Fred Vandewall was born on this day, August 16, 1879 in Wisconsin. He was the U.S. Customs Official here from early in the 1900’s to 1929 at least. He was also the Secretary for the Elks in 1915 and in 1923. His wife Florence was also from Wisconsin and they had one son Francis born here in 1908 and who moved to Grants Pass Oregon. Fred’s sister Hazel also lived here. The picture above is of the Skagway Customs Officials in 1906, so Fred may be in there somewhere, since Francis was born here shortly after. I’m not sure that they did not have more personnel working the customs station then we do now!
P.S. Happy Birthday to Buckwheat today also.
censuses; directories; 1936 newspaper article; World War One Registration;
That is an enormous flag! Wouldn’t it be cool to make an American flag quilt?
Odd that it is backwards, do you suppose the photo is reversed?