, guessing about two, all very nicely dressed. I love noticing the details on the clothes: the mom’s ribbon-trimmed vest, the ruching at the shoulders (well, I think ruching but apparently the definition is debatable – not going there…) the lace, the neck bow for the boy (that towheaded blond), the contrast of the dark suit for the dad, the photographer background of muted flower/foliage scene, not to mention the expressions on these four…..In any case, they wrote the following note to their friend, Steve:

“Feb 2nd, 1909. Come and see us now you will have a nice ride from Jennings to Goodland we will be 14 or 15 miles south east our place is right on the north Smoky 40 acres alfalfa land about 9 – 12 ft to water. Well Good Bye.”

Yes, you can see that above technically it really says Feb 2st, after the 1 got changed to a 2. Details details, always good to notice! The card is addressed to:

“Mr. Steve Wennihan, Kanona Kans. Decatur Co.”

In looking at a map of Kansas with the directions we’ve been given by the senders, we find their new location to be northwest of the town of Winona (middle left part of the map below). There’s the northern part of the Smoky Hill River, and you can see the town of Goodland (G is cut off) at the red airplane mark at Highway 70. It must have been a beautiful place, and we wish this family well from our vantage point here in 2016, hoping they had long, happy and prosperous lives.

The postmark on the card appears to say Wallace, which is located further west on Highway 40. And if you keep going you will come to Sharon Springs, which in August of 2013 became famous for having the biggest sinkhole in Kansas appear almost overnight, near that town. Click to see the Youtube video.

Getting back to the addressee: He is found on the 1910 Federal Census for Altory, KS as Steve W. Wennihan, born Missouri about 1877, occupation Farmer; with his wife Gertrude E., born Colorado about 1891; and their son Virgil D., born Kansas about 1908. Altory is about four miles east of Kanona.

Update: Per a comment on our “Contact” page, Steve Wennihan died in 1940 at age 63 (info from Dan Davidson, great-grandson).

Sources: “Map of the Smoky Hill River in Kansas” Google search. Map courtesy of National Geographic.

Walton, Charles. August 4, 2013. “Massive Sinkhole Opens in Sharon Springs, Kansas – 200 Feet Across and 90 Feet Deep.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPMMAsbWtCk (Accessed March 13, 2016)

Year: 1910; Census Place: Altory, Decatur, Kansas; Roll: T624_437; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 0008; FHL microfilm: 1374450. (Ancestry.com)

Out In The Old West

Posted on May 17, 2015 by Annieoakley

Divided back, Real Photo Postcard, unused. Circa 1907 – 1915.

Price: $18.00

If this one doesn’t look like a publicity photo for an Old Western movie or t.v. show, then I don’t know what does. It’s a great Real Photo Postcard, no names or photographer name, but what a beautiful shot! Yes, the younger woman is a little washed out due to the sunlight, I believe, but we can still see the delicate high lace collar she wears along with some type of small brooch. The young man’s hat in particular, with the shortish squared-off crown and short brim: I’m not sure what type it is, some might say similar to one that General Robert E. Lee wore. (This after looking online through lots and lots of hat photos.) We also note the young man’s pin-striped long jacket and perhaps silk tie. The older man appears in wire spectacles, sack suit, and small bow tie fastened at the removable collar. And there’s the matriarch of the family, seated in a beautiful wooden chair. She looks like she may be the mother of the younger woman, or perhaps mother all three, since we don’t notice a wedding ring on the older man’s hand. And, as a whole, the poses of the four and their expressions, with the sunlight reflecting off of the bare tree branches, especially beautiful reflecting off of the windowpanes, the rustic wooden porch railing and the mountains in the background….

The PocoLocoFotoFono Company

Posted on April 23, 2015 by Annieoakley

Divided back, unused Real Photo Postcard, with photographic studio stamp on reverse. Circa 1916.

Availability Status: SOLD

Here’s another mystery: A Real Photo Postcard from maybe the late 1910s through the 1920s, showing a beautiful family portrait of a mother with her daughter and son. The mom is posed in the center with the kids on either side; the boy is probably seated on the arm of the chair; the kids are leaning in – a lovely example of a mother and child relationship. The young girl, perhaps about twelve years of age, wears a sailor-style blouse with a large bow, that looks like it might be of velvet, and wears her dark hair in a long braid off to the side. The mother wears a white lace blouse and a choker dangle-style necklace with pearls or faux pearls. And the boy, about five or six, is dressed in striped shirt and narrow tie, probably with his blond hair slicked into place for the shot. There are no names to identify these people, but we do have the photography studio’s name and location:

PocoLocoFotoFonoCo Exchange. Photographs, Phonographs. 2105 Lincoln Ave, Chicago.

Curiously, and as was the case with another postcard put up a few days ago, there was nothing found regarding this company. City directories, census records, and Google books were searched online under various possible formats, but nothing turned up. To top it off, this Chicago address evidently no longer exists. So, here’s another for the mystery category, but what a great, and rather unforgettable name for a business!

Update Feb 23rd, 2016: See posted comment re the studio name listing in a 1916 phone directory.

A Family Outing

Posted on February 4, 2015 by Annieoakley

Divided back, British, unused, Real Photo Postcard with glossy finish. Circa 1902 – 1918.

Price: $12.00

I guess this is like an outing within an outing. 😉 But it’s a Real Photo Postcard with glossy finish, presumably taken in England, of a group of seven people. I think there is a family resemblance for the group, and they are posed in a fake car in front of a photographer’s backdrop. Everyone is very stylish, but the hats on the three ladies really stand out. The young girl on the left is holding a box camera. I love the “driver’s” expression, how he is the only one facing the “road” and the expression’s on the faces in general. This family was getting a kick out of posing for this photo, though the gentleman standing perhaps was “suffering through.”….Curiously, on the far left there is some wording. We can make out “SAIL…” so was the next scene over one of a sailboat with a seaport backdrop?

There is no writing or date on this card. Playles.com shows this stamp box, but with dates unknown. There’s a hyphen in halfpenny on this one, showing “Affix Half-penny Stamp.” (There was another stamp box design that was used with the same words but minus the hyphen.) Various references were found for the half-penny stamp for British postcards running from 1894 – 1918, but the divided back in Great Britian started in 1902. As far as the box camera, there were a number of different models; we don’t see any wording on this one, and similar styles were found online indicating 1900 – 1920, so this angle was not helpful in dating the card. We’d estimate it then to have been taken around 1902 – 1918.

Vintage Alaska Tourist Photos

Gallery

Posted on July 18, 2014 by Annieoakley

This gallery contains 6 photos.

Price for the set: $15.00 Size for each photo: 3 and 1/2 x 2 and 1/2″ Here is a wonderful collection of vintage black and white photos, (in very good condition except for the top two which have some major … Continue reading →

Three Kids Photo Taken By The Up-To-Date Studio

Posted on July 6, 2014 by Annieoakley

Divided back, unused, Real Photo Postcard. AZO stamp box. Photography studio: The Up-To-Date Studio. Circa 1907 – 1918.

Price: $8.00

Real Photo Postcard showing oval studio photo of three gorgeous children, two girls and a boy, who must surely be siblings due to their strong resemblance to one another. At the bottom right is the studio’s identifying mark that was imprinted, and shows “The Up-To-Date Studio” surrounded by a simple leaf-type design. This photography studio is not showing up online, although plenty of entries come up under “photography” and “the up-to-date studio.” The phrase must have been the buzzword of the day for studios and equipment. The AZO stamp box with all four triangles pointing upward places this postcard at about 1904 – 1918, but it has the divided back, so then presumably from about 1907 – 1918.

Father, Mother And Dewey In Omaha

Posted on July 2, 2014 by Annieoakley

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

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