U.S.S. Richmond At Balboa, Panama

Old photo, circa 1920s. Balboa, Panama.

Price:  $25.00        Size:  About 4 and 1/4 x 3 and 1/8″

Richmond at Balboa

As it turns out, there are two ships here, one directly behind the other. Which one is Richmond is uncertain, but one might assume she’s the one in the forefront. As to the date, the Wikipedia entry lists Richmond as being at Panama both in 1924 and 1942, but our guess is the earlier decade, both from the look of the photo and the similarity to the following image of Balboa, found online at Library of Congress, which is estimated to have been taken between 1908 and 1919:

Panama Canal Zone, town of Balboa

Sources:  U.S.S. Richmond (CL-9). n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Richmond_(CL-9). Accessed May 27, 2019.

Panama Canal Zone, town of Balboa. , None. [Between 1908 and 1919] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2016821455/.

Boyd Roland Gibbs, 4th Field Artillery, Battery B

Real Photo Postcard, unused. Circa 1916 – 1919. Arax Photo Studios. AZO stamp box.

Price:  $15.00

“Mr. Boyd Roland Gibbs. 4th Field Artillery. Battery B. Atlanta, Georgia.”

Hey, well I fibbed 😉 evidently in the last post. Thought I had no military, but found this one. And a great one it is. Full name, artillery and location on the back for this handsome guy in WWI army uniform. Someone’s current great or great-great uncle today. Boyd Gibbs was born in South Carolina in 1898, son of James Patrick Gibbs and Leila Ida (Prince) Gibbs. U.S. Army transport records 1918 – 1919 list Boyd’s rank as wagoner.

Sources:  Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 27 May 2019), memorial page for Boyd Roland Gibbs (May 1898–13 Nov 1940), Find A Grave Memorial no. 143151272, citing First Baptist Church of North Spartanburg Cemetery, Spartanburg, Spartanburg County, South Carolina, USA ; Maintained by Margaret (contributor 46516145).

The National Archives at College Park; College Park, Maryland; Record Group Title: Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985; Record Group Number: 92; Roll or Box Number: 440. (Ancestry.com).

“The Duties of the U.S. Army Wagoner.” (http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~gregkrenzelok/genealogy/veterinary%20corp%20in%20ww1/wagonerduties.html) Accessed May 27, 2019.

Woman In Sailor Dress

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

Price:  $2.00           Size:   2 and 1/2 x 4 and 1/4″

Well, we were looking for military-related items for Memorial Day but have none at the moment. This will be the closest, a young woman in a sailor dress. Was this just fashion or could she have actually been in the navy? We suspect the former, but maybe someone out there can fill us in. Notice the water pump in the background. There is no writing on the back and no indication of where this might have been taken. Just one of millions of loose photos that were a part of someone’s family collection and ended up in a random box. Sad, but it’s nice to rescue these type, and bring them back to life. I like the woman’s gracefulness and her pose in profile. (And isn’t it funny how we tend to romanticize these moments, frozen in time. In reality, what would the woman say about this snapshot? Oh, that was me when……I was just…..)