Thursday, July 10, 2014

1906 postcard: "Four Queens and a Jack" and taunting from Los Angeles


This amusing postcard, titled "Four Queens and a Jack," was mailed in March 1906, before the time when Americans were allowed to write messages on the backs of the postcard — only the recipient's address was allowed.

This card was mailed from Los Angeles, California, to a Mrs. Ada Fish of Warehouse Point, Connecticut (a village within East Windsor).1 Here is the full message that is written in tiny cursive handwriting on the front of the card:
Los Angeles Cal. Mar. 2, '06
Dear Cousin — We have been "listening" to hear from you but I suppose the "cold" "cold" world in which you live has had something to do with us not being able to. We are all well and getting along nicely and hope you are happy: the weather here is just like June in old Connecticut. Write soon and let us know how old Jack Frost has served you. Yours loveingly, Orrin W. Lord, 316 E. [?] 8 St. Los Angeles, Cal.

There's nothing like folks living in sunny California taunting their shivering relatives back in the Northeast, eh?

This postcard was published by M. Rieder of Los Angeles and is labeled No. 121. According to the Metropolitan Postcard Club of New York City, M. Rieder produced postcards from 1901 to 1915. Rieder "printed and published view-cards of the West and of Native Americans. His cards were printed in Germany except those contracted out to Edward H. Mitchell in the United States."


Footnote
1. According to Archives.com, Ada Fish was born around 1869 and was married to a man named Edwin, who was roughly eight years old than she was. The Fish family lived until at least the taking of the 1940 Census.

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