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).