I just stumbled across the top photo in Bob Swanson's photostream on Flickr. (Here's the link.) He writes,..."This postcard is cancelled by the handstamp of Myford, California. Now, most people may not know that town name, but now it is called Irvine. Myford was the post office for the huge Irvine Ranch that took up a lot (110,000 acres) of Orange
County early in the 20th Century. The date of 1910 is an estimate, because the cancellation is not clear. The post office was renamed in 1914 to Irvine, which gives us a last date."
The car on the right appears to be a 1905 Duro, which was manufactured in Los Angeles.
Thomas B. "Tom" Talbert had one of these, and I wonder if it could be his. (A long shot, perhaps?) Tom was, of course, one of the most promienent men in the region. He dealt in real estate, was a farmer, was mayor of Huntington Beach, and was on the Orange County Board of Supervisors. In 1952 he published some of his memories in the book My Sixty Years in California.
Thomas B. "Tom" Talbert had one of these, and I wonder if it could be his. (A long shot, perhaps?) Tom was, of course, one of the most promienent men in the region. He dealt in real estate, was a farmer, was mayor of Huntington Beach, and was on the Orange County Board of Supervisors. In 1952 he published some of his memories in the book My Sixty Years in California.
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The second photo shows the Talbert family in their brand new Duro, in front of Tom's real estate office in Huntington Beach. (I'm sure I'll write more about the fascinating Mr. Talbert in a future post.)
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Speaking of Flickr, I notice that Glenn "Dreger Clock Guy" Frank and Kevin "Miehana" Kidney have joined the "Orange County History" Flickr pool and added a bunch of great images. I hope this is the start of a trend.
7 comments:
so... is the boy in the front seat of the Talbert's car holding a dog... or a stuffed animal? I can't tell.
At first I did not even see the child and it looked like there was a dog sitting in the front seat wearing a hat!
His son is sitting next to a dog. I'm guessing either a bassett hound or a beagle.
I'll try to find a few photos that aren't Dreger Clock related to upload to the flikr group too!
:-)
Glenn "Dreger Clock Guy" Frank
Another big clue about the car photo is included in my April 15, 2008 post:
http://ochistorical.blogspot.com/2008/04/mystery-photos-lost-valley-and-another.html
More puzzling clues about the postcard image of the two cars. Bob found the original postcard again, and had this to say,
"I found the card again after misplacing it. The year date on the Myford cancellation is indeed very bad. Note that the back of the real-photo card has the wording:
'How is trix
Old Red and jack mixed up
Abe'
The card is addressed to:
'Mr. G. W. Warling
Laguna Beach,
Cal'"
My name is Todd Talbert, and Tom Talbert was my Great Grandfather. The picture of him in the Duro includes my Grandfather Thomas Van Talbert, also known as Timothy Talbert- "Tim-Tom." Chris, it sounds like you might own my Great Grandfather's Duro, which my Grandfather told me was the first car in the area. Evidently, there was much hoopla when he drove it over the Santa Ana river bridge. I was told people were afraid to go over it, so my great grandfather drove over it to may cheers. Do you have a current picture you could email me of the car? My Dad, who lives in San Luis Obispo County would love it!
The driver of the car does appear to be Thomas Benjamin Talbert, who was my grandfather. My son Todd forwarded these pictures to me.
Thank you for your research and I would appreciate you posting any historical information about my family that you may have.
Thomas F. Talbert
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