Curiosities
Indulge me one last post about my newly "discovered" pictures from my grandmother's memorial. Two of the pictures I apparently took (because I have no recollection of taking them) were evidently taken for entertainment value. The one above is of a Person of Short Stature who is looking mighty dapper. On the back of the photo, which I will tag on at the end of this post, written in pencil it says, Mayor Oug; age 44 yrs; height 39 in; weight 73 lbs; residence Wapello, Iowa.
Note I'm not 100% certain is says Mayor Oug or Mayor Aug or perhaps something else entirely. I could be reading it wrong and it could be saying Mayor and then the next word is just the common abbreviation for August (Aug). If you have an opinion, please feel free to share it. I have searched for both combinations as well as the words dwarf mayor in the newspapers of the time and haven't been able to come up with an article explaining things. I'm not even sure "dwarf" was the word of choice back then and used other words as well but came up empty. I think it would be quite interesting to read more about a Little Person Mayor of a rural Iowa town.
This one doesn't have any writing on the back and is more self explanatory. It obviously shows a prison of the era and perhaps a young prisoner pausing from cleaning duties to mug for the camera. Similar shots of modern prisons don't look much different after all these years though the walkways and railings are more substantial than in this photo.
Anyway, I found both photos amusing and thought I would share. Above is the back of the top photo of the Little Person.
The picture reminds my of my uncle who wasn't quite 5' tall.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I can recall, you definitely didn't inherit any short gene. I'm not sure who would be the shortest in my family. Perhaps one of my maternal great grandmothers who was probably a little over five feet tall but not by much. However, I'm going off what I remember as a pre-teen. I'm quite a bit taller now.
DeleteInteresting, Ed. I love these little snippets of often non-recorded life.
ReplyDeleteI do too which I'm sure is why I took those photos. There was a huge table piled high full of books and I only got to see a tiny fraction of them sadly.
DeleteVery interesting old photo. I enjoyed seeing both of them.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you enjoyed them. They certainly entertained me.
DeleteHmm, I'm not sure, but does the mayor look Asian to you? That would have been unusual in those times but one never knows.
ReplyDeleteI can see how you might think that and I agree, it would have been very unusual at the time, especially being a mayor.
DeleteSee my comment to Steve below. I found him and he is listed as white so there isn't any Asian in him. But the last name leaves me wondering where it came from. His parents were native to Ohio.
DeleteI think his name may be Major Oug. Check this out:
ReplyDeletehttps://fortepanstage.uni.edu/categories/photos/FI0015691
If you hit the little information icon at lower right of the photo, it gives the caption. Looks like your photo was taken 15 years after the one shown at that link.
I think you are onto something Steve. Burlington isn't far from Wapello, only 30 miles. Also now that you say something, it does look like Major and not Mayor. I'm off to do some more searching!
DeleteFound him Steve! Major Edwin Foster Ong born and died in Wapello, Iowa. I will have a more lengthy write-up on him tomorrow.
DeleteDapper is certainly the right descriptive word! Is that prison facility three stories or am I looking at it wrong?
ReplyDeleteIt looks at least three stories high to me too so I think you aren't looking at it wrong. The walkways though don't look like they were built with any safety in mind!
DeleteNeat pictures!
ReplyDelete