Anna Flottman’s Cousin Ed

Divided back, Real Photo Postcard, unused. Circa 1910 – 1918.

Price:  $10.00

” Cnell Ill.  Dear Cousin, how are you I am fine and dandy. From your Cousin Ed Aleves.”

Addressed to:   “Miss Anna Flottman. Burden, Kans.”

This one’s a bit of a puzzle. I had sworn during research for the last post (in Burden KS via internet) that I’d come across the correct surname for this handsome gentleman. (A subcategory, that will hopefully be adhered to 😉 is being filed away somewhere “up top” entitled, “The Importance of Writing Things Down”.) His last name is hard to read in the signature. Alives, Alves, Aleves, Aluves, Alires were searched and how very odd now to be not finding the reference just previously come across. And the location he has written appears to be an abbreviation, possibly for Cornell, Illinois.

If Ancestry.com trees are correct for the marriage of Anna Flottman to Reason Leslie Moore on July 7, 1918, that narrows down the postcard time frame a little, since she was single when the card was sent to her. And for more about the recipient of this card, see the prior post.

Owen Curtis Herr, Burden KS 1908

Divided back, unused, Real Photo Postcard. January 1908. KRUXO stamp box.

Price:  $12.00

A handsome young man, age seventeen when this photo was taken:  Owen “Curt” Herr, son of Samuel Horatio Herr and Caroline Jane Stuart. Curt was born November 13, 1890 in Jasper, Iowa. He wrote:

“Jan 1908. To Miss Annie Flottman. Remembrance of Mr. Curtis Herr.”

Addressed to:   “Miss Annie Flottman, Burden Kans.”

Annie is Anna Louise Flottman, born in Kansas in 1883, daughter of Harman (also spelled Herman) Flottman and Mary Pickens. Annie’s brother Albert married into the Herr family.

For another card addressed to Anna see the next post:  Anna Flottman’s Cousin Ed.

Sources:  State Historical Society of Iowa; Des Moines, Iowa. Ancestry.com. Iowa, Delayed Birth Records, 1856-1940.

Year: 1910; Census Place: Silver Creek, Cowley, Kansas; Roll: T624_436; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 0062; FHL microfilm: 1374449. (Ancestry.com).

Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 21 June 2018), memorial page for Anna Louise Flottman Moore (13 Jun 1883–7 Apr 1945), Find A Grave Memorial no. 17647604, citing Grand Prairie Cemetery, Burden, Cowley County, Kansas, USA ; Maintained by Judy Mayfield (contributor 46636512).
Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 21 June 2018), memorial page for Matilda R. Herr Flottman (29 Apr 1885–21 Oct 1970), Find A Grave Memorial no. 17646745, citing Grand Prairie Cemetery, Burden, Cowley County, Kansas, USA ; Maintained by Judy Mayfield (contributor 46636512).

Agnes Gartin And Lydia Frazee

Divided back, unused, Real Photo Postcard. Circa 1915. AZO stamp box.

Price:  $10.00

Two gorgeous girls:  friends (or perhaps cousins) Agnes Gartin and Lydia Frazee, which is which we can’t say for sure. Per the writing on the back the photo was taken Sunday, October 5th at 4 p.m., year not given. From census records Agnes was born in Oklahoma about 1900, daughter of Mitch C. and Rosa D. Gartin. (Rosa’s maiden name is McMillan per Ancestry trees.) And Lydia “Lydee” was born in Kansas about 1901, daughter of Bert L. and Lena Frazee (Lena’s maiden name is Carter per Ancestry trees.) Most likely, the photo for this RPPC was taken in Morton, Sedgewick County, Kansas, around 1915 or so.

Sources:  Year: 1900; Census Place: Patterson, Garfield, Oklahoma; Page: 5; Enumeration District: 0061. (Ancestry.com).

Kansas State Historical Society; Topeka, Kansas; 1905 Kansas Territory Census; Roll: ks1905_147; Line: 28. (Ancestry.com).

Year: 1910; Census Place: Morton, Sedgwick, Kansas; Roll: T624_455; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 0090; FHL microfilm: 1374468. (Ancestry.com).

A Family Man

Old photo, white border. Circa 1920s – 1930s.

Price:  $5.00          Size:  About 2 and 13/16 x 2″

Sometimes we look at a photo of someone and we totally forget that they were not alone at the time, since, well duh! the person holding the camera was also there. This is one such for me. I think of this guy as a dad, having a few moments alone, but as always, engaged in the welfare of his family, the upkeep of which is often not easy…..

Truck Drivin’ Men

Old photo, white border. Circa 1918 – early 1920s.

Price:  $5.00          Size:  About 3 and 5/16 x 2 and 3/8″

We’re continuing our day-late Father’s Day theme with a nice old photo, which we’re guessing is from the ’20s, but we’ll find out – according to whatever make, model and year the truck turns out to be. (See the UPDATE below.) The two gents here are maybe a dad with his young son of about three, standing next to their vehicle, on the dirt shoulder of a tree-lined road.

The next thing in binoculars….

So, it looks like there’s writing on the inside of the truck, under the passenger side rear window, but we can’t quite read it. And further scrutiny yields another “arrggh” moment, in trying to make out the words on the sign posted on the tree trunk to our left. (Actually you probably noticed the tree sign first, but whatev 😉 ) If you stare at these kind of things long enough you sometimes get a flash of insight into what they say. Those ah-ha! moments are soooo great. Though, I like the process of imagining (the journey is it’s own reward, right?) having a pair of binoculars that works on old photos:  Just look through, adjust the dial, et voila!

UPDATE:  From the scholars on the forum at the Antique Automobile Club of America, I’ve learned that the vehicle in the photo is a Ford model TT, likely late teens. The cab would have been aftermarket, a more high-end one, possibly a Martin-Parry. And something I never picked up on initially, is the fact that the spare tire blocks the driver’s side entrance, but this was the norm back then; drivers got in on the passenger side. Below an example from Wikimedia:

1919 Model TT Truck.

Sources:  “Help identifying old truck.” September 5, 2023. Antique Automobile Club of America. (https://forums.aaca.org/topic/403153-help-identifying-old-truck/#comment-2578337).

1919 Model TT Truck. n.d. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1919_Model_TT_Truck_2.jpg accessed September 8, 2023).

Arms Akimbo, Etc.

Divided back, Real Photo Postcard. Unknown manufacturer. Circa mid-to-late 1910s.

Price:  $7.00

This is a late post for Father’s Day (surely there is a dad in this photo). Late since I was out of town for a week, and just getting back to LCG this morning. And what to name this one? I was struck by the variety of poses in this group of five men and one small boy, posing for the camera on their (or somebody’s) front lawn. I love the formidable stance and gruff expression on the gentleman in the rear – with the overalls, the mustache and the arms akimbo. As for the time frame, one of the best clues for dating this image should turn out to be the vehicle in the background (cropped and inserted below). Is it an electric car or a delivery wagon minus the horse? Hmmm, really not sure, but help should be forthcoming.

Going back to the top image:  that particular style of hat for the young man on our left, too…a newsboy cap? Note his use of sleeve garters and the skinny tie. We can also see that the shade trees, at least on this side of the street, are maple. And last but not least, under one of these maples, stands a little girl wearing a big hair bow, looking on.

One final thought for now….I love the bird-like shadow that has graced this photo, highlighted below, with the big wing out-stretched and the tail feathers….like a hawk or a thunderbird…or even a dove….

 

Livingston’s Perfection

Trade card for Rice’s Seeds. Circa 1880 – 1881.

Price:  $12.00       Size:  4 and 1/2 x 2 and 5/8″

“Livingston’s Perfection (New). Warranted to produce ripe fruit in 100 days from the sowing of the seed.”

“Rice’s Seeds have spoken their own praise wherever planted for upwards of 40 years.”

Here’s a beauty (and incidentally sorry to say we missed a Memorial Day post due to working on another project and then running out of time and energy. Poor time management, alas! Next year, though.) But this beauty of a trade card shows an older couple, in their nightgowns and nightcaps, being awoken, to their joy, by a giant tomato, ripened to perfection, that has overflowed from the garden through their open window.

We find mention of Livingston’s Perfection, as early as 1881 and as late as 1918, in trade journals, so from this info and the word “new” in parentheses on the card’s tomato, one might infer both the card and, of course, the variety, to have emerged in 1881, or maybe 1880.

Who was Livingston?

From “Pomodoro!:  A History of the Tomato in Italy”:

“In Ohio between 1870 and 1893, Alexander Livingston, developed or improved thirteen major varieties for the tomato trade. He named most of them after himself, such as ‘Livingston’s Marvel’, ‘Livingston’s Magnus’, ‘Livingston’s Paragon’, and ‘Livingston’s Perfection.’ Some of these varieties eventually found their way to Parma, Italy, suited as they were to the production of concentrate.”

And Rice?

Rice was Jerome Bonaparte Rice, born in Salem, New York, July 19, 1841, son of Roswell Niles Rice and Betsy Ann (Hodges) Rice. He became hugely successful in the seed business which was started by his father around 1834 – selling seeds via wagon, which the younger Rice returned to, after coming home from the Civil War. A few other tidbits of information:  J. B.’s capture by the Confederate Army and imprisonment at Libby and Belle Isle led to rheumatism (no wonder) which later confined him to a wheelchair. He was “the father” of the Cambridge Valley Agricultural Society – the president of the Cambridge, New York fair, as shown in the illustrated ad below, and the 3-story mansion (which included a beautifully ornate “birdcage” style elevator) that he and his wife built (1902 – 1904) in Cambridge. The home had stood vacant in recent years, but was thankfully restored starting in 2004 and today serves as a historic inn currently available for group reservations. See Rice Mansion Inn. J. B. Rice died June 8, 1912, at the age of 70, leaving his wife Laura (Chandler) Rice, and their son and three daughters. Partial obit below, from The Poultney Journal (Poultney, VT) June 14, 1912:

See The Rice Seed Company – Cambridge, NY for more historical photos and information.

Clipped below from the Bennington Banner (Bennington, VT) for August 30, 1895, a charming ad for J. B. Rice’s Great Fair at Cambridge, NY.

Sources:  Gentilcore, David. (2010) Pomodoro!:  A History of the Tomato in Italy. NewYork:  Columbia University Press. (Google.com)

Memorial #37438546. Find A Grave. Find A Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi.

Libby Prison. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libby_Prison (accessed June 2, 2018).

Zombek, Angela. M. Belle Isle Prison. Encyclopedia Virginia. (accessed June 2, 2018).

Kumar, Anne. “Couple restores historic Rice mansion.” October 24, 2004. Sunday, pp. C1, C8. (Newspapers.com).

Rice Mansion Inn. (www.ricemansioninn.com). Accessed June 2, 2018.

The Poultney Journal (Poultney, VT). June 14, 1912. Friday, p. 3. (Newspapers.com).

The Rice Seed Company – Cambridge, NY. (www.cambridgephoto.com). Accessed June 2, 2018.

“Every Body’s Going This Year!” Bennington Banner (Bennington, VT) August 30, 1895. Friday, p. 5. (Newspapers.com).