Frank Brewer at Camp Gordon

Because of it's proportions, you'll really need to click on the image and bring it up in a bigger window to see it well.

The stamp box on the back is in the middle of the card, so I'm fairly certain that it was designed to be folded in half.  But, while there is a message on the back, there is no post mark and no indication that the card was ever stamped.  I'd bet that Frank Brewer, the author, folded the card in half and put it in an envelope for mailing.

"Dear Mother & Dad,  Yesterday there was 6 of us transfered frome the 24 Co to the 157 Depot Brigade.  Here we get good grub and all we want of it.  The rest of are 24 Co. has gone on a hike with rifel and full pack on.

I had to turn in my rifel and pack.  At this camp we have a snap.

I will write what we half to dew latter.  But I am liber to be transfered in any time in site of 3 months.  Cannot tell.

Tell Atkins my new adress.  I was at the rifel range and done some shuting and they put me down as a good shot. Ther are sending some Co to France in 4 weeks time.

If you write to B.B., C.B. or T.B. tell them my new adress.

Your Sun, Frank.

P.S. Did you get my inshurance papers yet."

In a separate section, Frank wrote his address.

"Mr Frank A. Brewer
31st Co. 8 Training Battalion
157 Depot Brigade
Camp Gordon, Ga."

I always love it when I find someone who spells worse than I do.  Interesting card.  Being sent to France?  But World War 1 or World War 2?  It's almost certain that this card was from the first World War.  Being sent to France was how soldiers described being sent to the trenches of World War 1.  Too, I've also found a web site about a young soldier,  serving at Camp Gordon, in the 157 Depot Brigade, in 1918.

Camp Gordon was opened in July 1917, at Chamblee, Georgia, near Atlanta.  It closed after World War 1, and was reopened in 1940.  It became Fort Gordon in 1957 and now trains more soldiers than any other military facility in the United States.

Stone Mountain may not be the largest rock in the world, as noted on the front of the card, but it is pretty big.  The mile from base to summit notation refers to a trail, not the elevation.  Today, Stone Mountain is the site of the world's largest bas relief, depicting  Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis.  The Daughters of the Confederacy and the Ku Klux Klan worked for years to establish the  confederate monument at Stone Mountain, but it wasn't until the 1960s, in reaction to the civil rights movement, after Stone Mountain had become state property,  that the project got off the ground.  In 1915, the Klan was reestablished, and an  easement form the owner was granted that allowed Stone Mountain to be used, in perpetuity, as a Klan rallying point.

And the caption on the back: "STONE MOUNTAIN, 16 MILES FROM ATLANTA, GA.  The steep side of Stone Mountain has been dedicated to the Confederacy by the U.D.C., and thereon will be carved in relief a stupendous monument of Lee and Jackson at the head of the Confederate Hosts.  Each figure will be approximately 30 feet in height: the horses, cannon, etc. as true to life as possible to be made.  Stone Mountain will stand through the ages an everlasting monument to the Boys of the Confederacy.  (Atlanta Convention Bureau.)"

Camp Hancock, Postage Due

Postmarked, "AUGUSTA, GA MAY 20 1:30 PM 1918 HANCOCK BRANCH" Addressed to, "Mr. John Hayes 113 E. Main St., Amsterdam, NY c/0 John Burke" And the message, "Well John we had a great trip down here we left Fort Slocum 10 clock Wed morning on the boat and got in Jersey City at 12 got our lunch and left Jersey City at 2 o'clock by train and got in Camp Hancock 12 o'clock Thursday night. from Coney" One would think that Coney was a lucky young man. World War 1 would end on November 11, 1918, so even if he saw combat, it wouldn't have been much. But then again, on the last day of September 1918 there were two men in the camp infirmary. On October 1, there were 716 cases of Spanish flu in the camp. By October 5, there were 3,000 cases and 52 dead. This card was published by "A. M. SIMON, 32 UNION SQUARE, NEW YORK."

Hazel Hamilton Rogers/Hazel Elizabeth Rogers

Written on the back of the second photograph, "Mother-1911 On Graduation From Wesleyan." On the third picture, "Mother's Wedding Picture Hazel Hamilton Rogers." The Confederate battle flag in the background of the graduation picture led me to Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia, founded in 1836 as a Women's college by the Methodist Church. With Georgia as a location I went in search of any information I could find on Hazel Hamilton Rogers. What I found was a small foundation set up in memory of a school teacher named Hazel Elizabeth Rogers, daughter of Dr. Thomas Edward Rogers and distinguished musician, Hazel Hamilton Rogers. No sibling were mentioned in the brief paragraph. It looks like Hazel Elizabeth never married or had any children. The clear hand writing on the back of these pictures must be hers and very likely there were no family members to claim these pictures.

Wisconsin and Beyond

Old photo collectors love great images and there are a couple of those in this collection. But, collectors also love a great story behind the images and this set of estate photos from a Wisconsin dealer are all over the place. The two pictures in front of the house are very probably from the United States, as is the last image, that looks like it's from the fifties. Two guys near a palm tree. Florida vacation? The long haired guy with the umbrella and bag could be a doctor, or then again, just a guy with a doctor's style bag. The older couple are labeled Adolph and Jennie. The group of young people above the sea. I doubt that's Wisconsin, and with the woman in the clothe coat,newspaper and purse is labeled, something I can't make out and the "de depart, le 22 Octobre 1945." From France or maybe Quebec. Speaking of dates, the lady, prone on the grass with the shadow of the photographer is dated July 20, 1914. The couple in mid 20th century clothes are labeled Grandma and Grandpa. Not all of these images were taken in Wisconsin, as I've already noted. The woman is sitting in front of the for sale sign is stamped on the back, "MADE BY Goodhart-Tompkins Co. KODAK HEADQUARTERS 33 Peachtree, Atlanta, Ga." The kneeling man is labeled Cornwall Mines, 6/2/21. Cornwall is in England. And the strangest of the lot, the adult woman with the four children, written on the back, "Forced merriment is easily detected, and is an admirable quality that always arouses my deepest sympathies; The children betray the fact that something is troubling the family collectively. H.H." I wonder what made her write that. It's almost a short story.