A Comic Postcard to Walter. – Elkhorn, Wisconsin (1906)

This is another light- hearted postcard that has a sorrowful aftermath.

In April of 1906, Walter Dunbar was farming in Elkhorn, Wisconsin.

(Elkhorn is a city in southern Wisconsin, 40 miles southwest of Milwaukee and near the border of Michigan.)

I don’t know whether or not Walter was losing his hair, or if the sender in Aberdeen, South Dakota thought simply that this was an amusing souvenir of the town.

The postcard, featuring a bald man about to get a haircut, was probably printed in Aberdeen.

It is a generic card to which the name of the city has been applied.

The words “Souvenir of Aberdeen, S. Dak.” are printed on the face.

The sender’s name is not inscribed on the card, but we may assume that Walter knew who was writing to him from that place, 600 miles to the northwest.

The sadness of this story comes from searching for Walter.

In October of 1908, Walter was married to his sweetheart, Ruth Mary Rouse.

The happy couple first set up housekeeping on the Dunbar farm , and then moved onto another farm.

In 1909, Ruth and Walter had a baby boy.

The mother never recovered fully from childbirth, and died unexpectedly in June of 1910.

Ruth was 23 years old, her parents and a sister and two brothers survived her in addition to Walter and the baby.

I cannot find more information about Walter, but I feel sorrow for him, even after a hundred and eleven years.