Laurel Cottage Genealogy
Genealogy Services, Old Photos, Postcards, Trade Cards, Etc.

Greetings From Edinburgh, Scotland

Posted on June 7th, 2014 by

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Divided back, used postcard. Postmarked May 2, 1949 from Edinburgh, Scotland. Publisher unknown. Printed in England. Series or number 23A.

Availability status:  Digital image only. $3.00. The original is in a friend’s collection.

Beautiful postcard from 1949 Edinburgh, Scotland showing scenes of St. Giles’ Cathedral, The Forth Bridge, Princes Street – West End, and Edinburgh Castle and Art Galleries. In the center is a lovely profile of a Scottish Terrier above a sheaf of heather (one of the national flowers) tied with a bow. The card is addressed to:

“Mr. & Mrs. George Hume, 2100 Virginia Street, Berkeley California U. S. A.”

The sender wrote,  “Hello Ella & George. Having a very lovely time. Have seen quite a few of our old friends. Best Regards  Annie[?]”

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Categories: Animals, Bridges, Dogs, Postcards, Postcards Used, The Alice Ellison Collection

Bouquet Of Best Wishes

Posted on June 6th, 2014 by

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Divided back, embossed, used postcard. Postmarked January 1910 probably from Kansas. Publisher unknown.

Price:  $7.00

A bouquet of pink and red unidentified flowers which look like lilies or glads except for the leaves, but in any case are beautiful; tied up with a yellow bow and with a card at the top that says “Best Wishes.”

The card is postmarked January 1910 (exact date unreadable) and addressed to,  “Flossie Babcock. Welda Kans. RR # 2.”  This is the same publisher or printer as the prior post, showing the logo of the fierce looking roaring lion with large mane and the tail pointing upward. We’ll put this one in the mystery pile for now, and hopefully come across more info later regarding the publisher.

The sender wrote,  “Well as I have just returned from Iola I will ans. your card. I guess this card will pass if not send it back and I will send another one. Well I guess I will have to ring off.   L.L.S.[?]”

There is a Flossie V. Babcock on the 1910 Federal Census taken in Lone Elm Township, Anderson County, Kansas. The small town of Welda is northwest of Lone Elm, a short distance – estimating about ten miles as the crow flies, so no doubt this is the same person as the addressee on this postcard. And the town of Iola, that the sender mentions in the note, is about 20 miles southwest of Welda. Flossie is 14 years old in 1910, born in Kansas, and is on this census with her widowed father, Edward M. Babcock, farmer, age 41, born in New Jersey, and her brother, Nolan K. Babcock, age 16, born in Kansas.

Welda, KS is a small town today. Counts vary but in 2010 the population was at most under 300 per Wikipedia entries. Welda started as a railroad station in 1870 and was platted in 1873, getting it’s first post office in 1874. The town is described in an 1883 publication (Cutler’s History of Kansas) as  “a thriving little village…situated on the gently rolling upland prairie, on the line of the Kansas City, Lawrence & Kansas Southern Railroad about eight miles south from Garnett.”  There is a Welda, Germany in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia and also a town by the name of Westphalia in Anderson County, KS,  (from brief research it looks like Anderson County had many German settlers) so it seems possible that Welda, KS was named after the German village, or named after a person, as Welda is also a surname.

Sources:  Year: 1910; Census Place: Lone Elm, Anderson, Kansas; Roll: T624_431; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 0025; FHL microfilm: 1374444. (Ancestry.com)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welda_Township,_Anderson_County,_Kansas

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welda

Cutler, William G. History of the State of Kansas. Chicago:  A. T. Andreas, 1883. Web. 6 June 2014. [http://www.kancoll.org/books/cutler/anderson/anderson-co-p7.html#WELDA]

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Categories: Flowers, Mysteries, Postcards, Postcards Used

Carnations

Posted on June 5th, 2014 by

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Divided back, embossed, unused postcard. Publisher unknown. Series or number 4. Artist unknown. Circa 1910.

Price:  $5.00

Beautiful carnations in red and pink on embossed postcard with background of varying shades of blue and with gold-tone. The publisher or printer will require more research but the logo is very distinctive:  a lion facing left with a large mane and tail pointing upward. No artist name is appearing, and other than the artwork, the only thing showing on the front is the number 4 appearing in the lower right corner; this would be the series or postcard number. This post will go in the “Mystery” category for now, but the date of the card is from about 1910. (We have another from the same publisher with that postmarked date, which will be put up next.)

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Categories: Flowers, Mysteries, Postcards, Postcards Unused

Pa Is Rich And Ma Don’t Care

Posted on June 4th, 2014 by

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The caption on the front of this cute and kind of funny postcard is:  “Dont Worry! Having the time of my Life. Pa is rich and Ma dont care.”  I guess that is a dog on the floor next to guy’s knee. I like this fictional couple:  With a caption like this one you might expect something different, but the man looks like he really likes the young lady, and is in it for the long haul, and the woman is no fool, she’s found a keeper.

Addressed to:  “Miss Katie Stehno. Wilson, Kansas.”  The sender wrote:  “Hello how are you. I am fine and dandy what are you doing all the time. Good Bye. From M J. answere”

It’s likely that Katie Stehno is the same person as on the 1910 Federal Census taken in Highland Township, Lincoln County, Kansas. Daughter of Ludvik Stehno and his wife, Mary, who are listed as Bohemian-Austrian; Katie’s siblings on this census are:  Ed, Agnes, Joseph, Ludvig, Leokadie, Annie, Frank and Georgie. All the children are listed as born in Kansas, and their father’s occupation is farmer. Katie was born about 1893, and this postcard is estimated to be from around 1910, so Katie might have been about 17 when she received it. As you can see it was not postmarked.

As for the publisher or printer logo, here is another we’ve recently been looking at. (See posts published May 26, 2014 entitled May You Be As Happy…, Lemons And Pink Poppies, Birthday Wishes From Pauline To Goldie.) Only this time this “A” or double “A” in circle is sideways. A print error? The plot thickens.

From the California Death Index records online, it appears that Katie was Catherine Matilda Stehno, born February 20, 1893; died September 15, 1983 in Fresno, California; married to a gentleman by the last name of Pechacek; mother’s maiden name Rezab. The mother’s maiden name is confirmed on the 1900 Federal Census taken in Noble, Ellsworth, Kansas, that shows the parents and children (as of that date the youngest child is daughter Lokallie, spelled Leokadie on the 1910) but also shows Mary Rezo, widowed mother-in-law to head of household, Ludwik or Ludvic Stehno. Ludvic’s father Frank Stehno is also listed on this census as well as John Rezo, brother-in-law to Ludvic.

Divided back, unused with writing postcard. Publisher unknown. Printer or publisher logo shows sideways “A” or double “A” in circle. Circa 1910.

Price:  $10.00

Sources:  Year: 1910; Census Place: Highland, Lincoln, Kansas; Roll: T624_444; Page: 12B; Enumeration District: 0078; FHL microfilm: 1374457. (Ancestry.com)

Place: Fresno; Date: 15 Sep 1983; Social Security: 561218050. Ancestry.com. California, Death Index, 1940-1997

Year: 1900; Census Place: Noble, Ellsworth, Kansas; Roll: 480; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 0028; FHL microfilm: 1240480. (Ancestry.com)

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Categories: Humorous, Postcards, Postcards Unused With Writing

Kitties On Moving Day

Posted on May 31st, 2014 by

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Non-postal card by artist Eugen Hartung. Publisher the Alfred Mainzer Co. Circa 1940s – 1950s.

Price:  $2.00 digital image only

The “kitty kids” are having a high time of it here while the “kitty movers” are looking understandably a bit beleaguered. There’s the mom in the window (trying unsuccessfully to contain one of her charges?) and maybe that’s the dad trying to help, but tripping with the stack of dishes. This is one of the many colorful and comical drawings by Swiss artist Eugen Hartung (1897-1973) commonly called “Mainzer Cats” referring to publisher Alfred Mainzer of New York. (They were first published in Zurich by Swiss publisher Max Kunzli and known as “Kunzli Cats”.) The majority of Hartung’s dressed animal drawings were kitty scenes which often included other animals, like mice, dogs and birds; many of the other animals were anthropomorphized like the kitties here, but some were not, depending upon what was needed to tell the story.

This card (possibly originally a postcard) was trimmed a little on both sides and pasted to fit in the card “frame” by someone. This cut off the artist’s heart-shaped logo that, on this one, would have appeared at the bottom left. It was given to a friend so is only up for display on this website but can be found for sale on other sites.

Sources:  http://mainzercats.com/

http://www.metropostcard.com/artistsh.html

http://aboutcards.blogspot.com/2012/09/mainzer-cat-postcards-and-eugen-hartung.html

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Categories: Animals, Cats, Humorous, Miscellaneous Cards and Other

1870s Girl

Posted on May 30th, 2014 by

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Carte de visite of unknown girl. Photographer and location unknown. Circa 1870s. Size:  4 and 1/8 x 2 and 1/4″

Price:  15.00

Carte de visite of a beautiful and fashionable young girl, perhaps about age fourteen to sixteen. She wears a fitted jacket that has rather large buttons and a pleated v-neckline under a velvet collar. The jacket material has a vertical pattern running though it. I am not sure what type of material it is, perhaps cotton or possibly silk. (It almost has a silk moiré a.k.a. watered silk look.) Under the jacket or perhaps just in the v-neckline of the jacket we see what looks like a dark lace scarf or fichu type of article, attached or overlaid on a loose-fitting white collar. Just above the top jacket button appears an unknown something in white. Was this a flower or could it even have been a problem in the photographic process? (No offense to the photographer.) Besides the dangle-y earrings the girl wears a cross which hangs from a short bead-like necklace. Her hair is arranged flat on the top of her head, it seems to be adorned with a comb, while the sides are swept up to to give a little height, and her sausage curls are arranged behind her ears and fall just past shoulder length. As with all photos of people it is always interesting to see beyond our first impressions. What might strike as a bit of a sad look transforms beyond that one- dimensional impression when we notice her poise and loveliness.

There is nothing appearing on the back of the cardboard that the photo was mounted on, so the photographer is unknown, as is the exact date of the photo, but it’s estimated to be from the 1870s.

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Categories: Carte-de-Visite, Children, Photos Without Names

Greetings From Missouri

Posted on May 28th, 2014 by

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Missouri  “Show Me State”   Capital:  Jefferson City.   Area:  69,674 sq. mi.   Population:  3,954,653.   Motto:  Salus Populi Suprema Lex Estro. The Welfare of the People Shall Be the Supreme Law.   Flower:  Hawthorne.   Bird:  Blue Bird.   Tree:  Dogwood.   24th State admitted to the Union.

That’s a mule proudly representing the state from his garland of hawthorn flowers. The Missouri mule was designated as the state animal in 1995. Mules were introduced in the 1820s in Missouri, popular with farmers because of their hardy nature, pulled covered wagons of pioneers moving west, and played an important role in transporting WWI and WWII troops and supplies.

Per a Wiki entry the population listed here was recorded for the year 1950, so this postcard is likely from the early 1950s.

Divided back, unused postcard. Publisher info:  Genuine Natural Color Made by Dexter Press, Inc., West Nyack, N. Y. Series or number 25086-B. Circa early 1950s.

Price:  $3.00

Sources:  http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Missouri/MissouriStateAnimal.html

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_was_Missouri%27s_population_in_1950

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Categories: Postcards, Postcards Unused, State Map Postcards

Looking For A Letter

Posted on May 28th, 2014 by

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Hazy country scene in fall or winter showing some bare deciduous trees and the sunrise or sunset through the mist. This is from the pre-divided back era, so the sender wrote a short one line, and signed it. The front shows,  “I’m looking for a letter – Lilian”  The back is addressed to  “Miss Lucile Evans, Covington, Indiana.”  The postmark is hard to read. It looks like it was sent from Indiana, you can barely see the “IND.” The city name looks like it might end in “rsburg.” The date also is really hard to pick out – Jan for January but the year is too light to read. Approximate date is 1906 because of the divided back era beginning March 1st, 1907.

There is a Lucile Evans on the 1900 Federal Census taken in Covington, Troy Township, Fountain County, Indiana. She is about ten years old, born November 1889. Her parents are John and Emma Evans, and she has brother, Emerson, age four. All are born in Indiana. John Evans’ occupation is abstracter of titles. Nothing else is showing up in online records that would fit, so this is likely the right Lucile Evans, and she would have been about 16 when she’d received this postcard from Lilian.

Undivided back, used postcard. Postmarked in unknown city in Indiana, date January, year unknown, circa 1906.

Price:  $4.00

Source:  Year: 1900; Census Place: Troy, Fountain, Indiana; Roll: 370; Page: 14A; Enumeration District: 0073; FHL microfilm: 1240370. (Ancestry.com)

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Categories: Postcards, Postcards Used, Undivided Back

Greetings From Florida

Posted on May 26th, 2014 by

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Greetings From Florida – “The Sunshine State”

Here’s a beauty of a state map postcard. Love that gator!

“Nickname – Sunshine State. 1957 Population – 3,897,414. Area in Sp. Miles – 58,666. Entered the Union, Mar. 3, 1845”

Divided back, unused. “Lusterchrome” Reg. U.S. Pat. Office. Publisher:  Tichnor Brothers, Inc. Boston 15, Mass. Series or number L-122. Circa 1957.

Price:  $4.00

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Categories: Postcards, Postcards Unused, State Map Postcards

May You Be As Happy…

Posted on May 26th, 2014 by

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“May you be as happy yourself

As you’d like to see anybody else.”

 

This postcard shows a lovely vista of water and shore artistically draped by red flowers and with the above verse. This is the second posted for “The Lena Davis Postcard Collection.” Addressed to:  “Miss Lena Davis, Almena Kan.”  The sender wrote:

“Long Island. Sept. 2   Hello how you [?] am fine and dandy. got home all right had some bad luck while I was gone. I guess you have heard about it, to bad you didn’t have my thing[?] to come for ha, ha. well [we’ll?] come again. say I have gained one pound in 2 days – that is picking up [?]”

This is the third of three in the sort of “mini-look” at an unknown publisher (see the two previous posts) and E. Nash, a known postcard publisher but for whom not much is known. So, here you can see the Nash logo on the front – capital “N” in a triangle, and “Copyright E. Nash” next to the spiral design in the back header surrounding the “C” in Post Card. As previously mentioned, the same postcard header minus the Nash copyright appears on postcards with publisher or printer logo capital “A” or perhaps two capital “A”s inside a circle. The previous postcard submitted on this website is dated 1910 and this one’s dated 1913, so one might surmise that, sometime between the two dates, E. Nash bought out the person or company that was initially using this postcard header, or maybe just bought the rights to the design. I don’t know if there were any other publishers, besides the two in question, who also used this same header, but I haven’t seen any yet. More research needs to be done and more dates looked at on more postcards.

Divided back, embossed, used postcard. Postmarked September 3, 1913 from Long Island, Kansas. Publisher:  E. Nash. Series or number G 10.

Price:  $6.00

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Categories: Postcards, Postcards Used, The Lena Davis Postcard Collection