Fannie and Walter’s House

Divided back, Real Photo Postcard. Postmarked August 4th from Seattle Washington. Year not readable. Circa 1910s – 1926.

Price:  $7.00

Addressed to:   “Leo H. Ouellette. 113 North Norah St. Fort William Ont. Canada.”

“Leo – This is the little house where Fannie and Walter lived when she taught at Manchester. Harold and I often went over and stayed with them for weeks at at time. It was a nice little house. She liked it too. [signature not readable] ”

A very nice little house, indeed, and with a wrap-around porch! No luck in finding out the surname of Fannie (or Frances) and Walter, though. And we’re not sure if Manchester was the name of a school or a town, but either way, no definite results were found. If a town, then likely it’s the Manchester that’s west of Seattle, across Puget Sound. And though this photo was postmarked in August, it must have been taken in winter – note the bare deciduous trees.

The address of Leo Ouellette, 113 Norah St. N., appears to be an empty lot today, in what was formerly Fort William, now the city of Thunder Bay. Leo’s obit appears below. He was born April 16, 1893 in Duluth, Minnesota, father’s name Henry, and died January 23, 1927 in Seattle. His WWI Draft Registration Card, dated Jun 5, 1917, shows he was, at that time, single, living in Evanston, Wyoming and employed as a brakeman for the Union Pacific Railroad. His prior service was two months in the National Guard in Colorado. (B. P. O. E. in the notice below, stands for Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.)

Sources:  Fort William, Ontario. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_William,_Ontario (accessed December 12, 2020).

Microfilm. Washington State Archives, Olympia, Washington. Ancestry.com. Washington, U.S., Death Records, 1883-1960.

Registration State: Wyoming; Registration County: Sweetwater County. Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918.

Seattle Daily Times, January 25, 1927. Tuesday, p. 21. (genealogybank.com).