Near Hornbrook, California, 1910

Real Photo Postcard. Postmarked February 17, 1910 from Hornbrook, CA.

Price:  $8.00

Addressed to:   “Mrs. May Wells. Dorris, California”

The sender wrote:   “Dear May card red thank you. this is a view just below the barn & I made it. I am not very well hope you and family are well. Ella”

Gosh, we hope Ella felt better very soon after she wrote the above! She did a good job with the photo. And it’s nice to have the approximate location of this scene, (from the postmark) but I would have picked this card up regardless. Something about the silhouette of a tree always grabs me, and I’m forever taking similar shots only to look at them afterward and think that the photo didn’t do them justice, but still. And how can it when we live in 3-D but our photography is not? Anyway, both Hornbrook and Dorris are located up by the Oregon border in Siskiyou County, map below. If you’re like me, you’ve done a double-take on the county shape, it looks a little like Montana with a much larger “Idaho” on the left in lighter green.

May Wells was Julia May (maiden name Osborn according to family trees), born about 1879 in Corning, CA. She married David Wells and they had a son, Ernest David Wells, born in 1908. May’s obit was found online and appears below. (That should say Butte Valley, not Calley.)

Sources:  Year: 1910; Census Place: Lake, Siskiyou, California; Roll: T624_108; Page: 11A; Enumeration District: 0111; FHL microfilm: 1374121. (Ancestry.com).

Siskiyou County, California. Map from Google.com search. Accessed December 12, 2020.

“Julia May Wells” The Sacramento Bee, October 14, 1971. Thursday, p. 25. (Newspapers.com).

Mrs. Frederick Mason

Silhouette dated 1935, artist-signed.

Price:  $7.00          Size including background:  About 2 and 2/3 x 3 and 1/4″

A beautiful little silhouette of a Mrs. Frederick Mason done in 1935. The signature of the “scissor artist” appears to be F. Castelhun, but we couldn’t find any reference to an artist by this name, or under the possible name of Castelton. Note the faint oval outline surrounding the figure, indicating that this elegant piece was once in a frame.

Just Missed The Rain

Just Missed The Rain pc1Just Missed The Rain pc2

Divided back, used postcard. Postmarked February 3, 1909 from Stockton, California.

Price:  $12.00

I love these type where the sender has written in their own caption, so to speak….And for me, this should be titled,  “Blessed Rain”  since we don’t get enough of it here in California. Reminds me of a bumper sticker on the back of a truck that I see often, when driving to work, which says,  “Pray for rain”  and it tickles me that I think the exact same response every time, that of  “I always do.” 

Anyway, this is a lovely, slightly comical silhouette type postcard postmarked in 1909, but the sender was still thinking 1908…it was February, and he or she was not used to writing the new year yet. It’s wonderful how much is going on in this scene…the couple kissing under the umbrella; the ladies running to the street car which is already full; the people that were prepared and have their umbrellas, and the poor guys who were caught unprepared, getting soaked, one looking a little zombie-ish, and the other one, bent over staring at the pavement. Is he marveling at the amount of water that is pouring off of him, or just thinking,  “Gawd!”  I like to think a combination of both. Not to forget to mention the kissing couple on the streetcar; the guys watching the ladies running, the one has his hand up, either waving or trying to signal to them, “Hey, the car’s full…it’s not going to work.”

The sender wrote:

“2 – 3 – 1908   Your card received. I am bound for Sonora – I’m in Stockton now – address Sonoma Ave – M.H.C.”  and addressed the postcard to:

“Roy J. Andrus – 1608 – 48 Ave – Ocean Beach, S. F.     Sea Shells”

Sea Shells?…Maybe the addressee was supposed to be saving sea shells for M.H.C. or it’s some kind of running joke, or any number of other possibilities. (I don’t see anything coming up regarding a district or neighborhood under this name.) But the address is clearly a San Franciscan one. This exact street number doesn’t show, but it’s residential, near Lawton Street. 48th runs parallel to the Coast and the addressee would have lived just a short walk from the beach. Lucky guy!…And just think, this was just a little less than three years after the Great San Francisco Earthquake, which was April 18, 1906.

After looking at the census records and city directories, it appears most likely that the addressee is John R. Andrus on the 1910 Federal Census. He is divorced, occupation Cutter at a paper box factory, born in California, about 1882, and living with his parents, John and Gertrude Andrus. The address given is 1612 48th Avenue, so 1608 might have been a designation for a separate entrance or the numbering could have changed or even have been incorrectly written by the sender. By 1911 Roy had changed occupations and was working as a manager for the Golden Gate Butter Co., and by 1912 was listed as a Horse Dealer.

Sources:  Year: 1910; Census Place: San Francisco Assembly District 39, San Francisco, California; Roll: T624_100; Page: 15A; Enumeration District: 0241; FHL microfilm: 1374113. (Ancestry.com)

Crocker-Langley San Francisco Directory, 1911, p. 192. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989.

Crocker-Langley San Francisco Directory, 1912, p. 193. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989.