Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Engle Family Postcards ~ From Roses to snow in California - 1905





This vintage postcard, which was made in Germany, was sent to Mrs. R. Engle in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. My regular readers will likely already know who Mrs. R. Engle was. But, for my new readers, I'll give a brief explanation of who she was. Mrs. R. Engle was Sarah Amanda (Waterman) Engle. She was my maternal 2nd great-grandaunt and she was married to Richard Engle, who was a Civil War veteran.

This postcard was sent by Sarah and Richard's son, Charles A. Engle. The previous Engle family postcard I shared here on this blog was also sent by Charles and it was dated June 30, 1905. That postcard showed Avalon on Santa Catalina Island which is near Los Angeles, California.

It looks like Charles was in California for at least a few days during this trip because the postcard I'm sharing today was dated July 2, 1905 and he wrote it while he was in Los Angeles, California.

Here's Charles' message to his mother:
Los Angeles
July 2, 1905
One of the many ?? here.
Chas. A. E.
It looks like he added another quick message the day he mailed the postcard:
We go to Frisco tomorrow July 4th
You'll notice I put two question marks in the first part of Charles' message. I cannot figure out what those two words are. Or are they two words? Is it really one word continued onto the next line? I don't know. If any of my readers have any idea what Charles wrote, please let me know. I'd appreciate it very much.

Also, I wonder who Charles was referring to when he wrote "we." Did his brother, William, accompany him on this trip to California? I wonder what the trip was for. And why were they going to San Francisco?

Were they in California to find a place for the Engle family to live or were they there on vacation? Charles' mother, Sarah, moved to Los Angeles sometime before or around 1909. Her husband joined her later, and so did her sons, William and Charles.

These Engle family postcards are so fascinating. They give an interesting glimpse into the lives of the Engle family in the early 1900's.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

6 comments:

  1. One of the many scenes down[?] here - could these be the indecipherable words?

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    1. Perhaps they are the words I can't figure out. Thanks so much Elizabeth!

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  2. Maybe "one of the many scenes seen here"? It looks like he uses two different kinds of 'e' - see the first and second e in "Angeles" for examples - and I think those two middle letters in the second unintelligible word could both be the letter e, even if they look different from the e in "scenes."

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    1. Hi Kathleen,

      Yes, I noticed how he wrote the letter "e" two different ways. And I really like your idea of what he wrote. My cousin also thought it says "one of the many scenes seen here." He shared his educated guess as a comment on Facebook. I think you two may be correct. Thanks!

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  3. I also thought it could be "scenes ..." Love these old postcards. They are so frameable! :)

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