Saturday, April 18, 2020

Image of Eshom Valley by photographer Howard Clinton Tibbitts,  circa 1911.    This is a scan from the glass negative.   
Tibbitts list this photo as "Ox Team at Juanita Meadows",  in his journal.    The photograph was part of the same series I posted on 12/30/2012,  i.e.  Tibbitts's  photo-shoot of a tour to the Redwood Mountain Grove via Eshom Valley.
Close-up:



Photo postcard image of Tulare's Santa Fe Railroad  depot.    It's postmarked  July 22, 1910.    Photograph by "Johnson".      The depot was located near Pine Ave., between K and L Streets.



Photo of Cyprien Lamlieslan Bequette (1875-1911), circa 1887. The photographer was E.M. Davidson of Visalia.     Cyprien's father, Louis Bequette, was a rancher in the Lemon Cove area.
His grandfather (Also named Cyprien) was a Tulare County pioneer... Apparently the senior Cyprien had settled in the Farmersville area by 1855.



This, and the photo below,  are images of the J. D. Munson family of Goshen.
Here's a postcard image of James D. Munson (1856-1937)  with his son James V. Munson (1902-1984).   The backdrop behind them looks a little like the Cliff House hotel, that was near San Francisco.      
J. D.  Munson ran the Commercial Hotel & Saloon  in Goshen.

On the back of this postcard is written: "Cecile Munson & her pony Goshen. Around 1920". 
Cecile (1898-1963) was James D. Munson's daughter.



Postcard postmarked from Lindsay,   April 20, 1913.
It's addressed to Mrs. Ora Gilliland,  from W. N. Gilliland.       He writes:  "Lindsay, Calif. 4, 1913.   Dear sister Ora,   I will mail you this card.  It will give you an idea of how we cut wood in the mountains...".             The saw blade on this contraption is at the right side of this image;   it looks like two men are about to pass a piece of oak through it.   The saw appears to be powered by a  hit-and-miss engine.



A photo postcard postmarked from Sultana on 9/11/1907.      The postcard is addressed to Sherman Pennebaker  (of Visalia and Exeter)  from his sister, Cora.     It was mailed  just 5 days after the death of Cora's twin brother, Carl (both were born in 1877).
Trying to decipher the writing on the card,   I believe  it says:    "Dear Brother - I got home alright - although it was so hard to do.   It seems that the shock is so terrible, I can't hardly stand it.    I love how Fresno Papers state how Carl's photo..." (I can't make out the next section).    It ends with "Your loving sister, Cora".
From the number, age and sex of the children in the photo;  it appears this is Cora's family.   Cora apparently died in child birth in 1911.
According to one family tree, after Cora's death her husband (Hugh Clotfelter) married Carl's widow Elda Marian Upson.
I posted the wedding photo of  Sherman and Cora's older sister,   Sarah Ellen Pennebaker,  on 1/25/2018.


A photo postcard, circa 1918.     At the upper left corner someone has written: "at Andy Crouse home in Cutler".       The 1916 Tulare County voter's registation has Andrew Lewis Crouse (1862-1940) and his wife Emma (1863-1926) as residence of Cutler.      Andrew's profession is listed as "Carpenter", and they were both members of the Prohibition Party.
Looking at a genealogy site, apparently a lot of his grandchildren stayed in this area.



Image of a jackrabbit drive, circa 1893.     Photo by C. A. Myers of Visalia.
These drives could involve hundreds of people, startling the rabbits with sound and movement so that they would move towards one direction.    These drives could go for several miles or more, eventually trapping the rabbits in a fenced enclosure.    Then the rabbits were killed, normally by clubbing them to death.    The jackrabbits are still alive in this image.
These rabbits had become a real pest in the late 19th century, destroying crops.
I've read one newspaper from the period that speculated that the increase in the rabbit population may have been caused by the fairly high bounty that had been set on coyotes.      That is:    Decreasing the coyote population led to a big jump in the number of jackrabbits.



Photo postcard image of Orosi's Methodist Church.  Circa 1909.


Photo postcard of Orosi's  Presbyterian Church.  Circa 1909.


A small portrait by the studio of  S. W.  Watrous of  Visalia.    Circa 1886.


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Here are 5 photo postcards I recently purchased as a group...
I believe these are the children of Alvin Monte Hostetter (1872-1959) and his wife,  Faith Ingalls Millberry (1878-1960); of Lindsay.     If I have the correct family, then the children's names are: Margaret Ingalls Hostetter (1908-1953),  the older boy is Allison Rae Hostetter (1910-1996) and the baby is George Kirkham Hostetter (1911-1981).      There is a different family name on the back of these cards which I believe to be incorrect.   More about that below.


The writing on the back of these postcards identifies this as the "Kirkham Family. Tulare Co., CA".    Note that "Kirkham" is also George Hostetter's middle-name.
These postcards appear to have been glued onto pages, at one time.  i.e. There is a thin layer of paper attached to the back of these cards.
I suspect the writing on the back was done by someone who bought an old photo album and removed the cards to sell them (The writing is over the thin residual of paper on the back).    The person who did the writing does not appear to know the family well.    At least they didn't know who the girl was. in the image above,  They wrote  on the back of this card:   "Allison Kirkham, George Kirkham & ?. Tulare Co. CA".      Also,  I don't think I have every seen "CA" used as an abbreviation for California before 1963;  the year the postal service created two-letter state abbreviations.
My guess is that the album page itself  referred to baby George Kirkham Hostetter as simply George Kirkham, or perhaps "Hostetter" was obscured; and the seller just assumed the family name was "Kirkham".
Baby George's grandfather was also named George Kirkham Hostetter.
Interestingly, I cannot find anyone with the actual surname of "Kirkham" in the family (just the two Georges' middle-names).
This postcard is stamped on the back with:  "PHOTOGRAPH BY LINDLEY EDDY.    KAWEAH,  TULARE CO.,  CAL.     
Lindley Eddy (1872-1944)  had a summertime studio in Sequoia National Park,  from about 1910 to 1940.     During the time these images appear to have been taken, Eddy worked quite a bit out of Lemon Cove and  Lindsay,  during his off season.




This postcard also has the Lindley Eddy studio stamp.