Born 1895 in Ipswich England, my Great Aunt Winifred Alice "Winnie" Pinborough met a tragic death in 1925 at the young age of 30. I learned of her tragic drowning a number of years ago and became curious about her life but found there was very little information available. Lucky for me, hiding in my father's garage amongst my grandmother's old things were a handful of yearbooks, letters and photos that offer small glimpse into her life.
"Dear Hilda, Don't you agree with me that this is immensely well worth seeing? We are leaving this afternoon to camp for a week at Fremont Lake. Love, Winifred"
The date is faint on the postcard but in person I can make out the 1924. I was lucky on this one as dating some of these real photo postcards that don't have a postmark can be a challenge. The stamp box is always your best clue. The best resource I've found is Playle.com Real Photo Postcard Stamp Boxes reference pages. They have images of stamp boxes from A to Z as well as unknown manufacturers you can visually sort through to find a match.
If I had time and money to spare, I'd visit all the locations on these old real photo postcards and take a new photo to see how the location has changed. But since I don't, sometimes a virtual visit is the best. The comparison below is not from the same vantage point but seems to be pretty close. I found the image on Pinedale Wyoming's Tourism Website and learned that the "towering Wind River Range has over 1,300 lakes, forests, rivers, wilderness & wildlife." I can see why Winifred would have enjoyed the calm of this beautiful region.
Stay tuned for more on Winifred in the coming months.
