FREDERICKTOWN — Meet Orin Bishop. He’s the writer of the 1913 postcard featured in a previous History Knox column.
The text of the card told us only that it was sent to Galen Bishop in Columbus from the family home near Fredericktown. Clues in the message allowed readers to puzzle out the location of the house, which still stands today on Ohio 95 west of Fredericktown, and further information about the Bishop family.
Now Brenda Bishop Litt, a great-granddaughter of Orin, has contacted us with a couple of family pictures, including one which shows the house in the background, confirming the identification. Her grandfather was Hoy, mentioned in the postcard text. Brenda tells us that Hoy’s sister Mollie (which was Mary’s nickname) was married to Ray McDonald.
Galen, the receiver of the postcard is in both photos, though Brenda isn’t sure which is Galen or his brother Dell (see photo captions). She remembers a little about Dell.
“Dell used to live on High Street in Fredericktown and dabbled in the stock market,” Brenda wrote. “He would walk to the train station every day to get the Columbus Dispatch. His wife was Annie. They had an ivory elephant that sat on their mantel that I just adored.”
She added that Galen and his wife would come up to visit from Columbus by taking the train into town.
It’s a joy to see the correspondents of the postcard from over a century ago. As much as this world has changed, they’d still recognize the family home.
