A MAN and his horn and his...

sombrero and his laundry.


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OVER the fence

It's that time of year when you have too many squash, too many tomatoes, too many things growing in the garden for one family to enjoy. So instead of sharing gossip over the fence share vegis...or whatever this woman is tasting. My neighbor is a winery so...I'm just sayin'.


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FLORA and ISADORE

Friends of Victor and Ernest? Or just friends?





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Victor and Ernest at the WOODCHOPPER'S BALL

Somewhere in Northern California, many many years ago, there were two fellows, Victor and Ernest, who enjoyed chopping wood. They thought the music by Woody Herman, the Woodchopper's Ball was written about them. They never were able to get their chopping in sync with the tune, but it wasn't for trying.


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OBJECTS MAY BE LARGER under magnifying glass

"These show up better under a magnifying glass."

Oh yeah, so much better. So glad I scanned it to see their joy. So worth the 50 cents.

Don't ever FORGET ME

Did he remember her this Valentine's day?

A HOT DOG in the middle of the road with three little girls on the side

TWO LITTLE GIRLS in the middle of the road

The LITTLE GIRL in the middle of the road

WORLD WAR I THEATER mystery

This real photo post card is a companion piece to the last image I posted from World War I. Another mystery. I have no idea where it was taken.

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The MYSTERY AFTER THE WAR

I have no information about this photo other than it was given to me by my best friend. It is a real photo post card sent by her grandfather.

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Obviously, it's military personnel taken six months and two days after the armistice with Germany ending World War I. Other than that, it's a mystery.

I hope someone steps forward someday to identify this place, but I'm highly doubtful. Those with real memories of the war are all but gone. This is just a tattered and lost image.

From WJY of The New Found Photography comes the following information:

The armistice of November 11 would end the fighting, but not the war. The actual peace treaty would be negotiated between January and June of 1919. The Treaty of Versailles would be signed on June 28. Until then, American soldiers stayed in their barracks wating to see if they would go home or back to the front. This is, most likely, a shot of Americans hanging out near their barracks.

In search of RICHARD LAWSON LEVELLE

Online research can be notoriously bad, thus I'm always skeptical when someone says they've discovered they're related to some famous person in history. Yeah, well, I'm also related to one of the all time chump tv/radio talk show hosts through a marriage (thus leaving me a few degrees away from nearly every famous person who has lived for the past several decades, including Kevin Bacon), but it means nothing. In my case it's true and can be verified, but for others, with dreams of ancestry grandeur, I have to say, "Check for typos." Case in point...

I bought this photo last week from a bin of photos at an antique store. The obvious information given is from the actual photo and what is written on the back. Most likely Richard Lawson Levelle worked for the railroad since his hat looks like one worn by a railroader and the carts in the background are reminiscent of baggage carts from long ago. He was a stepfather and the photo was taken in Butte. I'm guessing Butte, Montana. That's my jumping off point. And so my online research began.

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Now, thinking about how many people currently live in Montana, a sparsely populated state, it would be hard to believe that in the late 1920s there would be two men of the same name, one black and one white, right? I mean, if they were both named Joe Smith I'd buy it, but "Lawson" and "Levelle" don't seem that common when put together.

Here is what I found and the odd turn it took.

Lawson Richard Levelle (as written on several online documents) was born in Hopkinsville, Christian County, Kentucky around 1887 (though in another document “estimated birth” is listed as 1885). His father was Richard Levelle and his mother was Sarah Hibber. On December 30, 1928 Lawson married Agnes Ida Williamson, born in Pocatello, Idaho. She was 29 years old, and a widow with 5 children: Elizabeth A. Williamson (age 11), Paul H. Williamson (age 9), Genevieve H. Williamson (age 8), Eloise M. Williamson (age 5), Thelma M. Williamson (age 4). Her maiden name was Mason; her mother was Sarah Mason, her father Frank Mason. Her previous married name was Williamson.

Both Richard/Lawson and Agnes are listed as negro on various documents, except on the marriage certificate where they’re both listed as white (Montana, County Marriages, 1865-1950). That seems strange. Two Richard Levelle's in Wyoming around the same time, both stepfathers. So apparently some of the information I’ve gathered is incorrect. Were there two Richard Lawson Levelle’s or Lawson Richard Levelle’s in Montana in 1930, both stepfathers and married to a woman named Agnes? It all gets a little confusing and I don’t have access to enough information to really figure this out.

I can say that a Richard Levelle died on February 6, 1944 in Deer Lodge, Montana. He was 59 years old. Marital Status is listed as “Unknown.”

Just to make things more confusing, on the marriage certificate their marriage is listed as having taken place in 1928 and yet the witness information says 1929. The record was filed on February 2, 1929. And the marriage license is initially dated December 24th 1929 with the nine then crossed out and an “8” written in. So if there’s that much confusion as to dates I’m guessing they could also confuse if Richard and Agnes were white and not “negro”…yeah, I doubt it.

Who this man was shall remain a mystery.

Again, a little piece of ephemera takes me down a confusing path.

UPDATE: Reader Karl Mousley, has contacted me with information about Richard and Agnes' dates of death via the Find a Grave site. Thank you Karl!

According to the 1940 census Karl was working as a janitor.

Richard's death Feb 6, 1944, Agnes died August 23, 1977

NEW MIRACLE CREAM helps you deny your age!

Oh sure, there are lots of ads online for creams claiming they'll fade age spots, wrinkles, turkey necks. They show examples which are always suspect. None have an example like this!

Imagine, this little lad was 64 years old in February of 1925! This kid found the fountain of youth...

or someone didn't complete the caption.

ALWAYS TITLE your vacation photos

I've been away on vacation for the past several weeks. Now that I'm home I must organize the photos I took, put labels on them so I can later remember where I've been. Sometimes you take a photo and years later you look at it and think, "Where the heck was that?"

I give you Example A:

________________________

New book available on Amazon in a few days.
Tattered and Lost: Forgotten Dolls

This one is for those who love dolls!

IT'S RAINING, IT'S POURING...oh wait...

I've said it before and I'm saying it again...the Kodak Brownie changed women's lives. They were free to be themselves if even for just a moment.

Teachers at the GRAND CANYON

As a kid I thought it was pretty cool that teachers got a three month summer vacation the way the students did. I can remember going on vacation and finding groups of women traveling together; generally they were teachers.

Here, from the Ten Buck Box, we have Gertrude Bowen on vacation at the Grand Canyon with friends in the late 1940s. Were they all schoolteachers? Most likely.

I think at some point everyone should go on a road trip with friends. I've been on many, but the most memorable was a five week road trip through Europe with two friends in a candy colored Opal. Oh sure, by the end of the trip two of us wanted to kill the third person, but I still have great memories of just being in the car driving and laughing. I'm hoping Gertrude and her friends had as much fun.

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It's FLAT, DUSTY, and out in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE

We are so far removed from what we see here. There were barely any middlemen between Frances Cheney and her land. She just had to choose a piece of land and then build something on it to claim it. There are no trees to be seen so in order to build that shack the Cheney's needed to bring everything with them in that wagon.

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What was it about this desolate and dusty spot that appealed to them? Flat as far as the eye can see. Eastern Colorado? Could they see the Rockies off to the West? Behind them the flat vista of Kansas? How close were neighbors? A town? Water?

Oh how easy it is for us to get up each morning from our comfortable bed and get breakfast before leaving our home to go work. We have a fridge with food and a stove that simply needs to be turned on. But then we also have the daily drama of people we don't know and wouldn't want to know intruding into our lives with their bad behavior; I'm talking about television and the net. In the evening it's likely these folks stood outside watching the nightly celestial show, not what stupid thing Murdoch and his minions did that day.

Would these folks exchange their lives for ours? Or would we exchange ours for theirs? Or would we both just want a happy balance between the two? That's what I'm looking for. A foot in both places leaving the consumerism of today outside my world, bringing nature and the stars at night closer.

Just another image from the Ten Buck Box.

GERTRUDE HELEN RICH BOWEN in 1973

This photo should have been included with Saturday's Sepia Saturday post, but I only discovered it today.

This is schoolteacher Gertrude Helen (Rich) Bowen in April of 1973.

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Gertrude died January 12, 1974 at 9:30 A.M. at John C. Lincoln Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona.

Frances Cheney's CLAIM SHACK IN COLORADO

I have no idea what year this photo was taken. It is from the Ten Buck Box. I believe through a family marriage Gertrude Bowen is related to the person in this shot.

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Gertrude (from yesterday's post) had a sister, Frances Grace Rich, who was born June 21, 1888 in Nebraska. On November 11, 1914 she married Walter Cheney. So whoever is in this photo would be directly related to Walter. Thus they would be related to Frances and through Frances the relationship to Gertrude. Now you know why geneaology is often called tracing your roots. They just go out in all directions.

As to what the "claim" might be, your guess is as good as mine. Was it for land or precious metals? Perhaps someone who knows Colorado history would have an idea. Somewhere in the hundreds of photos is, as I recall, another one of this shack, but nothing is written on the back.

I'll see where the Ten Buck Box leads me next.

The TWINS

The phrase "a furrowed brow" usually isn't used when describing a toddler, but I really don't know how else to explain this child.

According to the writing on the back of this photo, these are twins, Danny and Donna. Maybe it's just me, but I see Jeckle and Hyde when I look at this. This boy's furrowed brows are deep enough to plant a row of crops in. He also reminds me of someone and I can't recall who it might be.

What would cause such consternation at such a young age? Wise beyond his years? Maybe it was the hair gel? Yeah, that's got to be it.

Just another image from the Ten Buck Box.