Young Woman With Rose, Detroit

Divided back, unused, Real Photo Postcard. Photographer:  Władysław Jakubowski. Circa 1911 – 1916. AZO stamp box.

Price:  $15.00

A Real Photo Postcard, not in good shape, as you can see by the “foxing” marks and the creases, most notably in the top right corner. More by Władysław Jakubowski can be viewed at Michigan Polonia and Polish Mission. His stamp on the back shows:

“W. Jakubowski. 1525 Michigan Ave., Detroit, Mich.”

And it’s a beautiful image of the lovely young woman, whom we might presume to be of Polish descent, posed standing with one hand resting on an open French window, and holding a rose in the other. Her dress (or matching skirt and blouse) is possibly silk (wonder what color) with long sleeves of a see-through material. She wears a white lace fichu (or maybe a long-sleeved white blouse underneath) over which lays a cross on a choker-length chain, and a large-link bracelet on her left wrist.

Gusta And Her Flock

Divided back, unused, Real Photo Postcard. Circa 1907 – 1918. AZO stamp box.

Price:  $7.00

“To Myrtie from Gusta and her little flock.”

Gusta (looking very much as if she is in a priest’s robe) showing off her six grandchildren for friend, Myrtie, in this posed photo. Note the ornately carved wooden high-backed bench, likely provided by the photographer.

“Grandma – 52 yrs.; Francis – 11; George – 9; Clare – 5; Elsie – 4; Mabel – 2; Dempster – 3 mo.”

The surname (or names) are unknown for this family. Hopefully, someone will be searching for this set of given names and find them here.

Our House At 8562

Divided back, unused, Real Photo Postcard. AZO stamp box. Circa 1910 – 1930.

Price:  $3.00

Somewhere there was a beautiful house with a beautiful family….a mom takes a minute away from the cooking and cleaning to pose with her four kids, on the front porch of their house, numbered 8562….This one was found during the recent Detroit excursion that we’ve been mentioning lately. No way to know what city this was in. If it was Detroit, there were a number of houses, circa 1910 to 1930, numbered 8562, that might fit the bill, but it’s proving to be a needle in a haystack search. We’ll look for more that might be related to this one when we go back next year.

Delivery Men, Circa 1937

Old photo, white border. Circa 1937.

Price:  $2.00      Size:  5 and 1/2 x 3 and 1/2″

This photo was found in Michigan but where it was taken is unknown. The license plates don’t appear to be Michigan plates, and we’re looking around the year 1937, as the two cars in the middle should be 1937 Ford Sedan Delivery models. Here’s some examples below from a Google image search. You can see the distinctive grill and side vents, and the teardrop-shaped headlights. The car on the far left in our photo may be something different, and we didn’t research the one on the right. But the four guys (nice smiles!) clearly work for the same outfit, wearing their uniforms and company hats. And we can almost make out the sign on the building behind them. That second word is Storage, so the building must have housed some type of storage company, or showed an ad for one. (This was just to see if we could find any clues for the location of the photo, and it would be one, a good clue that is, if we could just figure out that first word, arrrgg! 😉 It looks like it starts off H-o-t-k-k? ) But don’t the two guys on our right look like they might be brothers?

Source:  “Ford Sedan 1937 Delivery.” Google.com image search. Accessed July 16, 2017.

Andy, Mikey and Johnny Gogola, Circa 1930

Old photo, white border. Circa 1930.

Price:  $10.00           Size:  2 and 1/2 x 3 and 1/2″

“Andy, Mikey, Johnny Gogola. all farmers.”

From left to right:  Johnny, Andy and Mikey Gogola:

A Gogola family of three brothers (and siblings) shows up on the Menallen, Fayette County, Pennsylvania 1930 Federal Census. If this is correct, the trio are the sons of Polish immigrants Clement and Eva Gogola. From older brothers’ marriage records (Wyandotte, MI) Eva’s maiden name is recorded as Mijol and Nijol.

Andy and older brothers, Stanley and Frank, all make their way to the Detroit, Michigan area. This photo was found in the Dearborn antique shop that I recently visited (and will be back to next year). No other possibilities of a different Gogola family were found.

My Forrer Street connection

Wow! What a surprise for me, finding Andy Gogola’s WWII vet record listing he and his wife and two kids living on Forrer St., Detroit. I rented an upper flat some decades later on Forrer, just a block away.

Sources:  Year: 1930; Census Place: Menallen, Fayette, Pennsylvania; Roll: 2040; Page: 16B; Enumeration District: 0056; Image: 298.0; FHL microfilm: 2341774. (Ancestry.com)

Marriage record for Frances Gogola; marriage record for Stanley Gogola. Michigan, Marriage Records, 1867–1952. Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics. (Ancestry.com)

Andrew L. Gogola. Pennsylvania (State). World War II Veterans Compensation Applications, circa 1950s. Records of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, Record Group 19, Series 19.92 (877 cartons). Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. (Ancestry.com)

Three Girls, Circa 1920s

Old photo, white border, circa 1920s.

Price:  $3.00          Size:  2 and 1/2 x 3 and 1/2″

We’re still in Detroit, presumably…..Or, at least that’s where this photo of the three beautiful girls was found (Dearborn to be precise) posing so perfectly, each in a drop-waist style dress that denotes the 1920s era. They might be sisters, cousins or just friends. There is no identifying writing on the back, and not that this narrows down a date at all, but we see that Velox was the printing paper used. The Velox name, at this point, had already been around awhile:  George Eastman (of Eastman Kodak) had purchased the patent for Velox from Leo Baekeland in 1898. If the name Baekeland sounds vaguely familiar, he was the chemist that invented Bakelite. (Careful, careful when buying the much-sought-after Bakelite items! There’s the real thing out there, and then there’s the what’s called genuine, but is really not!)

Sources:  Kodak. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodak (accessed July 11, 2017).

Leo Baekeland. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Baekeland (accessed July 11, 2017).

Yours Truly, Bernice or Dagmar

Vintage photo, white border, deckled edge. Belle Isle, Detroit, Michigan. Circa 1950s.

Price:  $6.00            Size:  About 2 and 1/2 x 3 and 1/2″

Another found on the recent Detroit trip. Beautiful Bernice, posing at the Scott Fountain on Belle Isle. The cat-eye sunglasses trend was popular in the 1950’s. Her shoes now, hmmmm, two-tone, but not really a saddle shoe – this exact style wasn’t found online. As to the inscription on the back,   ‘Your truly’ Bernice or Dagmar”  that’s one of the most interesting aspects of this photo.

A character name from a play?

And at first, I thought it was “Dogmar” and was searching for Dogmar as a possible surname or given name, and not coming up with much…..Then, and this happens to me quite a bit, for which I am truly grateful:  A day or two later I came across the movie I Remember Mama (1948) playing on the classic movie channel, with Irene Dunn as the Norwegian-born mother of four, set in San Francisco at the turn of the 20th century, with the youngest daughter named Dagmar (wait, what?). If you’ve never seen the movie, check it out (so beautiful!) The film is based on the story, Mama’s Bank Account (1943) by Kathryn Forbes, which inspired a play (1944) then the movie, then t.v. series Mama (1949 – 1957) and later two musical versions in the ’70s. The movie’s story is told from the standpoint of the oldest daughter, Katrin, an aspiring writer, played by Barbara Bel Geddes (Dallas fans, you will remember her as Jock’s wife, Miss Ellie.) So, did Bernice in our photo above play Dagmar in a school play production? It’s our best guess, other than the fact that Dagmar could be a middle name for her or vice versa (Dagmar Bernice).

Source:  Kathryn Forbes. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathryn_Forbes (accessed July 9, 2017).

The Little Indian

Vintage photo, circa 1940s – early 1950s

Price:  $3.00       Size:  About 3 x 4 and 1/2″

Another found in Dearborn, Michigan on my recent trip, from a box of loose photos. I’ll look for anything related to this one when I go back next year. The reverse appears to be written in Czech, and probably by the grandmother of the beaming little boy “playing Indian” on the front lawn. Ewaline would be the name of the boy’s mom. And maybe someone will recognize this particular toy set of Indian headdress and drum. (Those look like hawk feathers and it says “Indian Chief” across the headband.)

“Ten mály Indian jest moj ‘sweetheart’ Ewalinies synek.” 

“The little Indian is my sweetheart, Ewalinie’s son.”

Up On The Roof

Vintage photo, white border, deckled edge. Circa 1940s – 1950s.

Price:  $1.00        Size:  About 4 and 1/4 x 3 and 1/8″

A beautiful vintage snapshot, albeit in rough shape, of an African-American family posing together on a rooftop. It was found on my recent Detroit excursion in an antique shop in Dearborn. No writing on the back, and Detroit could be the location, but just on the off-chance that the photo had not strayed too far. The time-frame is 1940s and ’50s, a little hard to pinpoint without more detailed research. For one, we see girls’ and womens’ hemlines at the knee in both decades.

A Break From The Summer Heat

Divided back, used postcard. Postmarked July 5, 1911[?] from East Jordan, Michigan. Publisher:  E. C. Kropp Co., Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Price:  $6.00

Old River in Winter, Charlevoix, the Beautiful:  A break for the senses from a Michigan summer’s sweltering heat, and a July 4th reference below….

Happy 4th!

“Hello old boy:  How does this look to you in this kind of weather? 104° yesterday & 90°  to-day, no trouble to keep warm I assure you. Have any fire crackers on the 4th ha ha. I amused my self with a toy pistol and some match heads. Yours, Scotty.”

Addressed to:   “Mr. E. C. Bowman, 33 Kingwood St., Morgantown, W. Va.”

The recipient of this card was likely Eugene C. Bowman, found on the 1910 Federal Census for Morgantown, with wife Madge (Smith). Both are W. Virginia natives: Eugene is about age twenty-seven on this census, and an engineer at a power plant.

Sources:  Year: 1910; Census Place: Morgantown Ward 1, Monongalia, West Virginia; Roll: T624_1691; Page: 7B; Enumeration District: 0077; FHL microfilm: 1375704. (Ancestry.com)

“West Virginia Marriages, 1853–1970.” Index. FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2008, 2009. (Ancestry.com)