Laurel Cottage Genealogy
Genealogy Services, Old Photos, Postcards, Trade Cards, Etc.

Queen Anne Soap, Kitty With Yarn

Posted on August 8th, 2017 by

Trade card. Detroit Soap Co. Circa 1881 – 1890s.

Price:  $6.00        Size:  4 and 7/16 x 3″

We’ve got a short kitten theme going here…the second of three. Nothing on the back of this trade card. But see a previous post on the Detroit Soap Company and Queen Anne Soap. The slogan, “The Best Family Soap in the World,”  appearing on our trade card above, seems to be the most common one seen on cards for Queen Anne Soap, so it’s possible that that particular wording became the standardized saying, but that’s a theory, no proof at this point.

See also, our third Queen Anne’s Soap find.

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Categories: Cats, Trade Cards and Advertising

Kitty Photographer For Nudavene Flakes

Posted on August 7th, 2017 by

Nudavene Flakes Trade Card. Circa 1887 – 1890.

Price:  $12.00        Size:  3 x 4 and 7/16″

From a Throwback Thursday entry from Rockford Buzz:

“The A. M. Johnston Oat Meal Company, said to have been the first oatmeal mill west of the state of Ohio, was located in Rockford in the 1870’s. This firm later became the Rockford Oatmeal Company, and eventually the American Cereal Company, which was the forerunner of the Quaker Oats Company.”

TBT: A. M. Johnston Oatmeal Company

Numerous newspaper ads can be found for Nudavene Flakes and Cormack’s Nudavene Flakes. The example below, from June 1895 in the Detroit Free Press, shows a listing of a particular Monday’s prices from the Hull Brothers Company. Ten pounds of Nudavene Flakes for 25 cents, imagine! (Or, ten pounds of anything for 25 cents.) And how ’bout the canned brook trout and mackerel, there’s a couple of items we don’t see on the shelves anymore. (That’s a typo on the word “Sardeiles.” It should be “Sardelles” – a term used for a small sardine-like fish.)

Sources:  TBT Rockford: A. M. Johnston Oatmeal Company. December 15, 2016. rockfordbuzz.com. (accessed August 7, 2017).

Hull Bros. Grocery Ad. Detroit Free Press. June 16, 1895. Accessed August 7, 2017. (newspapers.com)

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Categories: Animals, Cats, Trade Cards and Advertising

Władysław Jakubowski, Detroit Photographer

Posted on August 1st, 2017 by

Władysław Jakubowski, Detroit photographer 1911 – 1920. Studio address:  1525 Michigan Avenue, Detroit, Michigan. Partners with Władimer Lityński 1912 – 1916.

From the photographer’s 1920 passport application, Władysław, wife Wanda, and daughter Sophie.

The photographer for the prior post, Władysław L. Jakubowski, was born July 12th or 22nd (22nd from his WWII Draft Registration), 1883 in Filipów, Suwałki County, northeastern Poland, son of Vitalis Jakubowski and Anna Szpakouska[?] He emigrated to the U.S. in 1903 and became a naturalized citizen in 1911. He married Wanda Gudowski (Kudowska on marriage record) in Detroit on August 25, 1915. By the 1920 Federal Census they had a daughter, Sophie. Jumping ahead to 1940, we find Władysław and Wanda in Queens, New York. He’s working as a printing machine operator. With them are son, Marion, born in Poland, about 1923, and daughter Alina, born New York, about 1931. The WWII Draft Registration shows Władysław working at Grand Prospect Hall, 263 Prospect Ave., Brooklyn. To fill in some of the time frame and view more photo examples, see Michigan Polonia, which includes the publication Portrait Studios of Detroit’s Polonia: The Face of Polish Immigration, (pages 26 – 28).

A little more info….

Władysław Jakubowski is shown in several Detroit city directory listings at his studio address of 1525 Michigan Avenue, but the 1912 entry under his partner, Władimer Lityński, gives us a little more information:

Sources:  National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; NARA Series: Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 – March 31, 1925; Roll #: 1139; Volume #: Roll 1139 – Certificates: 8626-8999, 03 Apr 1920-05 Apr 1920. Ancestry.com.

R. L. Polk & Co.’s Detroit City Directory, 1911. p. 3324. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.

R. L. Polk & Co.’s Detroit City Directory, 1912. pp. 1414 and 1654. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.

R. L. Polk & Co.’s Detroit City Directory, 1916. p. 3656. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.

Michigan, Marriage Records, 1867–1952. Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics. Ancestry.com.

Year: 1920; Census Place: Detroit Ward 16, Wayne, Michigan; Roll: T625_815; Page: 36B; Enumeration District: 502. Ancestry.com.

Year: 1940; Census Place: New York, Queens, New York; Roll: T627_2723; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 41-1886. Ancestry.com.

The National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Record Group Title: Records of the Selective Service System, 1926-1975; Record Group Number: 147. Ancestry.com.

Grand Prospect Hall. grandprospect.com. Accessed August 1, 2017.

Portrait Studios of Detroit’s Polonia: The Face of Polish Immigration. mipolonia.net. Accessed August 1, 2017.

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Categories: Children, Families, Men, People, Photographers, Women

Young Woman With Rose, Detroit

Posted on July 23rd, 2017 by

Divided back, unused, Real Photo Postcard. Photographer:  Władysław Jakubowski. Circa 1911 – 1916. AZO stamp box.

Price:  $15.00

A Real Photo Postcard, not in good shape, as you can see by the “foxing” marks and the creases, most notably in the top right corner. More by Władysław Jakubowski can be viewed at Michigan Polonia and Polish Mission. His stamp on the back shows:

“W. Jakubowski. 1525 Michigan Ave., Detroit, Mich.”

And it’s a beautiful image of the lovely young woman, whom we might presume to be of Polish descent, posed standing with one hand resting on an open French window, and holding a rose in the other. Her dress (or matching skirt and blouse) is possibly silk (wonder what color) with long sleeves of a see-through material. She wears a white lace fichu (or maybe a long-sleeved white blouse underneath) over which lays a cross on a choker-length chain, and a large-link bracelet on her left wrist.

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Categories: People, Photos Without Names, Postcards, Postcards Unused, Real Photo Postcards, Women

Gusta And Her Flock

Posted on July 23rd, 2017 by

Divided back, unused, Real Photo Postcard. Circa 1907 – 1918. AZO stamp box.

Price:  $7.00

“To Myrtie from Gusta and her little flock.”

Gusta (looking very much as if she is in a priest’s robe) showing off her six grandchildren for friend, Myrtie, in this posed photo. Note the ornately carved wooden high-backed bench, likely provided by the photographer.

“Grandma – 52 yrs.; Francis – 11; George – 9; Clare – 5; Elsie – 4; Mabel – 2; Dempster – 3 mo.”

The surname (or names) are unknown for this family. Hopefully, someone will be searching for this set of given names and find them here.

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Categories: Chairs, Children, Photos With Names, Postcards, Postcards Unused With Writing, Real Photo Postcards

Our House At 8562

Posted on July 20th, 2017 by

Divided back, unused, Real Photo Postcard. AZO stamp box. Circa 1910 – 1930.

Price:  $3.00

Somewhere there was a beautiful house with a beautiful family….a mom takes a minute away from the cooking and cleaning to pose with her four kids, on the front porch of their house, numbered 8562….This one was found during the recent Detroit excursion that we’ve been mentioning lately. No way to know what city this was in. If it was Detroit, there were a number of houses, circa 1910 to 1930, numbered 8562, that might fit the bill, but it’s proving to be a needle in a haystack search. We’ll look for more that might be related to this one when we go back next year.

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Categories: Children, Postcards Unused, Real Photo Postcards, Women

Delivery Men, Circa 1937

Posted on July 16th, 2017 by

Old photo, white border. Circa 1937.

Price:  $2.00      Size:  5 and 1/2 x 3 and 1/2″

This photo was found in Michigan but where it was taken is unknown. The license plates don’t appear to be Michigan plates, and we’re looking around the year 1937, as the two cars in the middle should be 1937 Ford Sedan Delivery models. Here’s some examples below from a Google image search. You can see the distinctive grill and side vents, and the teardrop-shaped headlights. The car on the far left in our photo may be something different, and we didn’t research the one on the right. But the four guys (nice smiles!) clearly work for the same outfit, wearing their uniforms and company hats. And we can almost make out the sign on the building behind them. That second word is Storage, so the building must have housed some type of storage company, or showed an ad for one. (This was just to see if we could find any clues for the location of the photo, and it would be one, a good clue that is, if we could just figure out that first word, arrrgg! 😉 It looks like it starts off H-o-t-k-k? ) But don’t the two guys on our right look like they might be brothers?

Source:  “Ford Sedan 1937 Delivery.” Google.com image search. Accessed July 16, 2017.

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Categories: Hats, Old Photos, Photos Without Names

Andy, Mikey and Johnny Gogola, Circa 1930

Posted on July 13th, 2017 by

Old photo, white border. Circa 1930.

Price:  $10.00           Size:  2 and 1/2 x 3 and 1/2″

“Andy, Mikey, Johnny Gogola. all farmers.”

From left to right:  Johnny, Andy and Mikey Gogola:

A Gogola family of three brothers (and siblings) shows up on the Menallen, Fayette County, Pennsylvania 1930 Federal Census. If this is correct, the trio are the sons of Polish immigrants Clement and Eva Gogola. From older brothers’ marriage records (Wyandotte, MI) Eva’s maiden name is recorded as Mijol and Nijol.

Andy and older brothers, Stanley and Frank, all make their way to the Detroit, Michigan area. This photo was found in the Dearborn antique shop that I recently visited (and will be back to next year). No other possibilities of a different Gogola family were found.

My Forrer Street connection

Wow! What a surprise for me, finding Andy Gogola’s WWII vet record listing he and his wife and two kids living on Forrer St., Detroit. I rented an upper flat some decades later on Forrer, just a block away.

Sources:  Year: 1930; Census Place: Menallen, Fayette, Pennsylvania; Roll: 2040; Page: 16B; Enumeration District: 0056; Image: 298.0; FHL microfilm: 2341774. (Ancestry.com)

Marriage record for Frances Gogola; marriage record for Stanley Gogola. Michigan, Marriage Records, 1867–1952. Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics. (Ancestry.com)

Andrew L. Gogola. Pennsylvania (State). World War II Veterans Compensation Applications, circa 1950s. Records of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, Record Group 19, Series 19.92 (877 cartons). Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. (Ancestry.com)

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Categories: Children, Hats, Old Photos, Photos With Names

Three Girls, Circa 1920s

Posted on July 11th, 2017 by

Old photo, white border, circa 1920s.

Price:  $3.00          Size:  2 and 1/2 x 3 and 1/2″

We’re still in Detroit, presumably…..Or, at least that’s where this photo of the three beautiful girls was found (Dearborn to be precise) posing so perfectly, each in a drop-waist style dress that denotes the 1920s era. They might be sisters, cousins or just friends. There is no identifying writing on the back, and not that this narrows down a date at all, but we see that Velox was the printing paper used. The Velox name, at this point, had already been around awhile:  George Eastman (of Eastman Kodak) had purchased the patent for Velox from Leo Baekeland in 1898. If the name Baekeland sounds vaguely familiar, he was the chemist that invented Bakelite. (Careful, careful when buying the much-sought-after Bakelite items! There’s the real thing out there, and then there’s the what’s called genuine, but is really not!)

Sources:  Kodak. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodak (accessed July 11, 2017).

Leo Baekeland. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Baekeland (accessed July 11, 2017).

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Categories: Old Photos, Photos Without Names

Yours Truly, Bernice or Dagmar

Posted on July 9th, 2017 by

Vintage photo, white border, deckled edge. Belle Isle, Detroit, Michigan. Circa 1950s.

Price:  $6.00            Size:  About 2 and 1/2 x 3 and 1/2″

Another found on the recent Detroit trip. Beautiful Bernice, posing at the Scott Fountain on Belle Isle. The cat-eye sunglasses trend was popular in the 1950’s. Her shoes now, hmmmm, two-tone, but not really a saddle shoe – this exact style wasn’t found online. As to the inscription on the back,  “ ‘Your truly’ Bernice or Dagmar”  that’s one of the most interesting aspects of this photo.

A character name from a play?

And at first, I thought it was “Dogmar” and was searching for Dogmar as a possible surname or given name, and not coming up with much…..Then, and this happens to me quite a bit, for which I am truly grateful:  A day or two later I came across the movie I Remember Mama (1948) playing on the classic movie channel, with Irene Dunn as the Norwegian-born mother of four, set in San Francisco at the turn of the 20th century, with the youngest daughter named Dagmar (wait, what?). If you’ve never seen the movie, check it out (so beautiful!) The film is based on the story, Mama’s Bank Account (1943) by Kathryn Forbes, which inspired a play (1944) then the movie, then t.v. series Mama (1949 – 1957) and later two musical versions in the ’70s. The movie’s story is told from the standpoint of the oldest daughter, Katrin, an aspiring writer, played by Barbara Bel Geddes (Dallas fans, you will remember her as Jock’s wife, Miss Ellie.) So, did Bernice in our photo above play Dagmar in a school play production? It’s our best guess, other than the fact that Dagmar could be a middle name for her or vice versa (Dagmar Bernice).

Source:  Kathryn Forbes. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathryn_Forbes (accessed July 9, 2017).

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Categories: Fountains, Old Photos, Photos With Names