Undivided back, used postcard. Postmarked September[?] 1908 from Pueblo, Colorado. Publisher:  Clark Eng. Co., Pueblo. [?]

Availability Status:  SOLD

This is the only one of its kind found online, at the time of this posting. Great graphics on this postcard ad showing a goat pushing a blindfolded guy off of a high board into a big wooden tub of water. And at the top right, an enticing bag of money with coins all around. It reads as:

“Don’t fail to visit the big Colorado State Fair at Pueblo, Colorado on Fraternal Day. Sep. 14 to 19 1908. William will be there. $3,000.00 to be given as prizes to drill teams and attendance.”

Who was William?

Stamped at the bottom of the card is  “W. R. McFarren, clerk.”  The 1908 Pueblo city directory shows Wm. R. McFarren, clerk, Woodmen of the World (Camp No. 2) Office 218 W. 4th, residence 1420 E. 9th. Ahhh, makes sense, a clerk for a fraternal organization for Fraternal Day. Per the 1920 Federal Census for Pueblo, William Rush McFarren was born in New York, about 1849, married to Annette, born Missouri, about 1846. And the 1920 shows he’s still working for this organization.

This card is another in the Alice Ellison Collection, a large group of  postcards that we’re still scanning and adding. It’s addressed to:   “J. M. Ellison, 26th and Cheyenne, City.”

Last but not least, our best guess on the publisher is Clark Eng. Co. of Pueblo, appearing in very small print on the front of the postcard.

Sources:  R. L. Polk & Co.’s Pueblo City Directory, 1909. p. 305. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.

WoodmenLife. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WoodmenLife. (accessed October 23, 2016).

Year: 1920; Census Place: Denver, Denver, Colorado; Roll: T625_158; Page: 3B; Enumeration District: 11; Image: 170. (Ancestry.com)