Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Photo by Foster, Tulare.  Circa 1895


An old image of Goshen, CA. Circa 1887.    The photographer is C.C. Curtis, from his Traver studio.
Written on the back: "This is our place of business that was burned. Post office, saloon and butcher shop. - Victor Colon. Goshen."   Victor Colon is listed as Goshen's postmaster between June 1886 and June 1888.   C.C. Curtis had his Traver photography studio from 1885, to May of 1888.
The writing and photographer's stamp, on the back of the Goshen photo:

A photo postcard image of Tulare High School girls basketball team, 1908.


From an old photo postcard, postmarked 11/9/1907.
It's an image of a magnesite mine, east of Porterville.


The studio stamp on this photograph states: "Robinson & Weishar, Holt Block, Visalia, Cal". Circa 1904.      On the back of the photo someone wrote "Elsie Chatten".      
Elsie Amelia Chatten (1889-1961) was the daughter of John Chatten and Celeste Reynolds, of Orosi.   She married Logan Joseph Lindley, in 1908, and they had four children.   In 1925, she married Arvid Roman.    Elsie and Arvid had one child, in 1930, a daughter named Karin.      Apparently after Arvid's death in 1937, Elsie could no longer take care of Karin.    Karin was adopted by her eldest half-sister and her sister's husband, Dorothy Lindley and Charles Smith.    Dorothy was 22 years older than her sister Karin. According to an online family history, Karin passed away in 2015, and she appears to have lived a very happy life.    Elsie was buried in the Visalia Cemetery, under the name Elsie A. Roma

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Below are images sold as being from the Visalia area.     They are by "Ansley".    I believe that they are by Frank S. Ansley of Visalia,  circa 1902.


A couple close-ups:







A couple close-ups:







(Update 7/22/21)  Many thanks to Joseph L. Noell,  who recognized this scene from one of his old family photos.     This is a family gathering at the Visalia home of  Norbourne Noell, in April 1902.   Norbourne owned the Visalia-Millwood Stage during this time period. 
Standing in the back row, from L to R:    George McClellan Noell, Judith A (Pierce) Noell,  Etta (Fly) Noell, Carl Milton Noell,  Walter Raleigh Kightlinger,  Cynthia Ann (Grubb) Kightlinger. 
Front row (L to R):   Louis Noell (with long hair and dress),  Avery Noell Roser,  Cornelia Jane "Jennie" (Noell) Roser,   Carol Roser (on Jennie's lap),  Julius Alden Noell,   Edith (Kightlinger) Noell - wife of Norbourne,   Dewey Noell (in front of his mother, Edith),   James Noell,  Norbourne Noell holding his son Myrle,  Edgar Roser,  Martha W. (Casey) Noell,  Martha Olivia Noell.


Close-up:









Close-up:


Close-up:


Close-up:







I did a blow-up image of the dog,  it looks an awful lot like one of the dogs in a Frank S. Ansley print I own  (Different angle, but many of the same markings on the dog).









Sunday, March 31, 2019

A young cowboy with toy pistol.   Photo by Doran of Tulare, circa 1895.


Early photo postcard, postmarked from Orosi in 1903.    The message refers to Beulah Dye as possibly being the girl in the image.    According to census records, Beulah Flora Dye (1898-1992) was a resident of the Cutler/Orosi area into the 1920s


An old postcard, postmarked: "Portersville Cal,  Jul. 8, 1910".     A view of Porterville's  Main St., looking north.   This is back when Main Street ended at the Morton Street School.


 This photo also appears in Sarah Troop's book about Lindsay, CA.     Her book dates the photograph to 1913.   The Scouts at the back of this image are from Lindsay Troop 1.   This was the first Boy Scout troop established in the Tulare County area.
Close up:


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The snapshots below are from an old photo album that identified the location and years as "Globe 1913" and "Globe 1915".     Globe is an area along the western edge of Springville.    Unfortunately, there are no names with these photos











I would guess that this is a foot bridge across the Tule River.    
This is a view looking northwest, near the present day corner of  highway 190 and Bridge Dr., in Springville.










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Below are scans of a group of glass negatives from the Visalia area.  Circa 1906.
(Many thanks to Joseph Vicenti, for these negatives)

View of a small dairy.    The words etched at the bottom of the negative say:  "Clear View Home. Cream Day. Visalia Cal".

Another view of the dairy, above.   The young woman, standing at center, appears in many of these images.

They appear to be standing in a field of sorghum.   The man here also appears in several of these images.



"We're Ready" is written at the lower corner of this negative.    Looks like the dogs are taking the horse & buggy out.



I believe the word in the lower left corner is "Companions".







Sunday, January 20, 2019

This is the staff of the weekly Visalia Delta Newspaper,  dated 1884.   The paper was  one of the precursors to the  Visalia Times-Delta.            The photograph is by S.W. Watrous of  Visalia.
In the front row:  Kate Dineley,   Elizabeth (Lizzie) Barnett,   Florence Dineley (Kate's sister).
Back row (L to R): <unknown>,  Joseph McMillan,  George W. Stewart (editor and publisher),   Clarence Lillie.
They were all pretty young... Florence Dineley would have been just 16 or 17.   The eldest was apparently George Stewart, who turned 27 in 1884.      Mr. Stewart was an important early advocate for the preservation of  giant sequoias.     He has been called  the “Father of Sequoia National Park”.    He used the newspaper to drum-up support to save some of the big trees from logging,  and to push for the formation of a national park.   ----  Many thanks to Joseph Vicenti, for this wonderful photo.


Photo postcard by Lindley Eddy,  circa 1922.    These were some of the tourist cabins in Sequoia National Park.


Cabinet Card photograph by E.J. Kildare of Visalia,  circa 1875.



Photo postcard of orange pickers, near Exeter.   Circa 1908.   Written on the back of the card:  "Compliments of  T. J. Hurly   Merryman Ranch.  Exeter, Cal".    The Bonnie Brae Orange Ranch (see my 4/26/16 post) was  part of the greater Merryman family property.


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The three postcards below are of Exeter's Armistice Day parade,   circa 1923.   



Armistice Day started as an annual commemoration of the end of  World War I.       It was later changed to Veterans Day;  honoring persons who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces.
It appears that all the girls in this image have bobbed haircuts.    The unpaved road would lead me to believe the image was taken in 1919 or 1920,   but the young women's hairstyle makes me think it was a little later than that.


The Emperor Grape/Exeter Chamber of Commerce float.


The Visalia Chamber of Commerce float, at the Exeter parade.       
The photography studio appears to be Steiner of Exeter.

Thursday, December 27, 2018

A  photo postcard view of Visalia's  Main Street,  looking west,   near its intersection with Garden St.  Circa  1907.
The building to the near left hand side, still stands at 309 E. Main.    It is the building where the Las Palmas  Restaurant was later located.    Just west of this was John Hyde's furniture store.        Across the street from 309 E. Main  is the Harvey House hotel.   According to Terry Ommen's blog,  the Harvey House structure was built around 1904 and it was torn down in 1971.      Down the same side of the street,  at the NW corner of Church and Main St,  is the old Bank of Visalia clock tower.   The 5 story Bank of Italy building now stands at that location (built in 1923).
 This appears to be one of George Besaw's photos,  see the Visalia Armory Building photo I posted on 7/17/2018.    Besaw's armory photo is numbered "171",  and this photo is numbered "168" (in the lower right corner).   Most likely,  Besaw took these images within days of each other.      In the image above, I can just make out a small poster for the play "Peck's Bad Boy" (as was also in the armory photo).     This would seem to indicate, that both of these photographs were taken  around the time of that play;  April 19, 1907.


Photo postcard by Beck, circa 1911.        The big building at the end of the street is the old high school, that was located in the Lincoln Oval.    This appears to be a view looking north from the 500  block of  N. Court Street.    The two-story Victorian home, at the left side of the image, still appears to be at that location.        (Many thanks to the the people at the facebook group Visalia, Gateway to the Sequoias  who pinned down the exact location of this image.)

 


From a postcard, dated 10/4/1909, Lindsay Cal.      Written on the back of the card "This is main street of Lindsay".    I assume that this is Honolulu Street.      One of the businesses here is the Lindsay Drug Co.    According to the 1910 Tulare County directory, this drug store was on Honolulu Street.


Photograph by Robinson & Churchman, circa 1900.        The style of the photograph seems later than 1900.   But apparently the partnership of  Robinson & Churchman had ended by December 1900.     The 12/21/1900 issue of the Daily Visalia  Delta newspaper,  states that the photographer S.E. Churchman had moved to Chico,  and  had opened  a studio there.   
On the back of the photo is written "Dora Garnett".     I would guess that this is Madora (Dameron) Garmett of Visalia (Married to: Marcus Garnett).  She would have been around 28 years old at the time of the photo.    They did have a daughter named Dora, but she would have only been about 6 years old at the time of this photograph.


Photo by Doran Studio of Tulare.  Circa 1910.



An old photo postcard image of the Camp Nelson Hotel, circa 1922.     It was built on the same property as  an earlier version of the hotel, this one  was constructed in 1912.
The image is by Hammond's Studio of Porterville. 


A scan from a glass negatives by Howard Clinton Tibbitts.     He was one of the early Sunset Magazine photographers.  The photo is circa 1911.      Tibbitts listed this image as "Ranch near Visalia".


A small carte de visite portrait, from the studio of A. J. Jones, "Tulare City, California".   Circa 1879. 
 Looking at old voting and census records: It appears  that the photographer Abial J. Jones  worked in Tulare and Fresno Counties from about 1870 to 1900.     Apparently, most of that time was spent in Tulare.        I was a bit surprised by the amount of time he seems to have spent in the Tulare County area...     I have only heard of a few references to A. J. Jone's photographs.


Photograph by Doran Studio of Tulare, circa 1895.


An old photo postcard view of Springville's  Soda Springs, circa 1912.


Written on the back of this postcard: "1923 - Dedication of the Harding Tree in Giant Forest, Calif.".
This sequoia is now more commonly referred to as the President tree.  
An article in the 9/7/1923 issue of  The National Lumber Bulletin states:  "Giant Redwood Dedicated to Memory of Late President  -  A permanent memorial to the late President Harding has just been contributed by California forests...  The second largest tree in the world was dedicated to his memory, August 12,  as the Warren Harding Tree.     In dedicating the giant sequoia...  Col John R. White, superintendent of Sequoia and Grant national parks, declared that..."