John C. Bridgman was traveling through the West; he selected a postcard scene of the Colorado Rockies, wrote a message in Billings, Montana, and mailed the postcard from Butte.
The postcard was sent to his son, John C. Bridgman, Jr., who lived in Wilkes Barre, PA.
The face of the postcard shows, “Rocky Point, Colorado & Southern Railroad, South Park Div., Colorado”.
Rocky Point is a summit, southwest of Denver – it is a much-climbed peak today.
The Colorado & Southern Railroad was formed from independent lines that went bankrupt in 1898. The C&S was part of other mergers and acquisitions until becoming part of the Burlington Northern Railroad in 1993.
The postcard was published by Frank S. Thayer of Denver.
Mr. Bridgman seems to be an affectionate and doting father.
On the reverse, he writes to his son, “See where Daddy is going on the choo-choo cars”.
Mr. Bridgman adds, “I can see lots of moo-cows and sheep from the car windows”.
Mr. Bridgman promises, “I will come back pretty soon”.
The Bridgman family can be found on-line.
John Cloyes Bridgman was born in 1862.
He married Ethel Young Comstock who was born 17 years later, in 1879.
(This was a second marriage for John C. Bridgman – his first wife died sometime after giving birth to a daughter who died at age 3).
The couple, John and Ethel, had two sons, David Comstock Bridgman and John Cloyes Bridgman, Jr. (who received this postcard.)
Both boys were born in 1906, although they are not identified as twins.
John Jr. was three when he received the postcard.
Perhaps because he was an older father (43 when the boys were born) and perhaps because his first wife and daughter had died, John Bridgman Sr. seems to be a very loving Daddy.
Unfortunately, John Sr. died in 1917, when the sons were 11 years old.
David Comstock Bridgman, brother of John, Jr., died in 1928 at age 22.
John Jr. married Jane Augusta Hallerstadt on 24 November 1945, in Schuylkill, Pennsylvania, United States.
The couple lived in Hartford, Connecticut when John Jr. registered for military service in 1937.
He was not called up (probably, too old).
John Cloyes Bridgman, Jr. died in Waterbury, Connecticut in 1974.
The postcard was preserved in decent condition throughout his life.
