Jack My Boy, We Are Here

Undivided Back, Real Photo Postcard. Postmarked September 17, 1905.

Price:  $12.00

“Jack – my boy – we are here – Gaff.”

Addressed to:   “Schuyler B. Jackson, Esq. Somerset Farm, Peapack, N. J.”

A great caption by the sender, and better than what I was thinking….but still, “A Grand Old House.” Jack seems to have been Schuyler Brinkerhoff Jackson, son of Philip and Margaret, born in New Jersey, August 18, 1900. The postmark year is almost impossible to read, that may be the hint of a “5” there, so 1905 maybe, but since this was an undivided back-type card, if sent timely, it was mailed before the postal regulations changed in December 1907. So, the recipient of this card might have been about five years old.

My old gaffer?

Who was Gaff? Could he have been the grandpa of young Schuyler? (Gaff or Gaffer has been used as a nickname for grandfather) or could there have been an older version (the 1.0 😉 ) of SBJ and Gaff was a friend or rellie of Jack’s own generation?

In the sun and shade

And what of the grand old house? A two-story Colonial(?) in brick (or stone) with dormers, wood shutters, and a wood-shingled roof. The possible location Peapack, NJ, is not ruled out, per the postmark, but she could just as well have been situated in any number of other places, though likely in the Northeast. Some other details:  If you click on the image to enlarge it, you’ll notice a chair or chairs to the left of the stairway (can’t you just picture yourself walking up the 7 or 8 steps) leading up to the front porch? On our right, the wood-sided sloped portion must have been an addition, with the semi-enclosed patio area added on, too. But back to the front porch – maybe the steps were added later and the original entrance had been (or still was) on the ground floor.

Sources: Year: 1910; Census Place: Bernards, Somerset, New Jersey; Roll: T624_907; Page: 23A; Enumeration District: 0109; FHL microfilm: 1374920. (Ancestry.com).

The National Archives in St. Louis, Missouri; St. Louis, Missouri; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 1198. (Ancestry.com).