Monthly Archives: March 2024

A Happy Easter To Maybell Morgan

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Divided back, embossed, unused postcard. Publisher:  Whitney Made, Worcester, Massachusetts. Made in U.S.A.

Price:  $4.00

Easter, 1927

A Happy Easter

“Songs and flowers and skies of blue

They all come with Easter and

my wish comes too

For Easter gladness”

A cute card to Maybell Morgan from Rosemary:  Three rosy-cheeked children, (their look may remind you of illustrations from England) and an adorable quacking duck, are on a hilltop with daffodils. Appearing from the other side of the hill is a cozy cottage and the silhouette of some trees.

Fred J. Summer, Insurance Man

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Old photo, white border, circa 1915 – 1920.

Price:  $20.00               Size:  About 2 and 1/4 x 3 and 1/8″

“Photo. F. Summer. Queen Ins. p. 89”

“On The Way To Town”   

“Fred J. Summer”           

Sporting a cigar and bow tie, a young man with a gregarious smile, (a people person is a good fit for the insurance business) takes a break to pose for this picture.

Biographical data

According to his WWII Draft Registration, Fred John Summer was born December 8, 1900, though his first marriage record shows his birthday as January 8, 1898. He was born in London, England to Steven Summer and Clementine (Piruska) Summer. He married Hinda R. Fancher in 1919 in Indiana, but again in 1941, so they evidently had divorced. They had two children, Fred Orville Summer and Geraldine Summer. A third marriage was found, in Family Search, to Leslie Armantrout in Dubuque, Iowa. (Armantrout was the bride’s prior married name.) An image of this marriage is not online, and the transcription does not provide the marriage date (quite unusual). Fred passed away in Florida in 1965.

An early start to a successful career

The Queen Insurance Company of America was based in New York City but, according to an old envelope found on eBay, had offices in other states. This coincides with the second newspaper clipping (below) that reported that Fred started working (at age fifteen) for an “eastern insurance company”. Soon after that he started his own company, The Summer Agency, which became a very successful firm. Their slogan was, “where insurance is a business (not a sideline)”. The company’s long-term address in Chicago was 2145 E. 83rd St., Chicago. (If Fred was born in 1900, that would put him at age fifteen for starting his company – possibly the truth had been stretched a bit in the 25 year anniversary notice. (From researching other companies, this was not uncommon.)

Anniversary notice in The Daily Calumet (Chicago, Illinois). May 20, 1940:

In 1942, he moved to California, where in 1954, he became a Million Dollar Writer. Below, from the Oakdale Leader, December 20, 1956:

Sources:  “Illinois, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1940-1945”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPH8-1TY4 : Sat Mar 09 16:29:12 UTC 2024), Entry for Fred John Summer and Self, 16 February 1942.

“Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KDH7-QLK : Fri Mar 08 18:52:51 UTC 2024), Entry for Fred J Summer and Hinda Fancher, 13 Mar 1919.

“Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:D4FD-RXT2 : Sun Mar 10 01:54:09 UTC 2024), Entry for Fred J Summer and Leslie Armantrout.

Carroll, B. F. Thirty-seventh Annual Report of the Auditor of State of the State of Iowa on Insurance Other Than Life, 1906, Vol 1. “Queen Insurance Co. of America, New York, N.Y.” P. 560. (google.com/books.)

Queen Insurance Company of America Advertising Cover (-699). https://www.ebay.com/itm/122521912348. (Accessed March 28, 2024.)

“Fred J. Summer, Marking 25th Anniversary, Warns Against False Economy.” The Daily Calumet (Chicago, Illinois). May 20, 1940. Monday, p. 3. (Newspapers.com).

“Insurance Speaker in Modesto Tomorrow.” Oakdale Leader (Oakdale, California). December 20, 1956. Thursday, p. 8. (Newspapers.com).

Family On Porch

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Old photo, circa 1900 – 1910’s.

Price:  $5.00             Size:  4 and 1/2 x 2 and 7/16″

Nice gingerbread detail on this porch – clearly a family is gathered here, though we don’t have any names or even a location on the back. The woman on our right in the dark dress is the mom and possibly the man in front of them is the dad. Then we’ve got a grandmother or two, or perhaps a great-aunt and then a couple of men in conversation, maybe a neighbor has stopped by….I had picked up this photo thinking it went with some others (but probably not) that were loose in a bin; they were, per the norm, languishing – just hanging around in an antique store. How many millions of old photos are doing the same at this moment? Yes, rather a tragedy, especially to those of us that have actively searched for images of their ancestors; some found (amazing!) and many more not. (There’s always hope.) Back to this lack of i.d., really, it’s a rare person then and now (well, different now with everything digital) that always identified the back of a photo. (It is tedious, for sure.) But even unidentified it’s still good. We can get a sense of, certainly fashion, including house fashion (i.e. our Victorian gingerbread here with that beautifully tall door) and that can be important to historians and collectors. (You bet, you can get deep in research detail – those white shoes the mom and daughters are wearing, for instance, and their nearly identical hairstyles). But good also, for just life the way it used to be…..in what we now (laughably) think of as a simpler time.

Couple With Towle’s Log Cabin Display

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Old photo, white border. Circa 1910’s. 

Price:  $20.00           Size:  4 and 1/16 x 2 and 3/8″

There may be some historical interest for this photo for any researchers or collectors of Towle’s Log Cabin Syrup items; we’re not finding anything similar online…..

In starting research for this one, I was surprised to find the Log Cabin brand of syrup still being sold. (I always go right for the real thing, apparently blocking all others from vision. And yes, I know, this makes me sound like a snob, 😉 especially in light of the absurd store prices we’re up against today). Thinking back, growing up in the ’60’s, our cupboard usually contained Mrs. Butterworth’s (we liked the bottle) and sometimes Log Cabin, but at some point, someone (maybe an uncle and probably not till I was in high school), introduced us to actual maple syrup (from trees!) and well, why would you want anything else? (Ha, memories, as an adult, of going out for breakfast and sneaking in syrup from home, and later, of a great place that my husband and I used to drive down to, in Carmel Valley, CA – The Wagon Wheel. Real maple syrup available upon request, still for just an extra dollar.)

About Towle’s

Towle’s was started in 1888 in St. Paul, Minnesota by grocer, Patrick Joseph Towle, and bought out by General Foods in 1927. They initially sold their log cabin syrup in a tall metal can and shortly thereafter in that iconic log-cabin-shaped container. In addition, they manufactured other syrup brands, as well as other related products. For much more about them, see this article by author Matthew Thomas. (Check out his link within the link. Note:  Even the original recipe for log cabin maple syrup may not have been pure maple.)

Our photo….

A couple, maybe in their twenties, are sitting on a porch; the woman backed up to one of the porch posts and the man with his elbow resting on a 3-D Towle’s Log Cabin display. An axe and hammer, and these both appear to be real tools, lean against the little cabin. We can see houses across the street, so the area seems to be residential. Now, it’s possible that this was a general or hardware store with this display set up, and the gentlemen has just bought these tools – but in typing this scenario, it sounds far-fetched, the display would be subjected to the weather, for one. This makes us wonder if the couple isn’t somehow connected to the Towle family….Or, the gentleman could have been a new distributor of the syrup and had added the two props for picture-taking purposes.

Advertisements in old newspapers abound; here are two:

From The Tacoma Daily Ledger, November 23, 1890, an ad touting Towle’s “Log Cabin” maple syrup as absolutely pure, unadulterated and without added glucose, though, if you read with skepticism, you’ll understand that this ad never definitively says that it’s 100% maple syrup.

And from The Oregon Daily Journal, September 27, 1912:

Sources:  Thomas, Matthew. (2017, August 31). “When Towle’s Log Cabin Was a Maple Syrup Company.”maplesyruphistory.com. Accessed March 2, 2024.

“A Card to the Public.” The Tacoma Daily Ledger (Tacoma, Washington). November 23, 1890. Sunday, p. 7. (Newspapers.com).

“Record-Breaking Shipment of Towle’s Log Cabin Syrup.” The Oregon Daily Journal (Portland, Oregon). September 27, 1912. Friday, p. 15. (Newspapers.com).