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)