Sepia Saturday #405: Couples

SEPIA SATURDAY 405 : Saturday 10 February 2018

John Henry Nicholson and his wife, Anna Cordes ca. 1890

COUPLES : TEA : HUSBAND & WIFE : BEARDS

Couples are our theme this week on Sepia Saturday and our prompt image shows John Henry Nicholson and his wife Anna. All you need to do is to share an old photograph which links in some convoluted way or another with this theme. Post your post on or around Saturday 10th February 2018 and add a link to the list below.

I cut through Old Town in Temecula the other day and saw a parking space, right on Main Street. A rare occasion, I took advantage and pulled in. Ah, happiness—I was right in front of the big Antique mall. 

Here and there, scattered among the booths, I found baskets of postcards or photos. Two photos worked for the theme this week.

The first falls under the "couples" category. The title reads "A Man's Busy Day." 

 She's busy with her typewriter, trying to ignore him. 

A bit racy I thought for 1909. In the context of current times, does he look a bit too eager? You might ask if she's whispering to herself, "Me too." The card was mailed from Marshall, Minnesota to Miss Luva Flinn, Gary, South Dakota. 

When I googled Gary S.D., I found this mention of Luva in a memoir posted on the town's website. She married Doctor Fonger who is likely the author of the postcard. He mentions state examinations, which were probably for a medical license.

Gary’s Doctors- Sometimes we had two doctors in town at the same time.  Some who were here were: Dr. McPeek, who lived where Mike Miller now lives; Dr. Martin, who lived in the Ralph Harkins house; Dr. Fonger who lived where the Standard Station now is; he married Luva Flinn.  Dr Pinard lived in the Carter house, and then he built the Steele house. 

Ed Spanton had a livery barn where Pete Hanson now lives.  The barn was built so doctors and mailmen could keep their horses there to make calls and run routes.  The doctors had to take produce many times for their pay.

Fonger Drug- built by Mr. Fonger, Sr.  This is now the Senior Citizen’s building.  The Fonger’s had one child, a son, Jim.  He left for medical school, came back, and practiced in Gary.  At one time there was a hospital upstairs over where they lived.  We loved to look at Mrs. Fonger’s gray curls which hung down her back when we passed their house on our way to school.  W.J. Rowland worked in the drug store when he first came to Gary.   

Gary's population in 1909 was approximately 227. Today it is 477, according to the 2010 census. From the website, I gather the community has no shortage of self-esteem:  

Gary is a small community (population under 250) with a big personality.  It is known far and wide in this area as the place you go to relax and have a good time.  It is also one of the few small towns in the Midwest that continues to thrive despite the adversities plaguing some small towns today.

Gary and its immediate surroundings provide many diverse businesses with people just as diverse.  From farming and ranching to trucking and wind generators - you'll find it in Gary.  As for entertainment opportunities in the area, you'll find access to lakes for water fun and fishing, as well as plenty of game for hunting.  Wintertime brings snowmobile fun with miles and miles of groomed trails to roam.  If it's peace and quiet you hope to attain, you can find that here too.  Gary has a third of July celebration that beats all with children's events, a horse pull, tractor pull and volunteer firemen water fights.

The Gate City to the West still provides some of that old "cow town" activity as well.  Certain times of year you'll see cattle drives down the streets of town, as well as a couple of rodeos in the area and trail rides for the horse lover.

Whatever you're looking for you're likely to find it in Gary, SD.  The small town with the big personality.

I grew up in Manitoba where the terrain is similar to Gary and was probably treeless in the mid-nineteenth century. I've never heard of the Stanley Tree Claim—here's an interesting description of how it worked. 

Planting Groves on the Prairies

            It was an unforgettable day, a lesson that impressed the settlers with the importance of planting trees, and why the government had enacted what was called the "tree-claim act"-which permitted all citizens to acquire 160 acres of government land by planting ten acres of trees, cultivating and properly caring for them for a period of five years. They had to be planted in rows four feet apart. Within a few years (and those were favorable seasons, with plenty of moisture) that broad expanse of Dakota prairie was dotted with groves four and five feet high-although there were many poorly planted and badly cared for-like the crops planted by many at that time.

            On father's tree claim, the second year after the sod had been broken, we planted one-year-old seedling trees from our own nursery, consisting of walnut, butternut, elm and ash. They were tiny things, but healthy, six or eight inches high, and were planted by sticking a sharp pointed rod of iron about one inch in diameter into the ground, making a hole into which the roots of the little trees were sunk a few inches, pressing the soil about them with the foot. Thus our ten acres were carefully planted, a tedious job for we chil­dren in our teens. Between each row of trees a row of corn was planted and the lot was faithfully cultivated one way, growing a good crop of corn, the trees also growing marvelously, reaching a height of two feet the first year, nearly every tree living.

            Those trees continued to thrive for the five years, when "final proof" was made and the government gave its deed to the 160 acres. The Stanley tree claim, before I left the place after living there eight years, was rather a conspicu­ous spot in that prairie region. During that first year (1879) on the (homestead) farm additional acres of native sod were turned over and planted to crops, wheat, oats, barley, corn and flax, most of which proved profitable.  However, in those early days of cultivating the native soil corn did not do very well-the pioneers concluding that "way out there" it was too cold for successfully growing corn. However, that notion was wrong, for later it proved to be a profitable crop to raise.

What an incentive to move to the area! Meanwhile, in Canada, the government was competing with the U.S. for immigrants and also offering free160 acres. 

The second couple's photo was taken at the Hutchison studio in Lincoln, Kansas. I'm guessing she was toothless or had extractions and dentures too late to prevent her gums from collapsing and her mouth from puckering. Under that beard, it looks like he may be suffering from the same condition. Uh oh-now that I've examined the photo more closely, I realize this could be a sister and brother, a couple of siblings. 

The man bears some resemblance to Robin Williams.

George Hutchison was the photographer. He worked between 1895 and 1910 in Lincoln, Kansas. As of the 1920 census, he worked as the county register of deeds and finally, as an abstractor. I had to look up the profession of abstractor and discovered that I did this job, basically title searching, for my lawyer father for one or two summers during school. From Wiki:

An abstractor of title is a person who prepares and certifies the condensed history (known as an abstract of title) of the ownership of a particular parcel of real estate, consisting of a summary of the original grant and all subsequent conveyances and encumbrances affecting the property.

Finally, I offer a romantic photo (for Valentine's day) of my husband and me in December in the Botanical garden in Durban, South Africa posing under the "Kissing Tree."

Here's a photo of the tree alone from a different angle, where you can get the tree kiss more clearly.

For a couple more stories, check out Sepia Saturday.