The Daughter of Mail Order Pete
Martha Michel Martin recounts how Maler & Company shaped the life of Mrs. Henry Van Lander known as Geraldine. From mail order beginnings in the 1870s to 1900 catalog reach the firm touched customers including Peter Thurston the Indiana farmer. Geraldine’s birth prompts Maler’s announcement cards with stork imagery and gift wording.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Maler & Company
Henry van Lander
Benjamin Maler
Peter Thurston
Indiana
Peter
Maler
Pete
Geraldine
Our Story
Maler’s
Geraldine Thurston
Stork
Geraldine Thurston of Maler & Company is Married
Geraldine Thurston, daughter of Peter Thurston, marries Henry Van Lander, a union that shifts her ties from Maler & Company to a new life. Thompson, the firm’s bookkeeper, pursues her as a rich widow, but Geraldine and Henry reveal they still face hard times with five children on a neglected farm.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Mr. Thompson
Maler & Company
Charlie
van Lander
Thurston
Geraldine
Rich
van Landers
Mr. Maler
Charlie Thompson
Potterville
the Inquirer
Young Thompson
State Insane Asylum
Model Farm
Mrs. van Lander
Henry
Walking Costumes in Gray and Royal Blue Fabrics
An illustrated description presents two smart costumes. The gray outfit features a high waist skirt with train, satin ribbon over-skirt, single-button rosette coat, pale gray collar and cuffs, epaulette sleeve, and a gray crinoline toque with a shaded feather. The blue ensemble uses royal blue Venetian cloth with a thirteen-gores skirt, wrapped seams, a semi-fitting sack coat with silk insert and tabs, silk-covered buttons on waistcoat, silk collar, silk cuffed sleeve, and a straw hat with roses and foliage.
Monogram Craze Tops Styles For Girls This Season
The piece notes widespread monogram use from purses to bags and cushions. It highlights initials in brass on leather or wash fabrics, with emphasis on detachable letters, placement near the top of bags, and small left side monograms on blouses.
Silk voiles in pretty designs with edged borders
Paris letter notes silk voiles in many square patterned designs. Weaving features black white and blue themes with satin edge bands and cashmere borders. Also advice on hand care from a Paris letter, stressing night cream and gloves to prevent drying and red hands.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Nattler
Paris
Trimmed skirts divide fashion critics
The piece notes the new fashion of a single deep fold at the bottom of skirts and warns it visually shortens the wearer, especially if petite or stout. It suggests breaking the fold into several cuts and rounding corners to better suit the latest style.
New Color Combos Ornge and Gray in Gown Design
A gown features gray mousseline de sole over an orange satin underdress. The skirt is tightly gathered and plaited, rising high at the belt with close plaits freed below the knees. A silver gray filet embroidery band decorates the skirt joining back and front at the sides.
Black Silk Muslin Coat With White Braiding
A striking long coat in black silk muslin is braided all over with white. White silk edging, odd straps, bow accents at the elbows, and a short back with gold buttons define the style. Women increasingly adopt dark blue stockings with tan shoes as a smart fashion.
Pickles and Panoramas in a Wandering Pickle Factory Tale
A wandering narrator takes a Gulf Coast style tour from New England to Albany and Niagara Falls to Michigan while visiting a pickle factory. He describes the plant layout, the cucumber vats, and the quirky workers, including a comic mishap where a reporter falls into brine and pockets fill with cucumbers.
White Elephant Windfall Joke Ends In Lesson
A magazine’s joke about paying ten cents a word leads to a comic windfall for a writer who cashes multiple checks. The tale ends with the author broke again and the editor noting the wisdom of not joking about white elephants.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Keokuk
Arizona Sacks and the Legacy of Uncle Jake Neff
Former lieutenant governor Uncle Jake Neff recalls early California days and the use of flour sacks. He describes patching underclothes and miners towels from sacks and details a simple wraparound sock method making three pairs from one sack.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Arizona
Jake” Neff
Leutenant
California
Dear Old Days Story Of A Harrieburg Woman
A Harrie burg woman gave a meal to a melancholy hobo at her back door. He asks why he holds up his left middle finger while eating and she replies it was never broken, adding a wistful line about halcyon days and old habits.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
State Street
Boston
Harrieburg
Ute Warriors Shift From Plains Raid to Work on Rail Line
The Ute warriors, recently moved from Utah and Wyoming back toward the Dakotas, now work along the Crouch line railroad Rapid City to the Hills. They are employed by the railroad, receive back wages in installments, and aim to save for a return to their reservation. Some progress is noted in schooling and behavior, though drinking issues persist among a minority.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Tenderfoot
Atlantic City
Detroit
Menominee
Kalamazoo
Sioux Falls
River Indian Reservation
South Dakota
Utah
Wash
Wyoming
Dakota
United States
House
Rapid City
Hills
Missouri River
Black Hills
St. P
Utals
Fad of Shaved Heads Takes Washington Post Office
In Washington authorities and clerks in the post office department join a new fad by shaving their heads. Initiated in the supply division under Richard Covert, chief of the division, the trend spreads to other parts of the department as a novelty to attract attention and outpace prior crazes like skating and baseball fever.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Washington
Post Office Department
Richard
Covert
Merry Widow
Also Mentioned on This Page
Martha Michel Martin
Shortatory Pub. Co
Geraldine Maler Thurston
Geraldine Maler
Voiles
Massachusetts
Narrer
Albany
Buffalo
Niagara Falls
Horseshoe
Ontario
Onty
Wolverine
Michigan
Face
Galtgy
This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!