Category Archives: Christmas

Merry Xmas From 2305 Oahu Ave

Posted on by
Reply

Divided back, Real Photo Postcard. Postmarked December 15, 1937, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Price:  $15.00

“Dear Mrs. Fisher: Our recent visit is still like a dream – it doesn’t seem possible that we were over there & had such a grand time. We’re going to miss the snow again this Xmas. All we have is a good rain. Merry Xmas & a very Happy New Year to you, Kirk & Rea. We still hope some day you can visit us here. Do try. Much love, from Nita, Nils and Shirley Ann.”

Addressed to: “Mrs. Mae E. Fisher, 803 Kingsley St., Ann Arbor, Michigan.”This postcard is the perfect segue from our last post, set in Honolulu, to welcome our Christmas offerings for this year. And from an internet search, it appears this home, sadly, no longer exists. But it was a beauty, cozily nestled between two grand, I’m thinking oaks, but no idea really, and a beautiful big evergreen. Don’t you love the striped effect on the curb, and is there a sidewalk in there somewhere? Anyway, the family living here at this time is attorney Cyrus Nils Tavares, born in Hawaii about 1904, his wife Unita (Gillet) Tavares, born in Michigan about 1908, and their daughter Shirley Ann, born in Hawaii about 1928. The recipient of the postcard is Mae E. Fisher, widow on the 1940 Federal Census, born in Michigan, about 1873, her son Kirkland, born in Ohio, about 1905, and Kirk’s wife Rhea, born in Michigan, about 1908.

Sources:  Michigan Department of Community Health, Division of Vital Records and HealthStatistics; Lansing, MI, USA; Michigan, Marriage Records, 1867-1952; Film: 223; Film Description: Washtenaw (1927 – 1933).
Year: 1940; Census Place: Ann Arbor, Washtenaw, Michigan; Roll: m-t0627-01823; Page: 19B; Enumeration District: 81-25.
Year: 1940; Census Place: Honolulu, Honolulu, Hawaii; Roll: m-t0627-04585; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 2-43.

Holiday Wishes For Verna Watkins

Posted on by
Reply

Divided back, embossed postcard. Postmarked December 22, 1909, Dayton, Indiana. Printed in Germany.

Price:  $12.00

“Dear Verna – I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, Lizzie Goldsberry.”

Addressed to:   “Miss Verna Watkins, Lafayette Ind. R.F.D. No 4.”

Here’s our second angel-tree-deer postcard (see prior post). Our angel in this one is again barefoot in the snow, but this time with wings very visible, and it’s a beautiful scene with wonderful color variation for the snow…dolls in the deer’s “saddle” baskets…church and sunset in background.

There’s an Elizabeth A. Goldsberry showing up in 1909 in Lafayette, Indiana at R.F.D. 3 and she is probably the sender of this card, and a Peter with wife Lizzie at R.F.D. 24 in Dayton, Indiana from the same city directory record.

Verna Watkins, is probably the daughter of Ray and Sadie Watkins, who appears with her parents and older brother Ernest on the 1910 Federal Census for Perry Township, Tippecanoe County. According to this record Verna was born in Indiana, about 1899. Perry is located just north of Dayton, both being located in the Lafayette vicinity.

Sources:  R. L. Polk & Co.’s Lafayette Directory with Tippecanoe County, 1907. p. 538. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.

Year: 1910; Census Place: Perry, Tippecanoe, Indiana; Roll: T624_381; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 0177; FHL microfilm: 1374394. (Ancestry.com).

A Merry Christmas From J. F. Dodd in 1906

Posted on by
Reply

Divided back, unused, embossed postcard, 1906. Publisher unknown. Series 108.

Price:  $7.00

A merry Christmas

This card, probably printed in Germany, shows an angel in a flowing pink gown carrying a small evergreen through the forest. Accompanying her is a deer bringing Christmas presents. True, we don’t see wings for the angel but then she is barefoot in the snow ( 🙂 this line strikes me funny for some reason) but anyway angel seems to be indicated. And many other cards can be found with this type of angel-tree-deer theme. (We have another one that we’ll put up next.) But underneath this beautiful scene is something that might be easily missed:  Two seated gnome-like characters (!) appear in the yellow area, like bookends only looking the wrong way.

As for the names on the back:  the card was from J. F. Dodd, Christmas 1906, for Stanley….Tisette/Tintle/Tintte…or ? His surname is pretty hard to read.

A Wish For Your Gladness

Posted on by
Reply

Divided back postcard. Postmarked December 22, 1928 from Sacramento, California. Series or number 1181 D. Publisher unknown.

Price:  $8.00

A beautiful Christmas postcard from The Alice Ellison Collection of a ringing bell with a poinsettias, mistletoe and a scene of a cozy home at sunrise in the background:

Christmas Greetings

“A wish for your gladness

As Christmas bells ring,

And all the bright blessings

These holidays bring.”

Addressed to:   “Mrs. Ellison & Family, 1015 O Street, Sacramento, California”  and signed, “Greetings of the Season from Mr. and Mrs. Gomes.”

Chimney Top Musicians

Posted on by
Reply

Vintage Christmas Card, circa 1920s – 1930s.

Price:  $5.00        Size:  5 and 1/4 x 3 and 1/4″

“To All Of You – A Merry Christmas”

Five birdie musicians – singing and playing the cello and accordion, with the maestro directing – are spreading joy from atop snow-covered chimneys. The gold-tone in the card is of the type that has that sort of a shimmer to it, so the actual card is even nicer than the scanned image. And it was signed,  “From The Haskins”  but the same wish applies from us here at Laurel Cottage to you!

From Our House To Yours, The Sanders, 1960

Posted on by
Reply

Christmas card, deckled edge, 1960.

Price:  $5.00          Size:  About 4 and 1/4 x 5″

Jumping ahead a couple of centuries from the last post…..Mr. and Mrs. Sanders, a beautiful and happy couple at Christmastime. And they’re decked out, she in her pearls and lace and he in his dress shirt with totally awesome wide necktie.

This card was found in an antique shop in Morgan Hill, California.

Warmest Wishes From Kate And Charles Tegtmeier

Posted on by
Reply

Christmas card, circa 1920s – 1930s.

Price:  $5.00

Find the “hidden” cat on this card!

A charming American Colonial or Old English style illustration in black and green….

“With warmest wishes

and a hope sincere

For a Merry Christmas

and a Glad New Year.”

Deciphering the surname of Kate and Charles was a good challenge, and after some tries we found the best guess to be Tegtmeier, or not quite so likely, Fegtmeier, and there are at least two couples that might fit, one in New York and the other in Illinois, from census records.

Ruth Welch Siver Christmas Postcard

Posted on by
Reply

Divided back, artist-signed, unused postcard. Circa 1922. Artist:  Ruth Welch Siver.

Price:  $12.00

“A Merry Christmas

And Many More

A Happier New Year

Than Ever Before.”

Here’s another artist-signed card – not very Christmas-y but so charming! The same illustration of the two children was found on another Siver postcard which was postmarked in 1922, hence the estimated date for this card. Biographical info on the artist is now posted.

Bounteous Gifts For Sadie Barbettini

Posted on by
Reply

Divided back, artist-signed, embossed, unused postcard. Painting copyright by Frances Brundage. Printed in Germany. Publisher unknown. Series or number 219. Circa 1907 – 1914.

Price:  $10.00

A Merry Christmas.

Bounteous gifts from heaven’s choicest store

May you find Christmas morning,

showered at your door.”

Addressed to:  “Miss Sadie Barbettini, Guadalupe.”  The sender wrote:

“Accept my little present and my wish for a merry Christmas and happy new year, you[r] loving cousin Rose d’ “

Sadie Barbettini (spelled Barbetini) shows up in the 1900 Federal Census for Township 9, Santa Barbara County, California with her mother Mary P. Barbettini and older sisters Emma and Minnie. Sadie was born September 1895 according to this census. A number of earlier pages on this census show the name crossed off township name of Guadalupe, so this census should be the correct record for Sadie.

The 1910 census appears also for the family, still in Township 9. The girls’ mother is now Mary Jenkins, widowed, and she has two additional children, John and Mary Ann Jenkins.

Sources:  Frances Brundage. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Brundage (accessed December 20, 2017).

Year: 1900; Census Place: Township 9, Santa Barbara, California; Roll: 110; Page: 8A; Enumeration District: 0254; FHL microfilm: 1240110. (Ancestry.com).

Year: 1910; Census Place: Township 9, Santa Barbara, California; Roll: T624_105; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 0185; FHL microfilm: 1374118. (Ancestry.com).

Federal Pure Food Company Of Chicago

Posted on by
Reply

Federal Pure Food Company Holiday Card. Circa 1919 – 1920s.

Price:  $15.00             Size:  6 and 1/4 x 4 and 7/8″

‘Tis the season….for shopping! Here’s a beautiful Christmas/New Year’s card, probably from the 1920s, showing a nostalgic 19th-century scene of busy holiday shoppers on a snow-covered street.

“We extend to our friends and customers our hearty good wishes for the Holiday Season and may the New Year bring an abundance of Happiness and Prosperity.

Federal Pure Food Company. Chicago, Illinois.”

Does anyone remember any Federal Pure Food Co. labels on maybe vanilla extract or other extracts used in baking? Could be a wacked-out 😉 memory on my part, but I seem to recall old extract bottles in the back of our spice cupboard as a child with this company name. If so, the extracts were already old as the last advertisement found for the company was in 1935. And according to another news clipping, they established in 1895, though no references were found prior to 1919 when their sales ads begin showing up in newspapers across the country and in magazines like Popular Mechanics. Federal’s last known given address for correspondence was 2946 Lake St., Chicago, though for most of their advertised existence they were located on Archer Avenue.

Below, a clip from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 4, 1921 which listed the company as:  “The Federal Pure Food Company, 2301 – 2319 Archer Ave., Chicago, ILL. Largest packers of pure food specialties in the world.”

A Honolulu, Hawaii agent ad from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, September 23, 1921:

The ad from August 13, 1922  for “Agents” appearing in The Tampa Tribune, states the Federal Pure Food Company had been established “since 1895.”

Sources:  “When you have tried everything else.” The Pittsburgh Press, February 17, 1935. Sunday, p. 42. (Newspapers.com).

“No Dull Times In The Food Business.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 4, 1921. Sunday, p. 26. (Newspapers.com).

” ‘Federal’ Concentrated Ready-To-Cook Preparations.” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, September 23, 1921. Friday, p. 5. (Newspapers.com).

The Tampa Tribune, August 13, 1922. Sunday, p. 27. (Newspapers.com).