Thankfully, the mother sending a picture of her darling daughter—five weeks and two days after her birth, to be precise—happened to sign the photo postcard with her full name and city of residence. That makes things a tad easier for us, now one hundred years after the fact, as we try to figure out how to return the abandoned treasure to an interested family member.
We know, for instance, that the mother shown in the photograph was named Hallie Randall, and that she lived in Bandon, Oregon.
Because the photograph came on the format of an Azo postcard, we can tell from the direction of the tiny arrows in the four corners of the stamp box—all four facing upwards—that the card was used between the years of 1904 and 1918.
The photograph on the front of the card gives a sweet profile of the young mother and her infant—as we'll discover later, her firstborn. But to simply head to the United States census for Bandon, Oregon—either in 1910 or 1920—to find a Hallie Randall with baby daughter Fay, well...you knew that would be too easy. Of course there is going to be a problem with such a straightforward approach.
There was a baby Fay with mother Hallie, of course, but not where we'd have expected them. It took a little more searching—though not much—to discover not only where the family set up housekeeping, but who the baby's father was, as well as to learn that "Fay" was actually the baby's nickname. Her full name was Fayetta Mae Randall.
Above: Azo postcard from Bandon, Oregon, labeled "Baby Fay Randall and Mother," circa 1918. Postcard from Hallie Randall currently in possession of the author.
What a sweet photo.
ReplyDeleteSuch a special photo!
ReplyDeleteWere you able to find family for this photo? I think Hallie and Fay may be relatives by marriage. My grandmother's cousin, Mae Simpson (1893-1975) married a man named Arthur Garfield Randall. They shared a home with her parents at Cranberry Corners in Bandon, Oregon, and were cranberry growers. Arthur had several older half siblings: Frank (wife Jane), May, Henry, and Eddie. It is possible that one of these siblings also moved from Minnesota to Oregon.
ReplyDeleteOn your earlier posts about this postcard, you mentioned that you didn't think it had been mailed. It probably was, but as an enclosure in a longer letter. Mae Simpson Randall and her mother, Mary Hill Simpson, both did this when writing to my grandmother and g-grandmother.
Yes, Baby Fay did make it home to relatives, by early March of 2018. Between this original post and the conclusion of the story, I shared quite a few details here at A Family Tapestry on what I learned about Baby Fay's family.
DeleteIf you'd like to read about it, you can either click "Randall" on the keyword list at the end of the article (above the comment section on this post), or just read the whole series of articles by clicking here. As is usual in blogging fashion, the uppermost post is the most recent one. If you prefer starting from the beginning of the story, scroll to the bottom of the listing on that link and read upward.