Alice May Stewart’s Birth Announcement

Divided back, used postcard. Postmarked September 18, 1912 from Los Angeles, California. Series 702. Publisher unknown. 

Price:  $12.00

A cute design! A happy baby steering the stork in for a landing….

“Mr. & Mrs. Stewart announce with pleasure the birth of Alice May Stewart on Sept. 7th. Weight 6 lbs. at 6:30 p.m.”

On the reverse the mom wrote:  “202 Bay St.      Dear Pinkie a few lines saying I am getting along fine. Baby is fine. Jimmie is very much in love with her. Julia.”

So, Alice May Stewart, born September 7, 1912, is the daughter of James and Julia Stewart. The address from city directories in 1911 and 1913 (nothing for 1912) shows as 2021 Bay St., rather than 202 Bay. James worked as a teamster.

Addressed to:  Mrs. Nettie Corbin. 1362D Valencia St. San Francisco, Cal.”

Nettie M. Corbin, born about 1882, appears on the 1910 Federal Census for San Francisco at 1362 Valencia with her husband, William S. Corbin, born about 1877, and their five-year old son, William Jr. Dad, William, Sr. works for the railroad as a locomotive engineer. All are California natives.

Sources:  Los Angeles City Directory Co.’s Los Angeles City Directory, 1911. p. 1371; 1913, p. 1809. (Ancestry.com).

Year: 1910; Census Place: San Francisco Assembly District 35, San Francisco, California; Roll: T624_98; Page: 9a; Enumeration District: 0135; FHL microfilm: 1374111. (Ancestry.com).

A Happy Easter To Maybell Morgan

Divided back, embossed, unused postcard. Publisher:  Whitney Made, Worcester, Massachusetts. Made in U.S.A.

Price:  $4.00

Easter, 1927

A Happy Easter

“Songs and flowers and skies of blue

They all come with Easter and

my wish comes too

For Easter gladness”

A cute card to Maybell Morgan from Rosemary:  Three rosy-cheeked children, (their look may remind you of illustrations from England) and an adorable quacking duck, are on a hilltop with daffodils. Appearing from the other side of the hill is a cozy cottage and the silhouette of some trees.

The Best of Health – A Share of Wealth

Divided back, used postcard. Postmarked from Galt, California, December 28, year unknown, circa late 1910’s – early 1920’s. Made in United States. Publisher:  J. P., New York (Julius Pollak). 

Price:  $5.00

For information on the postcard’s publisher, see “Publisher Julius Pollak.”

From The Alice Ellison Collection, a nice one for the New Year:  A leaded, Gothic Arch-style window, lit from within; set in a stone building (church, home or tavern) snow clinging to the window ledge and stonework. Somewhat superimposed on this scene, two bluebirds sit on a holly branch while a third comes in for a landing.

New Year Greetings

“The best of health – a share of wealth

Be yours this coming year,

But best of all – a host of friends

To fill your days with cheer.”

Addressed to:   “Mrs. J. M. Ellison, 604 N Street, Sacramento, Calif.”

The sender wrote:   “Just a line to say I may be at church Sunday, but will have to come home on the first car. Hope I will see you at church. Wish you all a Happy New Year, your friend, Mrs. Hame.”

That signature is a little hard to read but I believe the surname is Hame. On the 1920 Federal Census for Alabama Township, Sacramento County, CA, there is a Mrs. Artha Hame, married to a Charles J. Hame. Her maiden name is Stout:  We’re given her maiden name on this census by virtue of the fact that two of her brothers are living in the household.

Alabama Township doesn’t show up online today, but from an 1885 map it was situated in the southeast portion of Sacramento County. You would have traveled west to get to the town of Galt. (Enlarge to see Galt appearing in the neighboring township of Dry Creek.)

Sources:  Year: 1920; Census Place: Alabama, Sacramento, California; Roll: T625_127; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 69. (Ancestry.com).

Official Map of Sacramento County. (1885). Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4363s.la000034/?r=0.385,0.711,0.535,0.215,0.

Galt. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galt,_California. (accessed January 2, 2024).

A Moment’s Rest

Real Photo Postcard, unused. Stamp box:  DOPS. Circa 1925 – 1942.

Price:  $8.00

Is this us? Finding a safe spot in a storm, surrounded by the chaos of life, just a breather for a minute, but drawing strength….Yeah, it feels like it, and I’m with ya.

The time frame on this one comes from the great Playle’s website re Real Photo Stamp Boxes.

Source:  “Real Photo Postcard Stamp Boxes – D-E.” https://www.playle.com/realphoto/photod.php (accessed September 11, 2023).

Artist-Signed Postcard Birds in Pine Tree

Divided Back, deckled edge, unused, artist-signed postcard. Number or series 206. Publisher:  Alfred Mainzer, Inc. 39-33 29th Street. Long Island City 1, New York. Printed in Belgium. Circa 1940s – 1950s.

Price:  $12.00

This is a beautiful card that I’ve had for awhile and finally got around to posting. The variety of bird, or if it even exists, is unknown. It may be something from the artist’s imagination (that very distinctive spotted-feather crown) as I don’t see this type of guy online, or in the bird reference book from my bookshelf. The artist appears to have been Swiss-born Eugen Hartung (1897-1973), he is best-known for doing the cats in clothing funny cards that were first published by Max Kunzli, then later by Alfred Mainzer. Here’s a crop of the signature that appears in the lower right corner:

Source:  Eugen Hartung. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugen_Hartung (accessed May 11, 2022).

Handmade Postcard To Maggie Ames From Hughie C. G.

Undivided Back, handmade postcard, unused. 1901 – 1907.

Price:  $15.00            Size:  About 5 x 3″

U. S. postal changes tell us the time estimate for this very charming hand-drawn card:  December 1901 the words “Post Card” were allowed (to replace “Private Mailing Card”) and then it was March 1907 when the law allowed for the Divided Back. So, we have a decent time-frame for when the card was made. And, Hughie (if he was the artist) was really very good. Look at those smooth lines, the use of the thicker ink stroke and thinner, the flow and movement, and just the overall uplifting feel, like a message of hope!

See our category from the Home Page, “Hand-drawn or Painted Cards” for a few more examples.

The Miser

Divided Back, unused postcard. Copyright S. S. Porter, 1907. Publisher:  The Western News Company, Chicago, Illinois.

Price:  $4.00

This postcard was titled, “The Miser,” at the bottom of the card. You can see it if you enlarge the image. For me, it doesn’t really fit the artwork, as I imagine the little boy would be dropping some crumbs for the bunnies (not that they should eat them) and the birdie. But it’s an adorable card, not in the best shape, as you can see, but still.

Addressed to:   “Master Ralph Enloe, Pinole, Contra Costa Co, Cal.”

Ralph Enloe would have been about six years old when this postcard was written. He was born November 2, 1901 in Pinole, California. Son of Anna May Morgan and Joseph Volley Enloe.

Source:  Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/47303740/ralph-thomas-enloe : accessed 23 April 2022), memorial page for Ralph Thomas Enloe (2 Nov 1901–10 Mar 1979), Find a Grave Memorial ID 47303740, citing Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles County, California, USA ; Maintained by rhale1100 (contributor 47198156) .

Bunnies Helping Chicks

Undivided back postcard. Unused. Circa March 1907. Publisher:  Richard Behrendt, San Francisco, California.

Price:  $10.00

A Happy Easter from Aunt Sadye

This is a day late for Easter but still heartfelt. I love the colors, the pinks and yellows reminding us of a sunrise. And such sweet bunnies, helping the chicks back up to their mamma in the roost!

Addressed to:   “Miss Mabel Chapman. 2929 Clement St. San Francisco Cal.”

From the 1910 Federal Census, Mabel is the daughter of Charles H. Chapman, occupation plumber, and A. Bella (needs research) Chapman. All native to California. Mabel was born about 1897, so would have been about ten when she received this card. We’re estimating the card was sent in 1907, after finding Charles listed at the above address in that year, in city directories.

Sources:  Year: 1910; Census Place: San Francisco Assembly District 39, San Francisco, California; Roll: T624_100; Page: 6A; Enumeration District: 0229; FHL microfilm: 1374113.

Crocker-Langley San Francisco City Directory, 1907, p. 392. Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995.

Silas D. King Calling Card

Calling Card. Circa 1880 – 1900.

Price:  $6.00

A deep blue morning glory flower, some leaves and berries, and a bird carrying “A Token of love” adorn this calling card for Silas D. King. The fringed banner displays the following:

“The cold in clime are cold in blood,

Their love can scarce deserve the name.

But mine is like the lava flood,

That boils in Etna’s breast of flame!”

This is from The Giaour, an epic poem by George Gordon, the 6th Baron of Byron, better known as Lord Byron.

There are a number of potential matches for the original owner of this card. None show in city directories with the middle initial (unexpected) but there are lots without, and then two or three possible matches in census records with the initial, so we’ll skip the major searches and be content, as is. Always interesting though, to track the source for the verse or poem.

Source:  Lord Byron. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Byron (accessed January 3, 2021).

A Happy Easter To Irving Felix

Divided back, unused postcard. Circa 1914 – 1919. Publisher unknown. Easter series number 36, design 103.

Price:  $10.00

“A Happy Easter – Here’s a wish from a friend

And a greeting true

Just a remembrance, – from me to –

You.”

There are layers to everything, the history of an object, for instance – who made it and how it ended up in where it did, and we’ve remarked on this thought in prior posts, but this card has a special poignancy. And it’s a strange feeling to hold a postcard in your hands that was sent over a century ago and know the fate of the little boy it had been given to. And if our perception of time is normally felt as linear, this is one of those instances that stands out as something different, as if you could walk into the next room and meet the Felix family over Easter dinner. For it was a gut-wrenching discovery to find that Irving Arthur Felix was one of the men serving on USS Houston (CA-30) the heavy cruiser that went down during the Battle of Sunda Strait, off the northern coast of Java during WWII, along with her ally, Australian light cruiser, HMAS Perth (D-29).This after a valiant and greatly outnumbered Allied fight against the Imperial Japanese Navy forces in the vicinity. The numbers vary slightly in different accounts, but of Houston’s crew of 1,068, the survivors numbered 368, surviving only to be taken prisoner and interred in various POW camps. Seventy-nine of the prisoners died, of which Irving Felix was one. According to articles in Iowa newspapers, his family (wife, parents and brother and sister) found out around March 1942 that he was reported missing in action, and learned of his death sometime before July 15th ’43. He died April 26, 1943 at age 29 and was buried in Batavia, (now Jakarta) Java with full military honors. His grave site was later moved (or added, not sure if the original still exists) to Riverside Cemetery, Charles City, Iowa.

The postcard:

Addressed to:   “Mr. Irving Felix, Floyd Iowa.”

The sender wrote:  “Dear Irving: – Here is a card for you even if you can not read it. Inez you can read it. how is that song he sings with the rooster on his arm.    Aunt Tena[?]”

 1920 census info….

Irving Felix was found on the 1920 Federal Census for Rudd Township, Floyd County, Iowa, age 6, and we’re not sure at what age he learned to read, but Inez is his older sister who, like their aunt had suggested, could have read the card to him. From the 1920:  Parents Clarence A. Felix (age 33) and Ida Felix (age 36) and children Inez (age 11) Ivan (age 8) and Irving (age 6). All are born on Iowa, and both the parents are of German heritage. Clarence’s occupation is farmer.

In closing….

To the boy who sang a song about a rooster, and to paraphrase the verse on this card,  “Here’s a wish from friends true, and a heartfelt thank you, from us to you.”  (In remembrance of all lives lost during wartime and a prayer for peace and unity of all on our planet.)

Sources:  USS Houston (CA-30). n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Houston_(CA-30) (accessed April 12, 2020).

HMAS Perth (D-49) n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMAS_Perth_(D29) (accessed April 14, 2020).

Battle of Sunda Strait. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sunda_Strait. (accessed April 12, 2020).

Year: 1920; Census Place: Rudd, Floyd, Iowa; Roll: T625_490; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 120. (Ancestry.com).

“St. Ansgar Man Is Missing After Java Sea Battle With Asiatic Fleet; Irving Felix of Rudd, Also Reported Lost.” The Courier (Waterloo, Iowa). March 17, 1942. Tuesday, p. 7. (Newspapers.com).

“Sailor Dies in Japanese Camp.” Globe-Gazette (Mason City, Iowa). July 15, 1943. Thursday, p. 6. (Newspapers.com).

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 14 April 2020), memorial page for Irving Arthur Felix (15 Jan 1914–28 Apr 1948), Find a Grave Memorial no. 32213511, citing Riverside Cemetery, Charles City, Floyd County, Iowa, USA ; Maintained by Kathy Gerkins (contributor 39861343) .