#52ancestors Post Twenty-Eight: Meet Me in Virginia Beach

The writing prompt this week for #52ancestors is travel. I thought I would share a postcard from my hometown, Virginia Beach, VA, where tourists travel each summer to spend time at the beach. 

This postcard depicts The Surf, Virginia Beach, Va. and was published by the Souvenir Post Card, Co. This company published postcards from 1905 to 1914. I love seeing the ropes in the water. We no longer see that in Virginia Beach. 

The hotel pictured is the Princess Anne Hotel. It opened in 1890 near the community of Seatack, not far from where I currently work. In 1907, the hotel was destroyed by fire.  

The postcard was sent on April 23, 1906, to Miss Bessie Allison of 2004 West Cary Street, Richmond, Virginia. It appears to have been sent by Dave J. Taylor. The only message, "Meet me there," is on the front of the card.

A search for Bessie Allison indicated that her full name was Elizabeth Price Allison.  She was born in 1880 in Kentucky and was working as a clerk at an insurance firm, in Richmond, Virginia, by 1904. She can be found in census records from 1880 to 1940. In 1940, she was unmarried, lived on West Grace Street in Richmond with her sister, and continued to work as a clerk at a life insurance company. 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page where you will see each post and other genealogical finds.  

Diana

© 2018

Sources

Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

"Postcard Publishers, Printers, and Distributors of Note." MetroPostcard List of Postcard Publishers S P3. Web. 18 Apr. 2015. <http://www.metropostcard.com/publisherss3.html>.

"PRINCESS ANNE HOTEL BURNS; Lives of Chambermaid and Steward Lost -- Manager Attempts Suicide." PRINCESS ANNE HOTEL BURNS. 11 June 1907. Web. 18 Apr. 2015. <http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9405E4DA133EE033A25752C1A9609C946697D6CF>.

"The Princess Anne Hotel, Virginia Beach, Va : Norfolk & Virginia Beach Railroad Company. [from Old Catalog] : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive." Internet Archive. Web. 18 Apr. 2015. <https://archive.org/details/princessannehote00norf>.

Year: 1880; Census Place: Forks of Elkhorn, Franklin, Kentucky; Roll: 414; Family History Film: 1254414; Page: 215D; Enumeration District: 073; Image: 0294

Year: 1900; Census Place: Tuckahoe, Henrico, Virginia; Roll: 1713; Page: 5B; Enumeration District: 0034; FHL microfilm: 1241713

Year: 1910; Census Place: Richmond Clay Ward, Richmond (Independent City), Virginia; Roll: T624_1644; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 0073; FHL microfilm: 1375657

Year: 1920; Census Place: Richmond Lee Ward, Richmond (Independent City), Virginia; Roll: T625_1910; Page: 19B; Enumeration District: 85; Image: 640

Year: 1930; Census Place: Richmond, Richmond (Independent City), Virginia; Roll: 2476; Page: 21A; Enumeration District: 0022; Image: 599.0; FHL microfilm: 2342210

Year: 1940; Census Place: Richmond, Richmond City, Virginia; Roll: T627_4324; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 118-157