Monthly Archives: October 2014

Peter Hendrickson, Waukon, Iowa

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A Real Photo Postcard showing a lovely studio photo of an elderly, bearded gentleman with the name and location identified on the back as  “Peter Hendreckson, 2 miles from Ingeberg Place Waukon, Iowa.”  This one has the photographer’s stamp embossed on the front showing  “E. A. Hirth, Waukon, IA.”

The 1915 Iowa State Census shows Peter Hendrickson,  age 66, born about 1849 in Norway of Norwegian-born parents; residence Waukon, Allamakee County; religious affiliation Lutheran; married; naturalized U.S. citizen; retired; owns own home or farm worth valued at $2200.00; able to read and write; years in the United States appears to be 38, years in Iowa 37.

Looking further back, on the 1880 Federal Census for Waukon, we find Peter Hendrickson, his wife Carrie, and their young son Henry, three months old, born March 1880, in Iowa. Carrie is approximately the same age as her husband, and also Norwegian born, of Norwegian parents.

The 1900 census for Waukon shows Peter and wife Karen, and two sons, Albert O., age 14 and Peter C., age 6. A daughter, Annie Mary Hendrickson was born about 1881, according to her marriage record to to Ole Severson in 1904. This record shows her mother’s name as Karen Annunson, but is spelled Amunson on son Peter Cornelius Hendrickson’s marriage record to Grace Kvamme (sp?) in 1925. Son Albert O. Hendrickson married Ida B. Vangen in 1915, and on this record mother Karen’s maiden name is spelled Amundson.

Though this particular type of AZO stamp box (two triangles up and two down) is estimated as being used between 1910 – 1930, Peter Hendrickson looks to be at least in his seventies in this photo, but possibly eighties or even early nineties. A Find A Grave entry was found for him which states he was born December 25, 1848 in Gran, Oppland Fylke, Norway, and died 1941 in Winneshiek County, Iowa. I would estimate this photo then between about 1925 – 1941, as it’s possible that the photographer’s studio was using old card stock past the 1930 estimated date for the stamp box.

As for the photographer (nice to have him identified on the card) he is Edgar A. Hirth, born Iowa, about 1876, per the Iowa State Census for Waukon taken in 1915.

Real Photo Postcard, unused with writing. Condition:  card has a couple of creases. AZO stamp box. Circa 1925 – 1941.

Price:  $15.00

Sources:  Ancestry.com. Iowa, State Census Collection, 1836-1925. Original data: Microfilm of Iowa State Censuses, 1856, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, 1925 as well various special censuses from 1836-1897 obtained from the State Historical Society of Iowa via Heritage Quest.

Year: 1880; Census Place: Makee, Allamakee, Iowa; Roll: 325; Family History Film: 1254325; Page: 414D; Enumeration District: 013; Image: 0833.

“Iowa, Marriages, 1809-1992,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XJPL-RKG : accessed 12 Oct 2014), Peder Hendrickson in entry for Ole E. Severson and Annie Mary Hendrickson, 11 Feb 1904; citing Waukon, Allamakee Co., Ia., reference 2:3R852JT; FHL microfilm 1479486.

“Iowa, Marriages, 1809-1992,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XJP1-HKF : accessed 12 Oct 2014), Peter Hendrickson in entry for Peter Cornelius Hendrickson and Grace Cornelia Kvamme, 23 Sep 1925; citing Waukon, Allamakee Co., Iowa, reference 2:3WP7ND1; FHL microfilm 1479486.

“Iowa, Marriages, 1809-1992,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XJPZ-3QJ : accessed 12 Oct 2014), Peder Hendrickson in entry for Albert O. Hendrickson and Ida B. Vangen, 05 Jul 1915; citing Waukon, Allamakee, Iowa, reference 2:3JJQBRC; FHL microfilm 1479485.

Peter Hendrickson. Find A Grave Memorial# 100916903. Web accessed October 13, 2014. (Findagrave.com)

The William S. Cox Family, Otselic NY

Gallery

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This gallery contains 12 photos.

Set of six Real Photo Postcards, unused with writing. 1904 – 1910. Availability status:  SOLD Here’s a wonderful set of six Real Photo Postcards, taken from 1904 to 1910, showing William S. Cox, his son Frank E. Cox, Frank’s daughter … Continue reading →

Charlotte Amalie Waterfront, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands

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Divided back, deckled edge, unused postcard. Photographer:  Larry Witt. Publisher:  Marion J. Head, 4 Norre Gade, St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. 00801. Copyright 1964 Dexter Press, West Nyack, New York. Printed in the United States.

Availability status:  SOLD           Size:  About 5 and 7/8 x 4″

A colorful 1964 postcard showing activity at the Charlotte Amalie Waterfront, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. Charlotte Amalie is the capital and largest city of the U.S. Virgin Islands, known especially for its pirate history and Danish colonial architecture. The photo shows a couple of sailboats, and some people on the pier attending to bags of oranges and other articles that have perhaps just been unloaded. The green wooden craft on the left is named Esme, a name of French origin, used by men and women (Esme or Esmé short for Esmérelda) and meaning esteemed or beloved.

Sources:  Charlotte Amalie, United States Virgin Islands. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Amalie,_United_States_Virgin_Islands (accessed October 10, 2014).

Esmé. n.d. http://www.behindthename.com/name/esme10 (accessed October 10, 2014).

Elms Court, Natchez, Mississippi

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“Elmscourt, Natchez, Mississippi. Its galleries of lacy iron work brought from Belgium are unusual. Built 1810. Enlarged and remodeled by Ayers P. Merrill, United States minister to Belgium under the Grant Administration; contains many treasures. Particularly interesting is the pier table which originally was made for the Duke of Devonshire.”

From a rustic Ozark cabin on the prior post to an elegant Mississippi mansion – which would you rather call home?

Update from author/researcher Michael Llewellyn:  Elms Court was built in 1837. See comment on this post, July 21, 2016.

This postcard for Elmscourt, a.k.a Elms Court, is interesting because there is a major problem with the 1810 construction date listed in the description above. Most online sources give the date built as about 1835 -1836. How curious! Upon further research, a detailed description of Elmscourt was found in Mississippi:  The WPA Guide to the Magnolia State, originally published in 1938, which included a reference to “a particularly beautiful pier table”  as well as the 1810 date that stated Elmscourt  “…was erected in 1810 by Lewis Evans, first sheriff of Adams Co.”  It’s very possible then that the source of the misinformation was obtained in part from this WPA entry.  To illuminate further, an entry at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) website indicates that in 1810, a Natchez mansion, currently known as The Elms, was put up for sale. The purchaser of this property was “Lewis Evans, first sheriff of the Mississippi Territory.”  On December 2, 1977, Elms Court (that we see in this postcard photo) was entered into the National Register of Historic Places. A detailed description of property and ownership can be found in the Elms Court National Register nomination form, which confirms that the construction date was about 1835-’36. (We wonder if the pier table was actually at Elms Court.) Elms Court today is one of the twenty-four antebellum mansions, in the Natchez Pilgrimage Tours open to the public for four weeks every spring.

The actual mansion known as The Elms is today a beautiful and historic guest home. Their website states that the residence was known as The Elms since 1843.

By the way, what is a pier table? It’s a low table or console intended to be set between two windows, often beneath a pier glass. Well then, what is a pier glass? A large high mirror, especially designed to occupy the wall space between windows.

Divided back, unused postcard. News-N-Novelties Dist. Co., Natchez, Mississippi. Curteichcolor Art-Creation From Color Transparencies (Reg. U.S.A. Patent Office.) Circa 1960s – 1970s.

Price:  $4.00

Sources:  Works Progress Administration. Mississippi:  The WPA Guide to the Magnolia State. 1938. University Press of Mississippi, 2009. p. 341. Web accessed October 10, 2014. (Googlebooks)

The Elms Papers. Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Web accessed October 10, 2014. (http://mdah.state.ms.us/manuscripts/z1879.html)

Elms Court, National Register of Historic Places. Web accessed October 10, 2014. (Mississippi Department of Archives and History)

Pier Table. n.d. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pier+table (accessed October 8, 2014).

Pier Glass. n.d. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pier%20glass (accessed October 8, 2014).

Old Matt’s Cabin

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Divided back, unused postcard, circa 1960s – 1970s. Publisher:  Panorama Publishers, Inc., 811 Cherry, Springfield, Mo. Series or number 52,142F.

Price:  $3.00

“Old Matt’s Cabin In The Shepherd Of The Hills Country. On Highway 79 west of Branson, Mo., Old Matt and Aunt Molly, two real-life characters in Harold Bell Wright’s famous book, ‘The Shepherd of the Hills’ lived here.”

The characters of Old Matt and Aunt Molly were based on real people. They were John K. Ross and his wife Anna, who Harold Bell Wright summered with for eight seasons. Wright had contracted tuberculosis and on doctor’s advise had gone to the Ozarks to improve his health. See Branson.com for details, including the history of the cabin in the postcard photo.

Back in an earlier post that I put up entitled Posing Pioneer Woman, I was referencing Wright’s book. I came across this postcard of Old Matt’s Cabin later on. I think the woman’s pose seems almost theatrical and it somehow reminded me of the book, the cabin, the area’s fame, etc., as we used to vacation for awhile in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, in the Ozarks, and had visited Branson at some point probably in 1970 or ’71.

Source:  Our History. n.d. http://www.branson.com/branson/shepherd/history.htm (accessed October 06, 2014.)

Hondarribia, Basque Country, Spain 1959

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Fuenterrabia Spain 1959 p1Fuenterrabia Spain 1959 p2

This vintage color sea coast photo is labeled on the back as “Fuonterrabia Spain ’59.”  This would be the town of Fuenterrabía, Spain, located in Gipuzcoa, Basque Country, on the west shore of the Bidasoa River’s mouth, across from France. In the Basque language the town is called Hondarribia, which means “sand ford.” In Spanish it is Fuenterrabía, and in french it is Fontarrabie. It looks like this was taken from a balcony, showing a view from above of calm water, moored boats and a tree-lined, sandy walkway with some parked cars visible in the distance. There are a couple of people in the photo, also:  a gentleman walking next to a boat which is up on the sand, and another person that must be on top of maybe a high pile of rocks on the other side of our line of view. He’s not perched in the tree, 🙂  though it kind of looks that way. I’m guessing that on the map below we would be on the yellow beach area to the left.

Map of Hondarribia

Vintage color snapshot with white border, dated 1959.  Size:  About 6 and 3/4 x 3 and 1/2″

Price:  $4.00

Sources:  Hondarribia. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hondarribia (accessed October 5, 2014).

Hondarribia – Google Maps. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hondarribia,+Gipuzkoa,+Spain/@43.4020316,-1.8837576,13z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0xd5109a0535dceff:0xf8a3a87ebc694056 (accessed October 5, 2014).

Tibidabo, Barcelona, Spain

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Tibidabo

Here’s an unusual circa 1960s black and white photo, showing a woman in a knee-length dress and a cardigan, wearing flats and carrying a somewhat large purse and a newspaper. She may have just gotten off the bus or just be crossing the street. Upon closer inspection we notice she also has her glasses in the same hand as the newspaper. She’s a nice looking, middle-aged lady, wearing a slight smile, eyes downcast, focused on watching her step on the wet street, or maybe not wanting to look at the camera, probably out running errands for the day. A front and partial side view of a bus is prominent in the photo, and we see a couple of gentlemen to either side of the bus. We also notice a woman through the bus window, getting ready to exit. The sign in the bus window possibly states Servicio Nacional [?] That second word is hard to make out. There is a partial view of a tiled roof with what looks like a tiled overhead extension running above the street in the background, plus some cars lined up on the right, probably parked. (Don’t they seem close together!)

This could be a typical street scene somewhere on the Avenida Tibidabo (Tibidabo Avenue) in Barcelona, Spain, or maybe a scene taken on the route up to the mountain of Tibidabo. This mountain overlooks Barcelona, and at 512 meters (1680 feet) is the highest mountain in the Serra de Collserola range. It’s known for both it’s amusement park and Catholic church at the top. Since the word  “Tibidabo”  is displayed (very prominently) at the bottom of the photo, we wonder if this would be one of the tourist variety; the type where the photographer takes the shot of passersby, and then offers to sell them the photo. There is no photographer or other identifying info on the back, other than what looks like the initials “MY” – who knows what that might be. “Fibidabo?”  is written lightly in pencil, and that’s just evidence of probably the last owner of the photo taking a quick guess at the word on the front. (The internet sure makes quick work of searching.) The photo is in fairly good condition except for a prominent crease at the bottom right. If you enlarge the image you can see it.

Pegaso:  A Spanish make of trucks, buses, tractors, armored vehicles, and for a shorter time sports cars. Note the logo on the bus and the barely discernible nomenclature in script on the grill work below the logo. (How we love these ah-ha moments!) Pegaso (Pegasus – we are used to seeing the winged horse) was under the parent company Enasa, which was taken over by Iveco in 1990. The Pegaso name ran from 1946 – 1994, and their operations were headquartered in Barcelona.

Pegaso Logo

Price:  $35.00    Size:  About 4 x 5 and 3/4″

Sources:  Tibidabo. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibidabo (accessed October 5, 2014).

Pegaso. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegaso (accessed October 5, 2014).

Just A Pretty Girl

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Here’s a vintage sepia-toned photo of a beautiful young woman with a wavy bob hairstyle, wearing a sleeveless “evening-wear” type dress fashioned partially from tulle (a sheer fine netting made from silk, nylon or rayon) . The photo looks to have been hand-tinted with the pale sea-green and pink coloring on parts of the dress. She wears a short strand of pearls and has a beautifully sweet, but confident, maybe a little worldly expression. This is postcard size but not a postcard. There are no markings on the back, but it evidently had just been saved in a scrapbook. Besides the obvious missing right corner, there are lots of foxing type marks on the photo, especially noticeable is the mark on her right cheek, but well, we’ll just call that a beauty mark 😉  If we look closely at the dress itself, we see a little more detail:  Is that a rose-like faux flower on the left side, or could it have been a corsage? Also, we see part of a satin or velvet-looking ribbon running horizontally (under her left forearm) on the dress dividing part of the tulle with a heavier fabric of perhaps taffeta or silk.

Studio photo, circa 1920s. Photographer unknown.

Price:  $6.00

Polo Grounds, National League Baseball Park, New York

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Divided back, unused postcard. Circa 1922 – 1923. Publisher:  Manhattan Post Card Co., New York City.

Price:  $15.00

Here’s one in keeping with the season:  October…nail biting time if your team has made it to the playoffs…The description on the back states:

“POLO GROUNDS, New York City, Home of the New York Giants, are located at 155th Street and Eighth Ave., covering about 16 city blocks. The Stands are built entirely of stone and concrete, being strictly fireproof. It was opened during the season of 1912, and is the largest Base Ball Park in the United States. Seating capacity over 45,000.”

A postcard with the same front and back (except for the publisher info – there were different publishers using the same front image) which is postmarked January of 1923, was found on eBay at the time of this post. That is former player, manager, and Hall of Famer John McGraw (1873 – 1934) in the insert. McGraw managed the New York Giants from 1902 – 1932. Anyway, the similar card showing on eBay was most helpful in estimating the date. However, a Wiki article indicates the stadium was being expanded for seating capacity during the 1923 season, and the article below on the left, clipped from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, dated June 1, 1923, seems to indicate the expansion wasn’t completed. One might wonder then how the caption on the postcard back would already be talking about the expanded seating capacity of over 45,000. Was the postcard printed in advance? A second article was found in the Hornell, New York Evening Tribune, dated April 16, 1923, which sheds a little light on the question. The card must have indeed been printed in advance from whatever information was available regarding the expansion project. So, perhaps this postcard was published in the latter part of 1922, or early in 1923.

Baseball CrowdsAnother Clip

The next image is part of a clip from a 1921 New York Times spread, but is just included here to get a feel for the era, as it includes photos of players and managers (including John McGraw) for that year’s World Series between the Giants and the Yankees. And it mentions how in 1911 the Stadium had been destroyed in a fire, hence the emphasis in this postcard description regarding the stadium being fireproof.

1921 NY Times Article 1

Back to 1923 again – who won the World Series that year? The Yankees beat the Giants in six at the Polo Grounds. And 1923 was a historic year for the Yankees:  It was their first of twenty-seven (as of 2014) world championships. Here’s part of the Hornell, New York Evening Times Herald page dated October 15, 1923:

Yankees Capture Series

Meusels Single

Sources:  John McGraw. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McGraw (accessed October 4, 2014)

Polo Grounds. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polo_Grounds (accessed October 4, 2014)

Great Stadium Now Complete. (1923, April 16). The Hornell, New York Evening Tribune, p. 11. Web accessed October 4, 2014. (Newspapers.com)

Baseball Crowds Are Exaggerated. (1923, June 1). The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, p. 27. Web accessed October 4, 2014. (Newspapers.com)

Polo Grounds Is Historic Diamond. (1921, October 2). The New York Times, p. 123. Web accessed October 4, 2014. (Newspapers.com)

Walsh, D. (1923, October 15). Meusel’s Single and Cunningham’s Error Beat Giants. Olean Evening Times, p. 13. Web accessed October 4, 2014. (Newspapers.com)

Birthday Greetings To Edward Lind Haaga

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Divided back, embossed, used postcard. Postmarked April 6, 1911 from Geneseo, Illinois. Publisher unknown.

Availability status:  SOLD

This postcard sent in 1911 has a bit of an unusual design:  a wheat bundle scene as the center of a sunflower or daisy-like flower, with Birthday Greetings printed below. It’s addressed to:   “Master Edward Hauga, Geneseo City.”   Finding the addressee was a little challenging:  the sender had spelled the last name differently. But the 1910 Federal Census for Geneseo shows Edward L. Haaga, age about three. His parents are William Haaga, born about 1881, occupation harness maker, and Jennie (Lind) Haaga, born about 1885. He has an older brother, William G. Haaga, born about 1905. All four were born in Illinois. A family tree on Ancestry shows Lind as Jennie’s maiden name, and this family name is confirmed in the birth and death record for a daughter Margaret Louise Haaga, born in August of 1910 (after the census) who died in 1927. The SSDI index online shows that Edward’s date of birth was April 6, 1907, so the sender was right on time with this postcard.

The sender wrote:   “Aunt D..? won’t be over today. It’s [?] raining. and she has a very bad cold. hope this finds you all well. will bring you a little present when I come. Many happy birth days. from Aunt D. E.”
(or L. E.?)

The publisher or printer logo on the back of the card is the mystery for this one, showing three shields with a prominent “M” in the center, all making up one large shield. Above this design is a smaller stars and stripes banner. There is a letter in each shield on the left and right of the “M” – the left is difficult to determine, but the right appears to be a “P.”  The bottom shield holds “Co” for Company. It’s a very nicely designed logo with the “M” making up part of the shield as a whole.

Publisher Logo Shield With M

Sources:  Year: 1910; Census Place: Geneseo Ward 4, Henry, Illinois; Roll: T624_291; Page: 13A; Enumeration District: 0120; FHL microfilm: 1374304. (Ancestry.com)

Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 [database on-line].

“Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths, 1916-1947,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N3XD-4Q9 : accessed 04 Oct 2014), Margaret Louis Haaga, 13 Sep 1927; citing Public Board of Health, Archives, Springfield; FHL microfilm 1614259.