Since Easter, I have continued to work away at playing detective with the old postcards collected by my great-uncle Gustaf and his sister Gerda (many of those addressed to Gustaf also written by Gerda), during the years when the two of them both lived in America, c. 1902-1910. While Gustaf went to Pennsylvania to find work at sawmills and lumber yards (and ended up living most of the years in Galeton), Gerda went to Chicago, seeking employment as a maid. She changed addresses in Chicago a few times before she ended up working for the same family from some time in the autumn of 1906, and through at least 1910. This I know from addresses written on postcards, plus that (back in 2012) I managed to find both Gustaf and Gerda in the US Population Census of 1910.
The two photographs above, showing Gerda with a rather large team of other maids in what seems to be a countryside environment, have long puzzled me, though, as they don't seem to fit the Chicago city addresses.
This past week, I think I may have stumbled upon an answer, while deciphering two postcards sent by her to her brother in the summer of 1906.
To give you an idea of what I mean by "deciphering", here are the postcards:
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| Cave Hill, Belfast (Ireland) |
Yes. Gerda has this rather unfortunate tendency to write her messages (often in pencil) all over, around and upside-down on the front of the cards... (The back in those days often reserved for the address only.) She also often used cards with images nothing to do with where she sent them from; and most of the time she starts off with standard phrases (I wonder how you are / I am having a good time / I am waiting to hear from you / I will write a letter soon, etc.) - but then, just when she's running out of space, she remembers something more important she wanted to add, and squeezes that in right at the end, along the edge, upside-down, or in really minuscule writing - and 115 years later, it has faded into obscurity... (To be fair, I don't suppose she ever considered the possibility that her baby half-sister's granddaughter might want to read the cards in 2021...) Moreover, somewhere along the years, some eager stamp collector removed the stamps from all these postcards, which often makes the postmarks/dates unreadable as well!
Add to that a few old photographs with no notes or dates attached.
However, most of the postcards seem to have been sorted by year into Gustaf's postcard album. So on my blog Greetings from the Past, I am trying (periodically, now and then, since 2012) to go through them in order, one card at a time, drawing my conclusions the best I can from what I know so far - but prepared to change my theories along the way, when new pieces of information turn up.
The card with the view of Cave Hill, Belfast, Ireland, was sent by Gerda from Chicago on June 12, 1906. Upside-down over the hill, the most important piece of information on the card is: I am leaving my place here in 2 weeks. ... However, she does not reveal what her plans for the future are, only says she'll write again to give him her new address. (If she did, that was probably in a letter. And I have none of those, only postcards.)
The next card from her is the one with a view from Minneapolis, Minnesota. That was sent from New London, Minnesota, on Aug 16, 1906, and reads: Just sending you a view from Minnesota to tell you that I am here and having a rather good time. I wish you were here. I'll be going back to Chicago on the 31st. / This view is not very beautiful but there are some, I'll send you another one later.
I looked up New London, and found that nowadays they call themselves "The City on the Pond" and "Gateway to the Glacial Lakes". This led my thoughts to that photo of Gerda with a team of other girls dressed in some kind of maids' uniform, by a lake. (G. is the one sitting on a tree stump on the right in that photo. And on the other, more formal group photo, she is in the middle of the back row.) Judging by the way they are dressed, with the long skirts etc, I'd also say 1906 feels just about right.
Now knowing that Gerda left one employment at the end of June, 1906, and probably did not start her next one until a bit later in the autumn - I'm thinking that this gives her a couple of summer months in 1906 to travel up to Minnesota to work for a while at some kind of summer hotel or lodging-house there. A sort of "working holiday", away from the big city of Chicago.
No brooms to be seen in the hands of the ladies in my photos; but I'm linking to another "team of women" at Sepia Saturday 565
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26 comments:
Great detective work! I like the idea that she worked at a summer resort. And you know she had a broom somewhere out of sight.
Aren't those cards with writing willy-nilly a royal pain? I've got letters from Civil War era with the same problems. Loved that there were also the 2 photos of her!
With those Gibson Girl hairdos in the second photo, I'd say you're right on about the dates of those cards - especially with the long skirts. The more relaxed hairdos in the first photo would seem to indicate they were working in a more relaxed atmosphere. Pretty lake scenery. I have a picture-post card of my grandmother & grandfather on their honeymoon. My grandfather had written it to his mother and the words are written in every available space around their picture on the front of the card!
These postcards are priceless, and you are a good detective. Oh MY, the way she wrote on them! I have never seen anything like it.
Excellent sleuthing on your part -- and a plausible explanation for the country setting. These post cards are historically interesting, too, for depicting a group of working women together. How wonderful that the siblings kept in touch and that the album of their cards has been preserved!
How wonderful to have those photos. I love how they use to dress back then although not sure how I'd cope with all the layers.
Great postcards. I wonder whether Gerda ever crossed paths with my Chicago ancestors. Could have.
I admire your detective work, Monica! I doubt I would have the patience to decipher the hardly legible handwriting, but Imwould love to systematically collect the known facts and sort any new information into that grid.
Both the photos of the meds and you are very good at finding all the interesting things about your long-lost way way in the past family members. This is all really interesting and that you were able to become a detective and figure it all out is even more interesting
Thanks Wendy. Yes, I'm thinking that if they were working as maids in a hotel they probably did have to use a broom now and then as well ;)
Barbara, yes, I suppose it's the old rules about not being allowed to write anything but the address on the back of the card that is at the root of it... ;)
La N, I'm beginning to understand that Gerda was not the only one scribbling all across the front of the cards!
Ginny, I'm using both old-fashioned magnifying glasses and various digital tricks, and sometimes I still have to give up here and there...! (lol)
Yes Molly, you've got a point about group photos of working women from the early 1900s probably not being very common.
Amy, I agree! :)
AR, Strange coincidences occur sometimes - who knows!
Thank Meike. I do get to use some of my experience from working as a secretary for many years back in the days when people were still scribbling a lot of notes by hand... ;)
Thanks Sandra. At the moment, it feels like a mix between reading a manuscript with pages missing, and assembling a jigsaw puzzle (also with pieces missing)... ;)
Good detective work! And it all makes sense. Those are lovely photos of Greta and the other maids.
Thanks Kathy! :)
I admire all your detective work. I have to say that it is fascinating even for a family outsider like me.
Glad you think so, Graham! On this blog I do try to keep things summaric and readable for "anyone". (On the other blog I transcribe the full messages on each card in both Swedish and English + notes on my thoughts and things to check up on etc so that I can go back for details later.)
This is a fascinating examination of how the early postcard functioned as the first universal social media. It amuses me that the most common messages I find seem to be "I got your letter.", "I will send a letter soon.", and "Why don't you write?". Considering the delay in mail crossing the Atlantic, it probably explains why people dated messages or acknowledged letters so that a recipient would know the timeline of correspondence. I marvel at your skill in reading pencil handwriting and deciphering those last little words squeezed into a corner. Next week I plan to feature a very early German/Swiss postcard written with a beautiful cursive hand in ink. It's allowed me to make a translation which I usually fail at because of the many difficult handwriting styles in languages I don't speak. Your detective work is revealing how families communicated over long distances with postcards and then cherished them enough to save them too. Modern email or text messages aren't the same.
Thanks Mike, and I agree about the early postcards functioning much as we use short messages via the internet today. As for interpreting the writing on my old cards, there are also some additional challenges, like: Swedish spelling rules having changed over the years + many people back then not very good at spelling anyway + after some time in America, they obviously started mixing Swedish and English...
I've done lots of this kind of family history detective work over the years, often without answers, but on those occasions that things do fall into place it is a great feeling.
Tasker, it's my experience too that one often ends up with more questions than answers... But when one does learn something new or gets some theory confirmed, it's really exciting! ;)
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