Category Archives: Horses

Street Shrine in Moscow, Russia

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Old photo, white border. Circa 1910’s.

Price:  $15.00           Size:  1 and 3/4″ x 3 and 3/4″

Found at an antique store in California….this snapshot has made its way to us from Moscow, Russia.

In a high and fairly deep archway is a Russian Orthodox shrine (note the shape of the cross) painted on wood we believe, of the crucifixion of Christ; it’s set up in front of a pair of tall, ornate double doors in wrought iron. Was this a permanent display or something temporary for Easter? No other photos were found online for this location, nor were surprisingly, any similar street shrines in Russia. But maybe not so surprising given the political situation that (not knowing the exact date of this photo, so speculating) was soon to be thrust upon the peoples of Russia:  We’ve estimated 1910’s for the photo due to the Bolshevik takeover in 1917 and the subsequent “attitudes” toward religion by the Communist regime. (See the first link in sources below for more.)

Signage in old photos is very often the key to finding a time-frame and pinpointing location, and you’ll have noticed the plaque affixed to the building on the other side of the enclave, but it’s partially cut off from our view, so we can’t see the full wording on it, nor what appears above that, rather faint, and then, of course, we’re only seeing the last couple of block letters in whatever is displayed there denoting something. I’m wondering if the whole building would have been a church or if that’s a storefront or something like that next to the shrine. But note the images of saints and angels appearing on the stonework surrounding the 3-d crucifixion depiction, leading us to think that at least part of the building was a house of worship.

Last, but most certainly not least:  the mustachioed gentleman standing, leaning a little, next to the archway, in suit and visored hat of the type you can find in other circa 1910’s and ’20’s Russian photos, and high peasant-type boots – he’s a working man, holding one of the tools of his trade, a hand-drill. And then, about to lumber into our view, a draft horse that would have been pulling a cart or wagon.

Below,a clipped view of a Google.com search for antique hand drills:

Sources: Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union. n.d. (accessed April 2, 2023).

Nov 7, 1917 CE: October Revolution. https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/october-revolution/ Accessed April 4, 2023.

“images of antique hand drills.” Google.com search. Accessed April 4, 2023.

Young Woman With Horse

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Real Photo Postcard. Unused. Circa 1907 – 1909. AZO stamp box. 

Price:  $5.00

No writing on the back, so no way to offer up a great find for any potential descendant on this one. But, sometimes you’re just drawn to a photo or postcard image, and I think this one is beauty in its simplicity:  Girl and horse, part of a barn, a couple of trees, wooden fence, rolling hills – a nice blast back to our rural American past.

Looking off to her left, the young woman in skirt and blouse, hair pulled back in a bow, holding the rope halter of her horse, the animal’s expression faces the camera. (The nuances are lovely – who is looking where.) And first impressions are always interesting. To me, the girl’s skin coloring appears to be a trifle dark; she strikes me as being part Native American or having gypsy background. Of course, that’s only an impression on my part, and not meant to be taken as anything, really – only to share the thought. Do you think she wears wire-rimmed eyeglasses or is that a trick of the light? The horse (no horse expertise here on my part) looks young, and I like the square “star” appearing on his forehead. (Apparently the white markings, other than the vertical blaze, are called stars, no matter their shape.)

Per Playles, this particular AZO stamp box (on reverse) with diamonds in corners is dated from 1905 – 1909. We presume Real Photo Postcards followed the same U. S. postal regulations regarding “Divided Back,” the ruling for which started March 1, 1907. So, the date, at least, can be happily narrowed down to 1907 – 1909.

Sources:  Sanderson, David. “Naming Head Markings on a Horse.” Dallas Equestrian Center, May 13, 2015, http://www.dallasequestriancenter.com/naming-head-markings-on-a-horse/#:~:text=Star,of%20whether%20it%20resembles%20one. Accessed February 11, 2023.

Playle’s:  “Real Photo Postcard Stamp Boxes, A – B.: https://www.playle.com/realphoto/photoa.php. (accessed February 11, 2023).

Borealis and Sleigh Ride

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Antique circular print. Artist and publisher unknown. Circa 1880s – 1900.

Price for circular print without background:  $5.00        Size:  About 3 and 3/4″ across.

This was just a circular cutout from somewhere, that someone had saved, back in the day. It had made its way to one of the paper fairs or maybe an antique store, I don’t remember. The top and bottom had gotten a little scrunched but you can’t notice it in the image. And in looking for a background to scan it on (always a fun search!) I noticed our wall calendar for this year which was all photos of the Aurora Borealis. So, I got kind of enamored of the idea of this couple, and their team and sleigh, sort of floating in space in a sky of magical Borealis colors and lights (What would be the translation into music? Surely something so beautiful!)

And note in the closeup below, the carved figurehead with draping wings of what is probably a peacock. Searching online we find that there were many stunningly ornate sleighs crafted in prior centuries, including those with figureheads. Click here to see some examples that others have posted.

Source:   Google.com search result for “ornate antique open air sleighs with figureheads.” Accessed 12/29/19.

The Dock At Patchogue, Long Island

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Héliogravure or Photogravure. Postmarked July 23, 1914, Patchogue, New York. Publisher:  H. O. Korten. Panel Card No. 174. Printed in Germany.

Price:  $8.00            Size:  About 6 and 1/8 x 2 and 1/2″

An interesting image, though a big chunk of the right-hand upper corner is missing. It might be relevant for anyone interested in the history of Patchogue, and definitely so if their ancestor owned a sailboat christened Nancy Hanks.

Originally I listed this one as a Real Photo Postcard, but many thanks to Jim, who commented, for the correction. It’s a héliogravure or photogravure.

What degree of separation….mother, horse, sailboat…?

One naturally assumes the boat may have been named after a then present-day (1914) person, maybe a relative of someone who lived in Patchogue. So, we went to census records for Nancy Hanks, but found nothing; then went to historical newspapers and found a reference to someone running off at “a Nancy Hanks trot.”  Intriguing…..Ahhhh, a little further searching revealed that Nancy Hanks (named after Abe Lincoln’s mother) was a Standardbred trotting mare, a record-breaker that was later inducted into the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame.

The trotter Nancy Hanks circa 1892, photo by Schreiber.

As for the card’s sender and recipient…..

Addressed to:   “Miss Elsie Blum, 481 E – 11th st., Brooklyn, N.Y.”

The sender wrote:   “Dear Ones, just got mother’s letter & will write soon. Wieder[?] is very very happy with you. Love & a big kiss. Tanta Lahy.”

The Blum family were of German origin, and maybe “Tanta” is a nickname for tante (aunt). It sounds like the sender’s son received a gift from Elsie and was thrilled with whatever it was. As for the addressee, there’s an Elsie Blum on the 1910 Federal Census that might fit for the addressee of this card. Born in Ohio about 1890, parents Adam and Elsie, address 812 Cortelyou Road in Brooklyn, with a near cross street being E. 7th. Nothing coming up for the address on the postcard in city directories at either 481 11th (apt. E) or 481 E. 11th, which is surprising. But it is an address today, if the numbering is the still the same, 481 11th St., a condo, and so beautiful on the inside! ( If Elsie could see it now!)

Sources:  Photogravure. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photogravure (accessed February 7, 2021).

Year: 1910; Census Place: Brooklyn Ward 29, Kings, New York; Roll: T624_983; Page: 10A; Enumeration District: 1023; FHL microfilm: 1374996. (Ancestry.com).

Nancy Hanks (horse). n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Hanks_(horse). Accessed September 15, 2019.

Stereograph of Portobello Beach, Scotland

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Stereograph, Portobello Beach, Scotland, circa 1860s – 1890s. Possibly 1860s.

Price:  $20.00        Size:  About 6 and 3/4 x 3 and 1/4″ including matting

Bathing machines at Portobello Beach, Scotland

Portobello was a coastal town situated three miles east of Edinburgh’s city center, and today is a suburb of that city.

Here’s two of the same image mounted on cardboard to make a stereograph, also commonly called stereo view, the type used for 3-D viewing (or an approximation of) that was popular “in waves” (per Wikipedia’s entry and no pun intended 😉 ) from around 1870 – 1920.

Various historical notices and letters can be found in The Caledonian Mercury (Edindburgh, Scotland) on the subject of bathing at Portobello. A little background info:  Men had been used to bathing in the nude, both sexes used the bathing machines, women were segregated from the men, and bathing laws were changing in the 1860s. Here’s a few newspaper clippings – below left, appearing July 17, 1851 and on the right, dated June 23, 1862:

Below, another letter to the editor, dated April 4, 1863, and signed “Common Sense.”

Forsyth

Note the surname Forsyth on a few of the conveyances, which we discovered was one of the rental companies at the time the photo was taken. (Could the W. F. in the 1862 letter to the editor have been a Forsyth?) Other machines in the photo show different company names, but they’re too blurred to make out.

Below, a Forsyth’s baths ad clipped from The Caledonian Mercury, August 21, 1861, which leads one to think that our stereograph photo may have been from the 1860s, though more research would need to be done to hopefully find how long the company was in the machine rental business.

High topper gents

Also notable, are two men gazing back at the camera, sporting high top hats. Note that the hat on the right is what we think of as “stovepipe” as in Abe Lincoln, but the other (or maybe too much imagination in play here) looks like it might be of the variety that was more rounded on the sides and top. The term “chimney pot” was also used, but it seems both nicknames have come to be used interchangeably, and understandably so, because one can find photos of chimney pots that have either straight, convex or concave sides. But we’ll stop ourselves here from going off on a hat tangent, (a whole other realm….hat history, hats and public opinion, hats and politics, how fashion influenced politics, etc.)

Sources:  Stereoscope. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereoscope (accessed August 31, 2019).

Bathing machine. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathing_machine (accessed August 31, 2019).

“Portobello – The Bathing Machines” The Caledonian Mercury, July 17, 1851. Thursday, p. 2. (Newspapers.com).

“Letter to the Editor” The Caledonian Mercury, June 24, 1862. Tuesday, p. 2. (Newspapers.com).

“Bathing at Portobello” The Caledonian Mercury, April 6, 1863. Monday, p. 2. (Newspapers.com).

“Baths” The Caledonian Mercury, August 21, 1861. Wednesday, p. 2. (Newspapers.com).

Top hat. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_hat (accessed August 31, 2019).

Mrs. Delia Hoak, Idaho, Circa 1930

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Two old photos, circa 1925 – 1935.

Price for the pair:  $15.00           Size for photo on left: 2 and 5/8 x 4 and 3/8″

Size for photo on right:  3 and 1/8 x 5″

“Delia on her mount…..Taken after Ernest’s & Cleo’s wedding when they went to Rupert.”

Most likely these are photos of Delia Olive Bull, born September 12, 1909 in Rupert, Idaho, daughter of Walter A. Bull and Victoria Virginia Howell. Delia married John William Hoak October 25, 1926 in Minidoka County, Idaho. Though the back of the photo on our right shows “Delia or Mrs. Coke,” no matches were found, so the correction in pencil to “Hoak” would be correct. The photo on the left might have been taken before Delia married, as she looks younger in that snapshot. The 1930 Federal Census for Boise shows John, Delia and their two young sons, Willis and Kenneth.

As for the newlyweds, Cleo and Ernest, there are a few possible couples that fit the time period with these given names, in Idaho.

Sources:  Idaho State Department of Health; Boise, Idaho; Idaho Birth and Stillbirth Index, 1913-1964. (Ancestry.com).

Upper Snake River Family History Center and Ricks College; Rexburg, Idaho; Idaho Marriages, 1842-1996. (Ancestry.com).

Year: 1930; Census Place: Boise, Ada, Idaho; Roll: 395; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 0012; FHL microfilm: 2340130. (Ancestry.com).

Our Horseback Adventure

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Old photo, white border. September 1922.

Price:  $15.00            Size:  About 2 and 1/2  4 and 1/4″

A great remembrance of a wonderful day:  Three friends, identified on the back as Florence Gallison, Zilda Smith and Maude Fields, September 1922. The three cowgirls at heart are posed on horseback in front of a scenic view in, it’s a safe bet to say the Sierras, maybe in or near the Stanislaus National Forest, or Yosemite National Park. Reason being is that the three were only found in reasonable proximity, living in the Central Valley of California: Florence and Maude in Turlock and Zilda in Stockton.

Note: There were two Florence Gallison’s in the area, but Florence G. Gallison was ruled out as she was a Gallison by marriage, and was not married until after 1922.

Below, a short news blip that appeared in the Modesto Evening News, June 17, 1914, informing that Florence (she would have been about fourteen) was spending the summer in Sugar Pine, California (near the south entrance to Yosemite National Park.)

UPDATE re a banjo:  Please be sure to read the comment below from Jay, who so kindly provided the color photos. As you will note from one of the photos, our three horseback adventurers were part of a musical endeavor called the Yosemite Blind Bats. As of March 28, 1923, the band members were:

F. C. Alexander; H. A. “Red” Halls; A. I. or A. L. Mill; F. M. Gallison; M. A. Stout; A. B. Leavitt; Gene DePaul or Depauli; Maude Field; Zilda Smith; “Edythe” Leavitt.

From our research, F. C. Alexander was Fred Colville Alexander, born Kentucky 1885. A. B. Leavitt was Amy Belle Leavitt, born San Francisco, California, April 1897. Fred and Amy married in September 1923. They were both residents of Yosemite at the time. From Fred’s WWI Draft Registration Card in 1918, his occupation was property clerk and storekeeper at Yosemite National Park, and interestingly from a musical standpoint, deaf in his right ear. By at least 1926 he was postmaster at Yosemite. (Scroll to the bottom of the page for a clip from the Santa Cruz Evening News.)

“Edythe” Leavitt was Amy Belle’s sister. Spelled Edith in records, we love the hinting toward some type of running joke re the quotation marks. She was born in California, about 1901.

And, rather grainy, but still a nice find – a photo of Zilda Smith that appeared in the Stockton Evening and Sunday Record, July 1924:

Other readable names from the banjo photos are:  Pete Van Bake; Thelma Britton; Philip Patterson; [?] Van Wormer; Bob Davison; B. B. Harlett; E. M.[?] Metcalf; G. E. Comstock; [?] Thompson; The Brockway Splashes. (Brockway is an unincorporated community on the north shore of Lake Tahoe, at the California-Nevada border.)

Photos from Jay:

Below, Postmaster, Fred Alexander of Yosemite is involved in the arrest/custody of two n’er do wells:

Sources:  Florence Gallison. Year: 1920; Census Place: Turlock, Stanislaus, California; Roll: T625_152; Pages: 1B; Enumeration District: 188. (Ancestry.com).

Maude Fields. Year: 1920; Census Place: Turlock, Stanislaus, California; Roll: T625_152; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 184. (Ancestry.com).

Zilda Smith. R. L. Polk and Co.’s Stockton City and San Joaquin County Directory, 1925. Vol. 18, p. 59. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.

Modesto Evening News, June 17, 1914. Wednesday, p. 7. (Newspapers.com)

Ancestry.com. California, U.S., Marriage Records from Select Counties, 1850-1941.

Year: 1910; Census Place: Stockton Ward 4, San Joaquin, California; Roll: T624_103; Page: 1a; Enumeration District: 0144; FHL microfilm: 1374116. (Ancestry.com).

“Planting Young Trout in Lakes and Streams Requires Extreme Care.” Stockton Evening and Sunday Record, July 26, 1924. Saturday, p. 29. (Newspapers.com)

“Former Postmaster of Arkansas Town Arrested With Female Companion.” Santa Cruz Evening News, June 25, 1926. Friday, p. 1. (Newspapers.com)

Walter Wetzel, Red Lodge, Montana, 1922

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Old photo. August 8, 1922, Red Lodge, Carbon County, Montana.

Price:  $15.00       Size:  4 and 1/8 x 2 and 3/8″

Here’s a beautiful photo of a man in jeans and cowboy hat, standing, holding the reins of two horses. On the back we have the i.d. showing,  “Aug 8/22. Walter Wetzel. Red Lodge, Montana.”  To our right, in the photo, is a rudimentary-looking log cabin (no windows) and in the background, snow covered mountains of the (assuming) Beartooth Mountain Range. In searching records for a Walter Wetzel that might fit this photo we find a Walter W. Wetzel (1902 – 1953) a well-known forester, who married Elva Ellis. A newspaper clipping from 1927 that announced the couple’s marriage license, stated Elva was a resident of Red Lodge. But how old is the man in the photo? My first impression was of someone about age fifty, albeit a very fit age fifty. But he could certainly be much younger. It’s hard to tell because of the lighting and the distance the photo was taken from.

La Calèche De Québec

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Divided back, unused postcard. Publisher:  Librairie Garneau, Québec, PQ Canada.  Circa 1931.

Price:  $3.00

La Calèche:  a popular subject for old Québec postcards

The calèche, as shown in the postcard, is a light carriage with two large wheels, drawn by one horse, and usually seen with its top folded back. After searching old newspapers (the term calèche abounds) and books online, it seems the name was perhaps used generically for carriage, maybe at some point having something to do with the hood style. (This Wiki article in french shows the different look with four wheels) and after many searches the only thing that seems clear is that when exactly the two-wheeler came into being would be a subject for a more in-depth search, but here’s an excerpt from an article in 1850 that appeared in the Christian Watchman (Boston).

And we couldn’t resist including this next snippet from a short story by Fred Hunter from the newspaper Flag of Our Union (Boston) re a mysterious woman in a blue bonnet, bringing to mind the two-wheeler, really, if conjuring an image…

Speaking of bonnets, the women’s bonnet in images below, was aptly named the “caleche capote” (carriage hood). Newspaper articles in 1879 reference this as the latest style.

Surface romance

But back to the conveyance:  Is the vehicle as seen in the postcard above still in use today? No, today we’re talking about the horse-drawn four-wheeled carriage that has been a part of the tourist industry in the cities of Montréal and Québec. This is an eye-opening topic, if you have not yet heard of the plight of the carriage horse. Glad now that we never took that carriage ride, well what –  twenty years ago in Montréal? But, still. And through the surface of charm and romance we’d probably have thought anyway, “But is the horse happy?” You know how it is when you get that feeling that you’ve bought into something fake, something glossy on the surface but behind the scenes, “not so much.” So, in many cities the use of the carriage horse has already been banned, while in other places the fight continues. Below, a couple of excellent websites:

Anti-Calèche Defense Coalition

Horses Without Carriages

On to the postcard….

After some online digging we found that our card originated from a Real Photo Postcard:  One is currently showing on eBay, “The Old World Caleche, Quebec, P. Q.,” published by S. J. Hayward, 1448 Mountain St., Montréal, and dated by the sender in 1931. The photo itself could have been taken earlier. In addition to our tinted version there is a second colorized rendition from Toronto publisher, The Post Card & Greeting Card Company, Ltd., as shown below, second from left, top row, in some images from a Google search.

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Sources:  Calèche. The Canadian Encyclopedia. (accessed March 18, 2017).

Calèche. n.d. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cal%C3%A8che (accessed March 18, 2017).

“A Trip to Quebec.” Christian Watchman (Boston, MA) Thursday, October 10, 1850. p. 4. (GenealogyBank.com)

Hunter, Fred. “The Blue Velvet Bonnet – A Parisian Tale.” Flag of Our Union (Boston, MA) Saturday, March 31, 1949. p. 4. (GenealogyBank.com)

“Images of caleche bonnet.” Cropping of Google.com search result. https://www.google.com/search?q=images+of+caleche+bonnet&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8. (accessed March 18, 2017).

“Old World Caèche Montreal Quebec Canada 1931.” ebay.com http://www.ebay.com.sg/itm/Old-World-Caleche-MONTREAL-Quebec-Canada-1931-S-J-Hayward-Postcard-3874-/192109228919?hash=item2cba9a3377:g:j~cAAOSwEzxYdbBK(accessed March 18, 2017).

“Images of Quebec postcards calèche.” Cropping of Google.com search result. https://www.google.com/search?q=images+of+cal%C3%A8che+postcards+quebec&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj6_9-rwODSAhUQ32MKHYs4Bf0QsAQIGQ&biw=1205&bih=522. (accessed March 16, 2017).

A Coaching Christmas

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Divided back, used postcard. Postmarked from Lodi, California, December 22, 1921. Publisher unknown. S02 – 6. Des. (design) Xmas.

Price:  $6.00

We’ll start off Christmas this year with a 1921 postcard from the Alice Ellison Collection showing a stagecoach with team of horses arriving at a country inn:  There’s the driver and two (artistic license most likely) coach guards, both with their “yard of tin,” the long trumpet used to announce arrival and departure, warn off other traffic on the road, and announce arrival at toll gates; and with the figures of a man and boy; a bunny bounding down the path through the snow; and a couple of horseshoes and whip….altogether a charming remembrance of the Regency Era. The card’s beautiful verse goes out to all:

“Each Christmas binds more close the friends

We knew in Auld Lang Syne,

And so, in thought, my hand extends

To meet the clasp of thine.”

Addressed to:   “Miss Ella Ellison, 1314 F St., Sacramento, Califa.,”  and signed, “From Mrs. McNees & Dorothy.”