Category Archives: Swimming and Diving

I’m In With All The Swells!

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Divided back postcard. Postmarked December 18, 1913 from Wichita, Kansas. Publisher:  Williamson-Haffner Co., Denver, Colorado. Artist name unknown.

Price:  $12.00

Addressed to:   “Mrs. Ida McFrederick, Harper, Kans, Route 3.”

The sender wrote:  “Dec 18 – 1913. send my mail up here. Hello Ma, Guess I won’t be home Sat. so don’t look for me until you see me. am working now. by by   Florence.”

Per Walter E. Corson’s, Publishers’ Trademarks Identified, the publishing house is the Williamson-Haffner Company, of Denver. So, the initials appearing at the bottom left corner of the illustration must be those of the artist. (Name unknown at this point, but maybe we’ll find out later.)

Thanks, Florence (for passing along) the wonderful phrase on the card, “Don’t look for me until you see me.”  Might remind you of the conundrum we find ourselves in when we contemplate time travel…..and some of the great comedic vignettes we’re familiar with:  Two that come to mind are Joe talking to Frito at the Costco Shuttle in Idiocracy, and one of Big Bang’s segments, something along the lines of, “Okay, we agree that if one of us invents a time machine, we’ll meet right here at exactly (whatever o’clock.)” They look around the room, and then….damn, disappointment. (Not sure – President Not Sure? 😉 ) what episode this was from and this is only from memory, but you probably know the one I mean.)

From the 1905 Kansas State Census, the family is parents, William and Ida McFrederick, and their children, Carl, William, Roy, Earl, Florence and Fern. With the family is a young McDowell (possibly) couple (who may or may not be related) by marriage to the McFredericks. Florence would have been about eighteen when she sent this postcard to her mom.

Sources:  Corson, Walter E. Publishers’ Trademarks Identified. Ed. James Lewis Lowe. Norwood, PA:  1993. (print).

Kansas State Historical Society; Topeka, Kansas; 1905 Kansas Territory Census; Roll: ks1905_62; Line: 13. (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)

Surf Bathing In The Pacific

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Surf Bathing In The Pacific pc1Surf Bathing In The Pacific pc2

Here’s a colorful card of a southern California beach scene, with reports about the weather, the tourists, and the 1908 presidential race. “Bryan” was William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic candidate who ended up losing to William Taft. Note that the postmarked date of the card shows just two days prior to the election.

Addressed to:   “Mr. John Pugh, Kahoka, Missouri, R.F.D.# 6.”  The sender wrote:

“Papa, you ought to be in ‘sunny’ California this winter. The paper today stated there had been two – thousand tourists come in the last month. We have not had much rain yet and it is very warm and pleasant in the middle of the day. I suppose you are holloring ‘Hurrah for Bryan.’ A good many here think he will be elected. Della.”

The 1900 Federal Census for Union Township, Clark County, MO identifies Ohio natives John Pugh and his wife Emeline, and their daughters, Della F. and Carrie Pugh, both born in Missouri. John, occupation farmer, was born about April 1843; Emeline was born about August 1849; Della was born about September 1874, and Carrie, about April 1888. Union Township is southwest of Kahoka, about 13 minutes in driving time.

Divided back, used postcard. Postmarked November 1, 1908 from Los Angeles, California. Publisher info:  A. A. 6. Newman Post Card Co., Los Angeles, California. Number or series 62232. Made in Germany.

Price:  $10.00

Sources:  United States presidential election, 1908. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1908. (accessed July 9, 2015).

Year: 1900; Census Place: Union, Clark, Missouri; Roll: 848; Page: 7B; Enumeration District: 0029; FHL microfilm: 1240848. (Ancestry.com)

Place Stanislas, Nancy, France

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Place Stanislas Nancy France p1Place Stanislas Nancy France p2

Here are a couple of old photos that had been taped together at some point, saved to a photo album, and later wound up in the same antique store in Dearborn, Michigan (on Michigan Ave.) that was mentioned in the last post. Too bad the black photo album paper covers some of the writing on the back. The young man appearing in both photos seems to have signed the back with his first initial and last name, which we can’t determine. But how nice to have a location for the photo on the right:  Place Stanislas, colloquially known as Place Stan’ is a large town square in Nancy, Lorraine, France. The statue in the photo is that of Stanislaw Leszczyński (1677 – 1766) King of Poland, and brother-in-law to King Louis XV of France (1710 – 1774). Presumably the swimming pool photo was also taken in Nancy, but we don’t know for sure. The subject makes reference to his brother, but too much of the writing is hidden. (The water looks cold!)

Two vintage photos, circa 1910s – 1930s.     Size:  About 2 and 1/4 x 3 and 1/4″ each.

Price:  $6.00

Sources:   Place Stanislas. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_Stanislas. (accessed May 9, 2015).

Stanislaw I. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanis%C5%82aw_I. (accessed May 9, 2015).

Louis XV of France. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XV_of_France. (accessed May 9, 2015).