Divided Back, Real Photo Postcard. Postmarked June 9, 1910 from Portland, Oregon. 

Price:  $15.00

The image on this postcard is of Tressa or Tessa, surname unknown. She writes:

“Wish you were here this week enjoying the Rose carnival. Dude is here and she is to be with me tonight. Edna C. is staying with Oda this week but she will visit me next week. Met her intended yesterday. Suppose you are sorry that school is out? I haven’t heard from Neta in a long time, jog up her memory a little. Write soon and tell me if you are coming down. Much love to you from Tressa.”

“My dear Mibs:- Just recv’d your card so will answer right away. I am sorry I haven’t written before. The schools here close the 22nd. Are you coming down then? I hope you are and you know you must stay longer this time than you did before.”

Addressed to:   “Miss Mabel L. Schultz. Halsey, Oregon.”

Such a charming photo from the sender, she in her wide-brimmed hat, trimmed, in part, with ostrich feathers. (The details of the whole ensemble stand out pretty well for such a small photo.) But, we can’t be sure whether her given name is Tressa or Tessa and we’ll have to skip a long, drawn-out search for her, too many possibilities, even factoring in  trying to tie in the names she mentions in the note to Mibs. (Though some time was spent – as the mystery always beckons.)

As for Miss Mabel L. “Mibs” Schultz:  She is likely the person appearing on the 1910 Federal Census, in Albany, Oregon (about 26 miles north of Halsey) born about 1887 in Nebraska, daughter of Herman and Belle Schultz (spelled Shultz). Mabel’s occupation in 1910 is schoolteacher at a public school, and that definitely fits with the references in Tressa’s note.

Source:  Year: 1910; Census Place: Albany Ward 1, Linn, Oregon; Roll: T624_1283; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 0198; FHL microfilm: 1375296. (Ancestry.com).