Here's an idea.
How about we scan our favorite covers in a state theme?
(Linus stimulated this idea for me)
I'll go first, a couple from Iowa:
This one is from the Decker House, an institution in Maquoketa, my home town! It's an inn/restaurant/tavern that was opened in 1875, apparently the same year that this cover was posted from Milburn Decker to James Decker. I didn't know that James Decker, the owner, was from Watertown, NY until I collected this cover. The "Decker Block" was a large tract on the North side of nascent Maquoketa. The "rest of the story" is that the Decker House was my first job, in 1973, making salads, bussing tables, and washing dishes after school for $1.25 an hour. On Fridays, Job #1 was cleaning 2 buckets of fresh catfish from the nearby Mississippi River for the Friday night special, deep-fried whole catfish. Ohhhh, my!
This one is from the Hurst Lime Kilns, now a historical site just a mile North of Maquoketa. It's quite famous. Lime kilns were one of the earliest industries to sprout in a new settlement, maybe for obvious reasons. The Amana Colonies, a plain sect, are about 70 miles Southwest of Maquoketa, and are still a thriving community today.
Seabright is a on a peninsula in Monmouth County. One side is the Ocean and the other side is the Navesink River across from monied Rumson, NJ. It's one of those towns that gets flooded with every major storm. The post office there was closed a number of years ago, but I've learned there is a PPO operating there now.
I paid more than my usual limit for this card because of the Japanese address and writing. I thought it was interesting!
Isle, MN
Mille Lacs County
Population in 1990: 566
The U.S. Olympic Festival was an amateur multi-sport event held in the United States by the United States Olympic Committee in the years between Olympic Games. Started in 1978 as an American counterpart to the communist Spartakiade – a similar event held on a quadrennial basis by the former Soviet Union and its former satellite in East Germany. As the competitive position of U.S. athletes in the Olympics slipped relative to that of the Soviets and East Germans, it was felt the U.S. needed some kind of multi-sports event to simulate the Olympic experience. It was originally called the National Sports Festival and was the nation's largest amateur sporting event, before ending in 1995.
There were about 30 torch run stations in Minnesota that year as the event was held in Minnesota.
If you can't tell by now I only collect the postal history of Minnesota.
Northfield, MN
The city is in two counties, Dakota and Rice, though mostly in Rice county. It is one of the earlier-settled towns in Minnesota being founded in 1856.
This is an antebellum cover destined to a Waukesha, Wisconsin, which is now a suburb of Milwaukee.
In anticipation of the upcoming lecture at the Chester County Historical Society on Saturday, I present:
Pennsylvania! Junk Mail
And this one (front and back):
GORGEOUS drawing of a very early threshing machine.
I have had material interests in this area of Pennsylvania (Chester County) for 30 years now. My son's home town is Parkesburg.
I attempted to research William Potts, and didn't find much. There is a William T. Potts (d. 1929) buried in a cemetery a few miles West of where his farm must have been, so I presume that's the man. And, I wonder if he might be related to the founder of Pottstown and Pottsville, John Potts.
This is part of a collection of 13 advertising covers I have, all addressed to Wm Potts.
Interesting covers both marking the Ohio Centennial, one cancelled in 1888 and the other in 1903. A bit confusing. The 1888 "Centennial" marked the 100 year anniversary of the Northwest Territory,part of which became the State of Ohio in 1803. The colorful frog is unfortunately just a front but I couldn't pass it up.
Every time I try to decide which cover is my favourite cover in any one of my various collections, I end up with a dozen or so. And I’ve lived not just in one state, but in three (New York State, where I was born; New Mexico, where my parents moved when I was 6, and Missouri, where I attended the University of Missouri. I don’t live in the U.S. nor am I only an American. I live in Vancouver and have dual Canadian/American citizenship.
One of the outstanding covers in my collection nicely represents what I consider my home town (Silver City, New Mexico, where I came of age) and Vancouver, where I have lived since 2001 and where I intend to stay until whatever happens…happens.
Here’s the cover:
It was posted in 1941 from a Chinese launderer in Vancouver’s Chinatown to one of the Chinese owners of Barker’s Cafe in Silver City. I remember Barker’s Cafe. It was just three or four doors north of my father’s office on Bullard Street; he was editor of the Silver City Enterprise newspaper.
I’ve learned almost nothing about the sender of the cover, or the recipient, but I did come across a murder! In 1945, one of the owners of the cafe, Yat Lim, was assaulted by two white men in the cafe. According to his death certificate, he died as a result from “violence to the skull.” There was a trial, but the two perpetrators were judged not guiltly. Yat Lim was saving money to bring his wife and his four children to Silver City from China.
@pigdoc, There is a marriage for William Potts born 25/7/1878 in Warwick Township, Pa.He is a resident of East Vincent, Pa to Stella Richards born 22/8/1881.
They married 2nd. July 1903 at Nantmeal Village.
Williams occupation on marriage is given as farmer.
He is mentioned on page 206 of volume 5 issue 6 of "The American Farmer" (Google book search) as a resident of Cochran(s)ville which ties in with your cover.
The Chester County Historical Society may have further information and an email may elicit further detail.
Silver City was where Billy the Kid lived during his formative years. I think he lived there for 5 or 10 years, at least into his early teens. That could be an interesting historical collection...
And thanks sheepshanks, for the research!
I think the William Potts you found was born too late (1878) to be the one receiving farm-related junk mail by 1888. The William T Potts that is buried a few miles West of where his farm must have been was born in 1851. He's more likely to be The One.
It would not be an inconvenience for me to spend some time at the CCHS to do some further research. I am mainly curious as to exactly where the premises were to see what's left today. (The Cochranville/Parkesburg overlap in the addresses narrow down the possibilities to some degree, as those two jurisdictions overlap geographically.) I know that area well enough that I can picture a few places in my mind that are likely. I don't think he rose to much prominence, because there is nothing of him in the newspapers of the times. But, on the other hand, I'm not sure I've scoured the tiny local newspapers adequately.
Not to get too far off-topic, but in the geneology that my wife and I have done, we find that often, just a few given names are recycled down through every generation, and repeated across different branches of the same generation.
For example, her 4th great grandfather Solomon (b.1800, d.1891) had a cousin Solomon (b.1804,d.1895). Only way we know who's who is that the later Solomon never married! And, what's more, they lived in adjoining townships!
The William Potts born 1878 may have lived near his 'uncle' in some kind of family partnership. I think that too was a fairly common thing...
"Silver City was where Billy the Kid lived during his formative years. I think he lived there for 5 or 10 years, at least into his early teens. That could be an interesting historical collection…"
My web page, An old cover takes me home…, includes information about Billy the Kid (about whom very little is known, actually). I’ve illustrated it with photographs of the Old Southern Hotel that I took about 1959 with the first camera I ever owned, a Kodak Starmite:
When I was growing up in Silver City, it was “common knowledge” that Billy the Kid’s mother was a laundress at the Old Southern Hotel. I don't know if that is true. She is buried in the Silver City cemetery.
The web page referenced above also includes information about a cover that was posted bv the Azure Mining Company, which mined turquoise near Slver City:
I just came across this thread while browsing the topics section and am bumping it up to show a few covers from my home state of Iowa and my adopted state of Oklahoma. Here are a couple from Iowa. The first, posted in Odebolt in the late 19th century. Odebolt is in Sac County about 15 miles north of where I was born and 25 miles from Denison where I graduated from high school. I collected this cover for its star killer.
The second is on the opposide side of the state in Clinton County. I collected it for much the same reason, a clear postmark with a star killer. This cover came with a chatty letter to a younger brother attending college in Quincy, Illinois. The Yegges were brewers and at least one of the Yegges was a stamp collector/dealer. John Yegge is listed in the 1935 Blue Book of Philately as specializing in U.S. and Switzerland stamps.
I'll throw up a trio of covers from the town I was born and raised in, in Jackson County, eastern Iowa:
James Decker was the Watertown, NY financier who built The Decker House in Maquoketa, Iowa, to this day an important town landmark. It was built in 1875. As a HS student, I had a PT job in the restaurant kitchen at the Decker House, where I learned how to make potato salad. When we were doing some remodeling, we found old newspapers wrapped around the steam pipes in the basement for insulation...dated 1875.
I don't know what James Decker's attachment was to Maquoketa, if any.
"the CDS in Odebolt cover is most unusual, in that the entire date, inc year, runs across a single line in the middle. nice, star, but nicer date"
Thanks, amsd. Not knowing much about 19th-century cancels, I had not noticed before that this cancel was a bit different. Thanks for pointing out the variation.
Below are a couple more covers from my past. The first, a plain Jane commercial cover that has little philatelic value, but considerable sentimental and association value for me. I was born in Deloit, a little more than four years after this letter was posted and I knew the sender, D.W. Cose. Dale Cose was an older man when I was very young in the late 1940s and early 1059s. He and his wife owned and operated a general store in Deloit, the population of which was about 250 souls. There were two such stores in Deloit, Dale's, and Busch's. The latter was larger and better stocked. Dale's store, however, was older and it was like walking into a museum. Some of his dry goods, hardware, and housewares stock dated back to the WW I period. His customer base was not very large, but somehow he managed to keep the store open and make a living until his death. The post office that gave this cover the clear postmark was just across the street to the south. Despite the cover's plainness and the toning around its edges and seams, it is a prize for my Iowa Collection. I was quite surprised to see it for sale on eBay. It was priced at $1 and I was the only bidder.
The second cover is from Denison, Iowa, seven miles south of Deloit and where we moved in 1951. Denison, was the county seat and in 1951 had a population of about 4,800 souls. To me, it was a big town. I lived there until I graduated from high school in 1956. This cover has no sentimental value, but probably more philatelic value. The sender, J.P. Baldwin, is unknown to me, but an internet search identified the Powell Brothers of Springboro, Pennsylvania, as 19th-century stockmen who sold horses, cattle, and nursery stock. The cover probably contained an order for nursery stock, or possible a request for a catalog. I bought the cover as an early Denison association item, and for the nicely placed target cancel on the stamp.
Speaking of the cancel from Oldebolt that David mentioned, I think this is the first time
I've ever seen an intricate design included in a stamped CDS.
A cover from my adopted home state, Oklahoma. It commemorates an air race from Mexico City to Kansas City between September 12 to September 29, 1929, 90 years ago. One of the stops in the race was Muskogee, Oklahoma and it is that stop which generated this cover prepared by the local Chamber of Commerce. The Muskogee airport was southwest of town and called Hatbox Field. It is still shown on current aeronautical charts, but is no longer in use. The cover came with an enclosure advertising the Oklahoma Free Fair that overlapped the air race. It is shown below along with the cover.
FF
The cover:
The enclosed brochure opened to show its front and back sides:
The interior of the brochure:
A small section of an aeronautical chart showing the location of
Hatbox Field (circled in red), the new current Muskogee airport is
six miles south of town.
This cover is a recent acquisition for my Iowa collection. A Google search revealed that at the time the cover was posted, Mystic Milling Company was in an area of Sioux City known as Leeds and was a leading miller in northwestern Iowa. The cover is a little rough in spots, but I liked its advertising colors. Growing up in a small town in west-central Iowa, we would go to Sioux City once or twice a year to shop. It seemed a big town to me at the time.
Don FF
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