Sunday, April 13, 2014

International Boundary Markers @ Sumas (Part 3 of 4)


Postcard (front and back), sent from Sumas to Nooksack, written in pencil, dated 16 August, 1909.
Posted with permission from the collection of Wes Gannaway.
 
 
Local county historian and collector Wes Gannaway, has kindly shared a wonderful bundle of old postcards relevant to my blog . 
The first of the cards has a close up view of an International Boundary marker and tower labeled "Sumas, WA".  The photo shows a different structure from the log marker featured in Part 1 and 2 of my earlier post.  The smaller marker is either a cement or stone obelisk, with base, set on the ground.  A crude wooden plank tower stands over the marker.  I don't know if the wooden tower predated the smaller obelisk or if the tower was built to increase visibility of the boundary or ?.  
 
The cards reverse shows it was sent to a Mr. Carl Brown in Nooksack, Wash. from Laura.  She asks Carl "to tell Ada to write to her".  According to the 1910 census, Carl Brown was an 18 year old young man living and farming at that time with his parents in Nooksack.  He was born in Natoma, Kansas, 24th May, 1891.   He married Ada N. Pritts (Is this the same young lady mentioned in the postcard?)  27th November, 1912.   By 1920, Carl and Ada were still farming and had two children.  According to the 1940 census, they were still farming on Telegraph Road near Nooksack, WA.  Carl died 11 November, 1988 in Bellingham, three years short of his 100th birthday. We might never know who Laura was.

My next posting is another great postcard from the Gannaway collection that will complete, for the time being, my local International Boundary markers series.  Thanks for visiting.  See you next time.

 
 
 
 


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