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

The Little Indian

Posted on July 6th, 2017 by

Vintage photo, circa 1940s – early 1950s

Price:  $3.00       Size:  About 3 x 4 and 1/2″

Another found in Dearborn, Michigan on my recent trip, from a box of loose photos. I’ll look for anything related to this one when I go back next year. The reverse appears to be written in Czech, and probably by the grandmother of the beaming little boy “playing Indian” on the front lawn. Ewaline would be the name of the boy’s mom. And maybe someone will recognize this particular toy set of Indian headdress and drum. (Those look like hawk feathers and it says “Indian Chief” across the headband.)

“Ten mály Indian jest moj ‘sweetheart’ Ewalinies synek.” 

“The little Indian is my sweetheart, Ewalinie’s son.”

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Categories: Children, Feathers, Old Photos, Photos With Names, Photos Without Names

Up On The Roof

Posted on July 4th, 2017 by

Vintage photo, white border, deckled edge. Circa 1940s – 1950s.

Price:  $3.00        Size:  About 4 and 1/4 x 3 and 1/8″

A beautiful vintage snapshot, albeit in rough shape, of an African-American family posing together on a rooftop. It was found on my recent Detroit excursion in an antique shop in Dearborn. No writing on the back, and Detroit could be the location, but just on the off-chance that the photo had not strayed too far. The time-frame is 1940s and ’50s, a little hard to pinpoint without more detailed research. For one, we see girls’ and womens’ hemlines at the knee in both decades.

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Categories: African, African American, African Roots, Families, Groups, Old Photos, People, Photos Without Names

A Break From The Summer Heat

Posted on July 4th, 2017 by

Divided back, used postcard. Postmarked July 5, 1911[?] from East Jordan, Michigan. Publisher:  E. C. Kropp Co., Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Price:  $6.00

Old River in Winter, Charlevoix, the Beautiful:  A break for the senses from a Michigan summer’s sweltering heat, and a July 4th reference below….

Happy 4th!

“Hello old boy:  How does this look to you in this kind of weather? 104° yesterday & 90°  to-day, no trouble to keep warm I assure you. Have any fire crackers on the 4th ha ha. I amused my self with a toy pistol and some match heads. Yours, Scotty.”

Addressed to:   “Mr. E. C. Bowman, 33 Kingwood St., Morgantown, W. Va.”

The recipient of this card was likely Eugene C. Bowman, found on the 1910 Federal Census for Morgantown, with wife Madge (Smith). Both are W. Virginia natives: Eugene is about age twenty-seven on this census, and an engineer at a power plant.

Sources:  Year: 1910; Census Place: Morgantown Ward 1, Monongalia, West Virginia; Roll: T624_1691; Page: 7B; Enumeration District: 0077; FHL microfilm: 1375704. (Ancestry.com)

“West Virginia Marriages, 1853–1970.” Index. FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2008, 2009. (Ancestry.com)

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Categories: Postcards, Postcards Used, Rivers, Snow

French Waterman, Goulais Lake, Algoma Co., Ontario

Posted on July 2nd, 2017 by

Vintage photos, circa 1940s – 1952, deckled edge border.

Price for the set of two:  $15.00

“French and guide at launch place”  or possibly “at lunch place.” That is probably French Waterman on our left and either his unidentified fishing guide, center (or, if some humor was employed in the description, French’s dad, Warren…just a possibility, no assumptions.) On the canoe bow, we see what may be the manufacturer logo of a circle and one wing. Maybe someone familiar with vintage canoes will recognize it. (Click on the image to enlarge.)

 

French is John French Waterman, born about 1904 in Tennessee, younger son of Warren Gookin Waterman, Sr., born in Southport, Connecticut 1872 and died in Frankfort, Michigan 1952 and Anna (Hannah Meuller) Waterman. Warren, Sr. may have taken the shots (we hope, or was in the top one, even better, but either way, these photos seem to be a remembrance from a nice father-son trip!) and written on the back, along with stamping his address at that time:

“W. G. Waterman, Riverbend Farm, Frankfort, Michigan”

French Waterman at Goulais Lake Camps, Algoma County, Ontario. There’s French, we believe, on our far right, blending in a little with the background. In the center, nestled in the pines, one of the sixteen guest cabins. Here is Goulais Lake from a Google map search.

Sources:  Year: 1920; Census Place: Evanston Ward 7, Cook, Illinois; Roll: T625_358; Page: 10A; Enumeration District: 87; Image: 533. (Ancestry.com)

Original data: Michigan, Marriage Records, 1867–1952. Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics. (Ancestry.com)

Year: 1940; Census Place: Crystal Lake, Benzie, Michigan; Roll: T627_1730; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 10-9. (Ancestry.com)

Goulais Lake, Algoma, Unorganized, North Part, ON, Canada. Google.com map search. Accessed July 2, 2017.

Find A Grave memorial# 36874914. Findagrave.com. Accessed July 2, 2017.

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Categories: Canoes, Hats, Lakes, Old Photos, Photos With Names

Twelve In A Skiff

Posted on July 2nd, 2017 by

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

Price:  $4.00

A nice family photo made into a postcard, circa 1907 – 1918, showing twelve family members in a skiff named Elizabeth, either just about to head out on the water or just returned. Most likely the latter though because there’s the family dog, laying down in the sand (tired after all the excitement, swimming, etc?) and there’s one of the kids huddled in a towel. This RPPC would be a nice reference for the era’s bathing suits, family outings at the lake, and that type of thing. Love those bathing caps!

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Categories: Boats and Ships, Children, Dogs, Photos Without Names, Postcards, Postcards Unused, Real Photo Postcards

Young Man’s Dream, Circa 1910

Posted on July 1st, 2017 by

Two pals in Newsboy caps, skinny tie, bow tie and sweaters

Our guy from the top left, looking distinguished and contemplative, with pipe

Divided back, Real Photo Postcards, unused. Cyko stamp box. Circa 1910.

Price for the set of two:  $35.00

I had just spent a ridiculous amount of time comparing these two images to see how they were done. 🙂 Looks like the charming lake scene of an attractive young woman on a lake, with a partial border of lilies (very Art Nouveau) is the same size on both cards, one being just the reverse of the other. The shaped border, however, is slightly larger on the second postcard, so that part must have involved a separate process, then, of course, arranging the trimmed photos in the border would be next….but why dissect? The end result is beautiful and unusual, and possibly two-of-a-kind.

One can’t help but look for an artist name though, and in so doing might imagine seeing a signature (John something) in the shadow of the oar (top image) but a name glimmering on the water, so to speak, could just be coincidence.

As for time-frame, I’m guessing late 1900s to mid-1910s, in looking for men’s narrow necktie style, women wearing neckties, Art Nouveau, etc. There do not seem to be many examples of women in neckties in the 1900s – 1910s, and that was surprising. But here’s one below in the bottom right corner from a Google search for the popular British actress, Madge Crichton:

Mostly Madge

A 1910 advertisement from The Marion Star:

Sources:  Art Nouveau. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Nouveau (accessed July 1, 2017).

“Images for old postcards Madge Crichton.”  Google search, July 1, 2017. Google.com.

Marx Bros. & Hess collar and necktie ad. The Marion Star, (Marion, OH) May 14, 1910. Saturday, p. 7. (Newspapers.com)

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Categories: Art Nouveau, Boats and Ships, Hats, Photos Without Names, Postcards Unused, Real Photo Postcards, Shaped Borders

Houseboat Heaven

Posted on June 23rd, 2017 by

Vintage photo, circa 1920s – 1930s.

Price:  $6.00         Size:  4 and 1/4 x 2 and 5/8″

Three ladies

I love houseboats:  There is something so romantic about them (riverboats, too.) So “houseboat heaven” came to mind immediately upon finding the photo, and the term stuck (and never got unstuck, lol. That’s redundant but, no matter.) But I realize, as I’m posting this, that the watercraft in question could be something other than the type involved in my (just now identified) longing to set up house on the water or meander down a river in rustic comfort. Rather than houseboat, the vessel could be a small ferry….In any case, the image shows a woman posed, relaxing on an inside railing, smiling for the camera. On our left we see a partial view of the woman’s friend, in flounced dress, her hand on one of the thin uprights. You get the feeling she’s chatting with someone outside of the picture. Both ladies are elegantly dressed. And the vessel….is charming:  nothing too fancy, wooden, with her “house” portion curving around, and a shallow, covered deck off of the house, as part of the bigger deck surface as a whole. Note the nice scroll work above the door and the scalloped roof edging….All-in-all, a beautifully captured moment, from a casually elegant or elegantly casual 😉 evening spent on the water, with good friends. (That includes the boat!)

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Categories: Boats and Ships, Lakes, Old Photos, Photos Without Names, Rivers

Handsome Guy And Baby At House Number 14

Posted on June 18th, 2017 by

Old photo, circa late 1920s – early 1930s.

Price:  $10.00       Size:  2 and 1/2 x 4 and 1/8″

Happy Father’s Day!

Found at an antique store in Monterey, California, in a huge amount of loose photos from various unrelated families:  It’s possible there are more to go along with this one, but none jumped out as related, and this photo was just too beautiful to pass up. A great one for Father’s Day. There is no i.d. on the back, only “Velox” (in an oval) for the printing paper of the photo. It may be from the U.S. or could very likely be from “across the pond,” as they say. Per the UK site Early Photography, the Velox in oval is circa 1929. And, in peering into the photo for clues, one almost expects to read a label on whatever that is in the left corner of the window (as if it might show some brand name particular to England, for instance.) On second look it’s maybe just a crockery dish placed in a sunny window for starting a seedling. And that’s a sleeve garter that the dad is wearing, by the way.

Source:  “Early Photography:  Velox.” http://www.earlyphotography.co.uk/site/entry_F53.html  (accessed June 23, 2017).

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Categories: Children, Door Stoop Collection, Old Photos, Photos Without Names

Sea Gull – A Boat

Posted on June 13th, 2017 by

Divided Back, Real Photo Postcard, unused. Circa 1907 – 1918.

Price:  $6.00

Per Playle’s (a great reference for dating RPPCs, thus we use it all the time) this particular style of AZO stamp box, with all four triangles pointing up, is dated at 1904 – 1918, however, since it’s a divided back card, it would need to be December 1907 at the earliest. The type of watercraft is, for me, non-boat expert that I am, in question. Houseboat…?…. maybe, maybe not. In any case, we see her name on the bow,  “Sea Gull.”  And there’s the vague image of the skipper at the helm, standing, facing the sun. Amidships (can this term be used for small craft?) we see the silhouette of a seated man in a hat. On shore, in the background are some buildings and a large stand of evergreens.

Source:  “Real Photo Postcard Stamp Boxes. A – B.” playle.com. (accessed June 13, 2017).

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Categories: Boats and Ships, Postcards Unused, Real Photo Postcards

Sweetwater Dam, Near San Diego, California

Posted on June 12th, 2017 by

Undivided back, unused postcard. Circa 1906. Publisher:  E. P. Charlton & Co., San Diego, California. Number or series:  788.

Price:  $6.00

The Sweetwater Dam is located about twelve miles east of San Diego, and was first constructed in 1888, but raised and retrofitted several times over the next few decades. The construction process back in 1888 for the dam involved horses and mules carrying stone from the quarry to the site in carts.

This card is one from our Lena Davis Collection. Click below to see the beautiful flourish-y details of this portion of the reverse from the publisher:  a great design (as is the easier-to-see stamp box).

Heartfelt wishes and wistful thoughts, from the sender:

“Dear Friend Lena. Many thanks for the Kind greetings and in stead of an Easter card will enclose photos hoping you will read in it heartiest wishes for a true Easter as its name implies. So sorry Mrs. Hall is so poorly. Give her my best wishes. And dear girl how I wish for the sake of my boys and girls, I were better looking. When looking at it think how much I love you and desire for you the best in life and may our heavenly Father bless you abundantly. Love to all from your old friend Dee French. Mar. 1914.”

Source:  Sweetwater Dam. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetwater_Dam (accessed June 12, 2017).

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Categories: Postcards Unused With Writing, Rivers, The Lena Davis Postcard Collection, Undivided Back, Waterfalls, Dams and Locks