Tag Archives: Wyoming

Vedia Eggleston’s Postcards from Far Away Places

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Vedia Eggleston’s postcards, like many of the time, were the way to keep in touch with family and friends who had moved away or were traveling. They were kind of an early 20th Century Social Media – only much slower than today. They also were a good way to let you know of places where friends were and you were not. From the commercial side, postcards were good marketing tools. Cards with photos of exciting or historic places were used to encourage tourism and pride in local sites.

Vedia Eggleston’s Postcard book contained a number of cards from various places in the United States. Sometimes the places that the cards were sent from was not the place indicated by the photograph on the card. Cards may have been purchased at one place and sent from another. Or possibly cards from some places could even be purchased at home. More postcards from places closer to home are shared in another post.

Friend Kathryn in Madison

Let’s start with Madison, Nebraska, since Vedia received several cards from there in 1912. Apparently Vedia had a friend Kathryn who had moved to Madison. Vedia was not as good at keeping in touch as this Kathryn was. She repeatedly asked why she had not heard from Vedia.

Madison

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Vedia Eggleston’s Postcards from Nearby Places

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Postcards were an easy and inexpensive way to keep in touch with family and friends in a time when there were few telephones and no internet. In the early 20th Century they were like Social Media, sharing bits of news and often short messages in between longer letters. They were written on postcards showing familiar scenes or with simple greetings. Vedia Eggleston’s Postcard Book contained postcards from nearby places where friends and family lived. Other postcards from places further away are shared in another post.

Some from Home in Afton, Wyoming:

Taqbernacle, Afton, Wyoming

This is the Tabernacle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Afton, Wyoming, Vedia’s home town.

Postcards Afton, Wyoming

Vedia to sister Connie Dewey

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Joseph Eggleston’s Postcards from Jackson Hole

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A handful of postcards from Jackson Hole give us a glimpse into life on Mormon Row a century ago.

Joseph S. Eggleston grew up in Afton, Wyoming. In about 1910 he went to Jackson Hole where he homesteaded in a place known as Mormon Row. He sent these postcards from Jackson Hole during that time. There are no addresses, stamps or postmarks indicating when and to whom or where they were sent. They may have been inserted into packages sent back home to his family in Afton. Or possibly, since Joe carried the mail on a postal route in Wyoming at that time, he did not need to address them. He could have carried them himself to Afton or included them with other mail.

Cousin Don shared these postcards with me. They had been with boxes of photographs he inherited from his mother, Evelyn Barbara Stock Lee. She got these from her mother Mattie Mae Eggleston Stock, who was Joseph Egglestons’s sister.

These cards were produced showing scenes from the area. Joe may have purchased a number of these. We had another one of this family skiing, but there was nothing written on it. The view from Joe’s homestead would have been very similar. He apparently knew this Sheffield family.

Sheffield family Moran, Wyoming

 

skiing Jackson Lake

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Orson Hyde Eggleston’s Journal of the Settling of Afton Wyoming Part 1

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Orson Hyde Eggleston wrote a journal account of his journey in the fall of 1885 to Star Valley and recorded the early settling of Afton Wyoming. Part 1 covers November and December of 1885.

Some years ago Virgie Eggleston Stoffers gave a photocopy of Orson Hyde Eggleston’s journal to my father. I think it was some time after that, but in the late 1990’s, that I found this at my father’s home. A typed note indicated that Virgie had made a photocopy in 1982 from the original which was then in the possession of Theron Eggleston.

Orson Hyde Eggleston journal page 1 with note

When I visited Theron’s daughter Ruth, I did not find the original notebook there. It may have been, but it was not something that I saw. It does appear that Virgie might have written over the writing on her copy in places to try to make it darker. It is not an easy read, and some places numbers don’t make sense as written. At some point I painstakingly transcribed the whole thing. Much of it consists of weather reports, but there are accounts of interesting events during this six month period from November 1885 to May 1886. Because of the length I have broken it into three parts. Part 1 covers November and December of 1885.

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Vedia’s Postcard Book

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One Saturday afternoon in January 2011, after having lunch in downtown Ogden with my daughters, I and my youngest decided to go across the street to our favorite Antique Store (which was new then but sadly is not there anymore) before heading home. We were wandering around different areas when I heard her calling to me from upstairs, saying something about Egglestons. I hurried to her to see what she was talking about. She had picked up an old Postcard Book filled with postcards with the names of Egglestons and asked if these were our family. I did recognize many of the names and started getting really excited. This store sold things on consignment and this album was priced rather high, intended to be sold intact. There were other old postcards being sold individually and I guess they thought that this was worth the cost of all of the individual cards. Anyway, it was more than I was ready to pay for it. I did talk to the store owner and left my name and a message for the owner of this album.

album-cover

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Doc’s Memories of Alice

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babyAlice

Alice was born on Mormon Row and was still a child when they moved to Eden. She went to school in Eden and Huntsville and graduated from Weber High School in Ogden. She was a good student and made many lasting friends. As a young lady she babysat for several families. Because our mother was not in good health after I was born Alice did a lot of raising me and we were very close. A friend of hers moved to California and invited her to come down there and be a nanny for a family. She thought that would be interesting, so she went to California. While there she enjoyed many things including dancing. Continue reading →