07 Wednesday Sep 2011
Posted in Minor, Photographs and Memories, Surnames, Transcriptions
Tags
I started today with a quick hunt through my Donald C. Minor Postcard Collection for depictions of rain or autumn or late summer or school. My grandfather received this gem from a friend who signed him/herself as HM.
What a strange card for one child to send to another!
10 Wednesday Aug 2011
Posted in Minor, Photographs and Memories, Surnames
Wordless Wednesday is an ongoing blog-prompt hosted at Geneabloggers. The author frequently uses the opportunity to share the vintage postcard collection of her grandfather, Donald C. Minor.
Today’s visitor to 112 North Richhill Street, Waynesburg, Pennyslvania would come upon this beautiful old church:
accessed August 10, 2011: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ronmilliken/reunion/Sunday%20tour.html
One hundred years ago the corner looked like this:
From the postcard collection of Donald C. Minor
How many differences can you spot!
This second image is an artochrome postcard from the Donald C. Minor Postcard Collection, a treasure trove of images and notes sent to my grandfather from 1907-1910. The card was printed in Germany, as were most of the postcards of that era. The publisher, however, was more local. Olmstead Brothers Company Publishers were located in nearby Wheeling, West Virginia. Either the printer or the publisher identified the card as being #1035, one of a set that showed scenes of the region.* Unfortunately for Minor genealogists, no note explains why Walter sent this card to five year old Donald on October 21, 1908.
*You can find more photo postcards of the Wheeling, West Virginia region at http://wheeling.weirton.lib.wv.us/history/photos/postcards/index.htm.
27 Wednesday Jul 2011
Posted in Maps, Minor, Photographs and Memories, Surnames
Wordless Wednesday is an ongoing blog-prompt hosted at Geneabloggers. The author frequently uses the opportunity to share the vintage postcard collection of her grandfather, Donald C. Minor.
My branch of the Minor Family lived in Greene County, Pennsylvania for over 16 decades. Most of that time my ancestors lived on a farm outside Gerard’s Fort, on a tiny back road called Ceylon Lane. The closest large town was also the county seat — Waynesburg. It was the political, economic, social, and educational hub for generations of Minors.
In this artochrome postcard from my grandfather’s collection, a German printer has lithographically processed a half tone photograph to create a full color photocard of west Waynesburg.
The Waynesburg of my childhood family reunions didn’t look like this. Donald and my grandmother, Kerma Bradford Minor, had moved from the farm in the 1950s, and lived in a brick house on a hill, with a huge side yard and a carport covered by grapevines. I remember Waynesburg as blocks and blocks of homes surrounding the Waynesburg College campus, with a main street that ultimately led to an ice cream parlor, the only building that really counted for anything, in my opinion.
When I look at this 1909 view I am puzzled by the smokestacks and large rectangular buildings. From what angle was the photographer observing the town?
Accessed from Historic Map Works, July 26, 2011
While trolling the internet I happened upon Historic Map Works, a site that sent my heart a twitter. This 1897 bird’s eye image of Waynesburg was among the Greene County collection. I spotted a building that appears on both this image and on my granddaddy’s postcard.
Accessed from Historic Map Works, July 26, 2011
This bird’s eye image gives a greater sense — though mightily flattened out — of how large Waynesburg was at the turn of the 20th century. The 1909 autochrome reduces Waynesburg’s scope, but stays true to the topography of its land. Taken together the images provide a framework for my family stories that I find just fascinating. My eye turns inward, images now combined, and I soar like a crow over town; imagining my family walking these streets, wandering through shops, attending weddings in churches, drinking lemonade with school chums on shaded porches. What stories can my family heirlooms now tell me?
20 Wednesday Jul 2011
Posted in Minor, Photographs and Memories, Surnames
This post is prompted by the ongoing series, Wordless Wednesday, at Geneabloggers.
From the sleeves of my grandfather’s postcard collection come these wonderful examples of early 20th century photo postcards. These notes were sent to Donald C. Minor of Carmichaels, Pennsylvania by his sister, Helen Minor, (1910) and his cousin, Laura Stephenson (1909). All these individuals were living in the southwest corner of Pennsylvania. Donald lived with his parents and grandfather on the Ceylon Road farm outside of Carmichaels and Helen attended school in nearby Waynesburg, a town north and west of the farm’s rolling hills. Cousin Laura Stephenson lived in Uniontown, a large town just a short distance to the east, across the Monongahela River.
11 Wednesday May 2011
Posted in Minor, Photographs and Memories, Surnames
Tags
1908, dogs, Donald Corbly Minor, Helen Ruse, photograph postcards, Prudential Postcard and Novelty Company, vintage postcards
From the Donald C. Minor Post Card Collection, 1908
The eyes had me at first glance.
Just look at those eyes. Both sets of soul’s windows invite joy and love into your day!
The sender of this card, Helen Ruse, declared that this photograph was of Teddy and herself, though the only Helen Ruse I can find in 1908 Greene County, Pennsylvania is a full grown woman, a neighbor who may have helped on the Minor farm. At any rate the farm dog pictured must have strongly resembled a shaggy pal that my grandfather, Donald Minor, would have known and loved.
The message of Helen’s greeting is as playful as the photo front:
Dr. Faustus was a good man. He whipped his scholars now and then. When he whipped them, he made them dance. Out of Scotland into France, Out of France into Spain, And then he whipped them back again . This is my speech. We are all well. Helen Ruse
Makes me chuckle.
I just dated myself to the era of “Spare the rod, spoil the child!”, when birthdays were occasions for playful spankings, school teachers carried rulers for the occasional knuckle rap and poems about whippin’ were meant to be funny yet instructive. Ah, well. There’s my bias. What is your take on this card?
—————————————————————————————–
The Prudential Post Card and Novelty Company printed this postcard in Leipzig,Germany. The company is listed in the 1908 Trow CoPartnership and Corporation Directory of the Boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. Messrs. Lewis Levy, Isidor E. Schlecsinger and Richard Rudlinger had their New York City offices at 82 Dunne Street, Room 32.
13 Wednesday Apr 2011
What a fascinating card! This study in early 20th century greetings was among the postcard collection of my grandfather, Donald C. Minor, of Carmichaels, Pennsylvania. The print assembles several Easter symbols into a Victorian tableau. The young girl leads a Paschal lamb to a garden terrace. There a Victorian lady sits on a balustrade, holding a basket of eggs and a (very subdued) rabbit–both symbols of new life. The space is framed by an urn which depicts spring as a young child happily reclining and as a youthful face surrounded by the season’s bounty. Donald’s mother, May Laura Stephenson Minor, sent him the German card around 1910.
23 Wednesday Mar 2011
Posted in Minor, Photographs and Memories, Surnames, Transcriptions
When the postcard album was first entrusted to me, I was most interested in reading the notes scrawled to my granddaddy, Donald C. Minor, a young child while collecting the 1906-1910 cards. My head just buzzed with research fever as I tracked names and postmarks. With each read of the cards, I noticed new details about the notes and the cards themselves–their designs, cryptic publisher symbols, the artistic renderings. Before I knew it I had joined the ranks of international deltiologists who collect and preserve these beautiful postcards.
Over the weekend I finally completed the task of sorting the collection into protective acid-free sleeves. With a satisfied sigh, I thumbed through the thick portfolio, plotting my next scan and publish strategy. I was drawn to the cryptic symbol found on several Easter cards, and went googling for some explanation of this publisher’s trademark. Fortunately I it was a EUREKA! kind of day, and I stumbled upon a German site run by Helmfried Luers, The Postcard Album. Mr. Luers has a whole section of his site dedicated to uncovering the meaning of this symbols!
These chromolithographic cards were published by Paul Finkenrath, Berlin, Germany in 1909 and 1910. Mr. Finkenrath, a successful chromolitho printer, established his postcard publishing house in 1897, successfully exporting quality chromolith cards that met the consumers’ demands for affordable postcards. He closed his business around 1911 as competitive forces and protective tariffs made the production of postcards less lucrative.
14 Monday Feb 2011
Posted in Minor, Photographs and Memories, Random Thoughts, Surnames
From the Postcard Collection of Donald C. Minor
Ethel from Morgantown, West Virginia sent this H. Wessler postcard to seven year old Donald C. Minor of Carmichaels, Pennsylvania in 1910. Her message read:
Ethel’s identity has yet to be determined, although she is sure to be a relative!
