I came across this Hugh C. Leighton Company postcard in January. It was published in Portland, Maine but manufactured in Germany. The card was posted from the USS Franklin on October 31, but alas the year in the postmark is unreadable, though likely in the early years of the last century. The addressee was Mrs. Mary Meyer in Chicago, Illinois.
The writer, John Urlan, writes about rowing all around Chesapeake Bay and having a fine time despite being tired and being cold out on the bay.
The message on the card gives us a glimpse of the weather on Chesapeake Bay in late October, and it creates a bit of a mystery that can only be solved by knowing the history of the USS Franklin when it served as a Receiving Ship in Norfolk, Virginia.
[In Navy jargon, a receiving ship is a stationary vessel, often an obsolete or unseaworthy ship moored at a navy yard. Such vessels are used to house, process, and train new recruits or in-service sailors in transit between assignments. Receiving ships also function as “floating barracks” or as a transit depot.]
At this point these three relics of Postcard History raise questions: Was the sender, John, a member of the crew aboard the Receiving Ship USS Franklin? Or, was he a crew member on the battleship Illinois? The ship pictured on Exhibit #1. Was the Illinois at Norfolk at the time the card was postmarked? These are difficult to answer without knowing the exact date that is unreadable on Exhibit #2.
Next comes other, more perplexing mysteries.
First, an attempt to find a “suggested/working” year-date failed. No success was achieved but “educated guesses” put either 1913, 1916, or 1918 as possibilities. At first, 1916 and 1918 were eliminated because those dates are ‘after’ the decommissioning of the ship in 1915. So a second investigation was launched (pun intended) to discover if a Receiving Ship retains its privilege of ship canceled postage. We will let you know the result when we hear from the Naval History Library in Annapolis.
Continuing, with hopes that 1913 was the correct year-date, the 1900, 1910, and 1920 federal censuses were consulted. There were six persons in those federal censuses named Mary Meyer (2), Mary Meyers (3), and one Mary Meyur, but none of them were of an age to be a “Mrs.” in 1910 or 1920.
Now, worst of all, in 1900, 1910, and even today there is no Fay Street in Chicago. Nor is there a Fray, Tay, Ray, Day, or Tray street.
The message is fascinating, but it is unfair to assume that John Urlam, John Urlan, John Urban, or a “John” with any similar surname was someone from Chicago who was a neighbor of a Mrs. Mary M.
However, there was a John Urban on Blackhawk Street who owned a drug store. His son, John, Jr. is a very good candidate for being the sender. The handwriting on his draft registration card and the postcard is nearly identical. He too claimed to be a druggist, but he wasn’t a very smart one; he misspelled three words on his draft registration card. It was obvious that the sender of the card was not a scholar either – he misspelled friend, as in Dear freind.
It is a fact that John J. Urban, Jr., was a member of the military in 1913.
These are ordinary steps in a normal fact-check. So the biggest question yet is … should we assume all this to be Postcard History or do we have a very mysterious postcard that has all the human interest of an ancient mariner’s myth.
At the point when a decision to wait for clarification was made the coincidence of finding another postcard occurred at Postcard History. Editor, Ray Hahn found a postcard in a box of cards that apparently has not been touched in several decades.
While looking for something else, there it was – addressed to the mother of Ray’s Great Uncle Lou. The card is postmarked in Alexandra, Virginia, on October 9, 1910 – only three weeks (but, in the same year?) before the card I found in California. And, the card found in New Jersey shows the “Franklin” as a receiving ship instead of an in-service vessel.
PS: Dear Readers,
When answers are found to our question, a new post will be contributed to Postcard History, and the history of the USS Flagship Franklin will be presented with pride and joy!
Meanwhile, if you are a postcard history sleuth like Ray and I, try your hand at finding the history of the receiving ship, a Chicago street named “Fry,” or a cadet who knows how to spell.
Use this photo to know what you’re searching for.