Earl Dawes Eddy, born in Illinois in 1885, provided wonderful provenance for this photo post card when he addressed it to his namesake, Earl Dawes Eddy, Jr., at their family home at 3730 South Bannock, Englewood Station, Denver, Colorado, with the following message: “Your Daddy on Duty.” Check out the buggy with “U.S. Mail.” painted on the side, the parcels stacked to Earl’s right, and the horse fitted out with a fly mask.
Earl married Minnie Belle Wolf in May 1907 in Bartley, Nebraska. Like Earl, she was born in 1855. They probably met in Nebraska, for the 1900 Census shows Eddy, at age 15, living with his mother and stepfather, A.J. Dodd, in Lincoln City, Nebraska, and Millie living with her parents, John and Katherine Wolf, in Indianola, Nebraska.
The earliest record I could find of Earl working as a mail carrier was the 1909 Denver city directory. By that point in time Earl and Minnie were parents of their first child, John. (They went on to have a daughter, Catherine, and two more sons, the aforementioned Earl, Jr., and Richard.) In 1911, Earl’s salary as a “city carrier” was $1,000 per year, or about 48 cents per hour A cursory review of union wages in Denver in 1911 indicates that this was a very good salary for that time. It’s interesting to note that $1,000 per year was the salary deemed fit for the postmaster general of the Thirteen Colonies by the Second Continental Congress on July 26, 1775.
In 1918, not long after this picture was taken, the Eddy family moved to Colmor, New Mexico (now a ghost town), where they had their own farm. It appears this did not work out, for by 1920 they had moved to Logan, Nebraska, where Earl worked on a farm.
Eddie died on Armistice Day, 1922, in Colfax County, New Mexico. He was 37. Colfax County is in the region of Colmor, where the Eddy’s had farmed in 1918. It’s not known whether they had all moved back there after their move to Logan, Nebraska in 1920. His burial site is unknown.
By 1930, Minnie, her four children and her widowed mother-in-law, Laura E. Dodd, were living in Pullman, Washington. The 1930 Census reports Minnie’s occupation as “Housekeeper” at a college, probably Washington State University (WSU), which is located in Pullman. John and Catherine, now 21 and 19 years of age, respectively, were listed as students, so perhaps they were attending WSU.
The 1940 Census showed Minnie and the four children living in Spokane, Washington. No occupation is reported for Minnie, but John, Catherine and Earl, Jr., have found work as a traveling salesman, junior stenographer and cook, respectively.
Minnie died in March 1962 in Seattle and is buried at Greenwood Memorial Terrace cemetery in Spokane.
REFERENCES:
- Find a Grave at https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/182834630
- Ghosttowns.com at https://www.ghosttowns.com/states/nm/colmor.html
- Haberkern/Killian Family Tree (www.ancestry.com)
- Nebraska Marriage Records, 1855-1908, for Earl D. Eddy (www.ancestry.com)
- “Official Register: Persons in the Civil, Military and Naval Service of the United States and Lists of Vessels,” 1911, Compiled by the Department of Commerce and Labor and Bureau of the Census, Google Books
- Union Scale of Wages and Hours of Labor, 1907 to 1912 : Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 131 at https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/3912/item/476865?start_page=68
- “The United States Postal Service, an American History, 1775 – 2006 at https://about.usps.com/publications/pub100.pdf
- U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 (www.ancestry.com)
- U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 for Earl Dawes Eddy (www.ancestry.com)
- 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930 and 1940 Censuses (www.ancestry.com)
