Real Photo Postcard, Great Chelsea Fire, April 12, 1908

Early 1900s real photo postcard, unused, of The Great Chelsea Fire April 12, 1908, Chelsea, Massachusetts.   


Chelsea, in Suffolk County, is the smallest city in Massachusetts, in land area.  It's directly across the Mystic River from Boston.  


The first fire alarm rang at about 11 A.M., at the Boston Blacking Company on West 3rd Street.  The fire department was able to extinguish that initial fire rather quickly, but a vicious wind was blowing that day.  Sparks were carried over the city, first setting frame buildings on fire and then intensifying to the point where granite buildings collapsed from the heat.  The fire burned eastward until stopped by the Mystic River.


Ultimately, nineteen people had died, possibly as many as 12,000 people had been made homeless, and 1500 buildings had been destroyed.  Larger buildings destroyed included City Hall, the YMCA, the Odd Fellows Hall, the Chelsea Savings Bank Building, eight schools and a dozen churches.   One bright note in the tragedy: the outstanding charitable response from across Massachusetts and the nation.


Here's a link to a website with more information:  http://www.olgp.net/chs/photos/fire1908/writeup.htm


In 1973 on another windy day, Chelsea suffered the Second Great Chelsea Fire, in which eighteen city blocks were destroyed.  Fortunately, though there were some injuries, no lives were lost.

2 Identical Cabinet Photos of Young Girl Named, Possibly, Lilly Olga; New Haven, Connecticut Studio

Two identical cabinet photographs of a young girl identified on reverse as, I think, Lilly Olga.    Neither identification has a dot over the "i", so perhaps her name is Lelly or Luly or Leely or something else; see for yourself below.   The photograph was taken by the Rogers studio of 787 Chapel Street, New Haven, Connecticut.

Lilly Olga could be her first and middle names, or Olga could be her surname.  I tried searching different variations online but didn't come up with anything promising.


If Lilly Olga rings a bell from researching your own family or from researching for someone else, please contact me, so I can give these photographs more context.


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Email: Heirlooms.Reunited@gmail.com

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Downeast Maine & Maritime Canada Genealogy

Antique Photographs of Church & Grange Hall, Cornish, New Hampshire; E. R. Harrington

Vintage photograph of the church and grange hall in Cornish, New Hampshire, possibly taken by E. R. Harrington, as you can see from the period scrap of paper taped to the top.   Another photograph shows a closeup of the grange hall, below.  Neither photograph has any markings on reverse.

Researching online, I found an Elbert Russell Harrington, born November 2, 1884, the son of Levi Winchester Harrington and Harriet S. (Ayers) Harrington of Cornish, New Hampshire.  


Elbert married Mabel Albina Cheever at Ludlow, Vermont, in 1917.  They lived at Cornish, New Hampshire, and had a son and three daughters.  


Note the tower that appears at left in the photograph showing both the church and grange hall.

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Antique Photo of Women Workers at Livermore Falls Box Shop, Livermore Falls, Maine

Wonderful old photograph of women workers at, according to text on the reverse, a Livermore Falls Box Shop.  The text reads: Liv. Falls Box Shop".  I'd scan it but it's in rather light text against a medium gray mat.  Livermore Falls, Maine, is in Androscoggin County, along the Androscoggin River.  


Some of the women are wearing hats with initials on them, hopefully their own initials for genealogy purposes, not initials denoting some aspect of their employment.  I see someone with a partially obscured first initial and last initial of W; another with the initials AL; another with EP.


When researching online, I came across a disheartening reference in the Annual Report of the State Board of Health of Maine, for the year ending 1885, to a condition called pulmonary phthisis reported by Dr. A. R. Millett of Livermore Falls.  He cited a case in which a healthy young man went to work in a box shop, apparently inhaled the dust there and was dead three years later. 


I hope the women in the photograph fared better.  We owe a debt of gratitude to our ancestors for the hardships, known and unknown, they endured to support and advance their families.  


If you have any insights into the identities of any of these workers, I would love to hear from you.  Thanks for stopping by!


Email: Heirlooms.Reunited@gmail.com

Twitter ID: ToddHouse

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Downeast Maine & Maritime Canada Genealogy

Interesting old Photo: Antique Auto, Horse-Drawn Carriage, Moxie Sign in Window

This vintage photograph is a study in contrasts.  It shows an antique automobile and a horse-drawn carriage, both parked in front of a store, in what appears to be a rural setting.   Unfortunately, there's no indication of locale.  


Someone has written in a contemporary hand with red ink on the reverse: "Moxie Sign in window".


Perhaps it's the elderly owner of the store at the reins and his wife in the automobile, showing off the results of their lifetime of endeavor?   The photograph was purchased in Maine, but I don't know if this is a Maine photograph or a photograph that found its way to Maine to become part of the collection of a Moxie fan.


The Moxie sign is in the bottom left (as viewed in the photo) window just below the midline, in the left pane.   Some of Moxie's fans of the past include Calvin Coolidge, E. B. White and Ted Williams.  Here's a link to the Moxie history and the annual Moxie Festival, held at Lisbon Falls, Maine.


If you have some insights into this photograph, I'd love to hear them.  Thanks for stopping by!


A map of Lisbon Falls, Maine:



View Larger Map


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Walter N. Miner, Calais, Maine, Candidate for Congress

Political memento, circa 1940s.

Transcription:

"Dr. W. N. Miner for Congress

No Washington County Man Has Represented the Third District Since Frederick A. Pike in 1863

"The Third Congressional District in Maine comprises the five eastern counties - Aroostook, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Hancock, and Washington.  Of these five, Washington is the only one which has not furnished a congressman in this century.

"The people of this most eastern county believe it is their turn to be represented in Washington by one of their own citizens, and will have a candidate for the Republican nomination in the June primaries in the person of Dr. Walter N. Miner of Calais.

"They solicit support for him by the voters of the District first, because they are in all fairness entitled to furnish the candidate and especially because the candidate they offer is so well qualified for the position.

"Dr. Miner has been a physician and surgeon in Calais for forty years.  He established the operated the Calais Hospital, which recently has become a publicly owned community hospital, but he continues to serve as treasurer and manager.  He has served in the City Council four terms as Alderman, and two terms as Mayor and later represented Washington County two terms in the Maine State Senate.  Although a busy man in his profession, he always found time to give to matters of public nature.

"He is, and has been for several years President of the Calais Chamber of Commerce, and as its representative has regularly attended the meetings of the New England Council, where in common with other representative men of the New England States, he has laborer for industrial improvement of this section of our country.  Dr. Miner is indeed a public spirited citizen.

"He offers himself as a candidate for this nomination, with a record of his active life as proof of his fitness for the position."

Walter Nathan Miner was born in Mount Whatley, New Brunswick, Canada on 13 July 1872, the son of Nathan D. and Celia (Carter) Miner.  He received his education at Fredericton Normal School, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, after which he taught for three years, before deciding to pursue a career in medicine.  He graduated from Baltimore Medical College, undertook postgraduate training in Baltimore, London and Edinburgh, and started a practice in Calais, Maine.  

In 1917 he started a thirty bed private hospital, which eventually became the community hospital now known as Calais Regional Hospital.  Dr. Miner also practiced medicine across the St. Croix River from Calais at St. Stephen, New Brunswick.  He had an active civic life in the Calais area.  His son, John Walter Miner, also became a doctor.

Dr. Miner married Estella Delahay in Maryland in 1903.  She was the daughter of James Edward and Martha (Amos) Delahay of Maryland and California.  Dr. Miner and Estella raised a son, John Walter Miner, and two daughters, Elizabeth Delahay Miner and Ruth Estella Miner.  

I hope you've enjoyed this memento.  Thanks for stopping by!

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Downeast Maine & Maritime Canada Genealogy

General Leavitt, Steamer that operated between Lubec, Maine, and Campobello, New Brunswick, Canada

Found in the December 1941 issue of the Steamboat Bill of Facts, the Official Journal of the Steamship Historical Society of America, an article entitled The Eastern S. S. Company's Intra- Maine Lines, by Byron M. Boyles:


"Regular steamboat communication daily between Boothbay Harbor and Bath, Maine, was established in 1865. The pioneer steamer was the SPRAY, built at Bath in 1865, being 60 feet long, and carrying about 75 passengers.  The enterprise was organized and carried out by William H. McLellan, a merchant of Bath, and Capt. C. A. Low, who commanded the steamer.


"The Eastern Steamboat Company was chartered in 1868, and organized in 1869 with Samuel D. Bailey or Bath as its first President...
...


"The SPRAY was sold in February 1873, to T. W. Allen & Sons, of Dennysville, and her name changed to GEN. LEAVITT."




Researching online, I found that the GENERAL LEAVITT was run daily between Lubec, Maine, and Campobello, New Brunswick, Canada.  


It was likely named after Samuel Deane Leavitt, one-time mayor of Eastport, Maine.  Samuel Deane Leavitt was born in Eastport, Maine, in 1837, the son of Benjamin & Harriet (Lamprey) Leavitt.  He was educated at Hampton, Franklin and Dummer Academies and studied law with Bion Bradbury of Eastport.  He was a first lieutenant in the Civil War and was Adjutant General of the State of Maine, hence the title of "General".  In 1860, he married Emily White of New Hampshire.  He died in 1902 in Boston, on his way home from Washington, D. C.  You can see the Leavitt name inscribed on one of Eastport's downtown brick blocks.


Now I'm trying to learn more about T. W. Allen & Sons of Dennysville.  I'm wondering if they are descendants of John Allen, who was instrumental in keeping downeast tribes on the side of the Americans or at least neutral in the Revolutionary War.   If you have any insights to add, I would most appreciate hearing from you.


Thanks for stopping by!

Email: Heirlooms.Reunited@gmail.com

Twitter ID: ToddHouse

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Downeast Maine & Maritime Canada Genealogy