Friday, July 15, 2011

PFF And Sepia Saturday: It's in the Cards

 The Sepia Saturday Theme has to do with card games in vintage photos. So, for Postcard Friendship Friday, I chose this old and somewhat flirty postcard.




 It was postmarked June 5, 1911 in Arthur Ontario.  The message to Miss Florence reads:  Received your card some time ago.  Have not had a chance to answer before. Have no views of G.M. (Grand Manan) at present.  Will send one next time.  Come again,
Yours truly.
Turner Ingalls, Jr.
Captain, Little Wood Island Life Saving Station, Grand Manan, New Brunswick. (That's in Canada)


Grand Manan Island


 Grand Manan and all of the surrounding islands are set in treacherous waters filled with rocks and currents. Storms and fog make travel quite dicey.  Many light houses, fog horns, and life saving stations were - and still are -constructed on these islands to assist sailing ships, fishermen and ferry boats.

Web searches turned up quite a bit of information about Turner Ingalls!

Ruthven Deane was taking a count of Snowy Owls in 1906 and included this information in his report:
"Mr. Turner Ingalls, Jr, keeper of Southwest Arbor Light Station, Grand Manan informs me under date of Jan. 20, 1906 that 26 snowy Owls had been seen on the island, and many of these had been seen shot during December 1, 1905.  During the flight of 1901-2 Mr. Turner observed only about half this number."
 TURNER INGALLS was born February 18, 1843 in Grand Manan, N. B. He married Antoinette Foster Parker and they had one son, Page Ingalls who died at age 4. At the time this postcard was written,  Ingalls was 68 years old, had lost his wife, Antoinette and remarried.


He became overseer of this lighthouse in 1901 when his father in law retired after 47 years service. By then, the Marconi telegraph wire was replaced with a telephone.


Southwest Light House as it appeared in about 1899. 

The Ingalls/Mclaughlin family is pictured here. The family added all of the buildings to the original lighthouse tower at their own expense. Upon his retirement, Turner's Father-in-law asked for reimbursement for all of the buildings - to which the Department of Marine replied "No."    
The location of this lighthouse can be seen on the  map posted above. It is off the most Southwest point of the Grand Manan Island.

After Turner Ingalls retired a succession of family members continued to live and work here until it closed in 1987. Turner Ingalls died in 1914.  



For more Friendship Friday Fun go HERE

For Sepia Saturday stop by HERE

15 comments:

21 Wits said...

Oh this was very cool especially the lighthouse which they are always my favorites. It's good to see the kitty at the door again too, I've missed seeing him!

Unknown said...

I love the lighthouse, how wonderful it would have been to live on the island in it and watched the snowy owls.

Christine H. said...

You have taken a simple postcard and woven it into a fascinating post. If there were such a thing as atextbook of examples to aspire to in blog posts, this would be a prime example.

Little Nell said...

Very interesting post. I like the way you took that, yes rather cheeky, postcard and based the story around it. I too love lighthouses.

Postcardy said...

I imagine that Miss Florence was a postcard collector requesting a view card for her collection. I wonder if she specialized in lighthouses.

Margaret said...

Great investigative work! Really interesting, thanks!

Bob Scotney said...

With a hand like that I would be assessing the size of the pot. Not a time for holding hands.

Tattered and Lost said...

I adore lighthouses. Churches for lost souls. And such an interesting card. I'm not sure I'd choose either hand and instead just head for the lighthouse alone.

Sheila @ A Postcard a Day said...

Fascinating post!

Leah said...

Interesting history behind this post card!

Alan Burnett said...

Yet another lovely example of how an image or a card can act as a springboard to discovering the most fascinating information. Great post.

Unknown said...

So much information from the card which would have held an unknown story if not for your information here!

Howard said...

Lovely postcard and fascinating story

Linda said...

Neat cards! Have a blessed day.

rental mobil said...

Very nice, thanks for sharing.