Posts Tagged ‘George Gardner’

Flag Mystery Solved

July 11, 2009

Thanks to a local internet trunk being out of service, this blog is posted late. Is being dependent on modern technology wonderful? A second proof arrived for Oklahoma’s Carlisle Indian School Immortals and it will be accepted. That means books will be printed soon. This brings us to the next book in the series, Wisconsin’s Carlisle Indian School Immortals.

Relatives of Chauncey Archiquette contacted me after seeing the message about the pristine 1897 Carlisle-Cincinnati game program. Chauncey wasn’t included in Doctors, Lawyers, Indian Chiefs because I had little information on him at the time and because, at 160,000 words, the book was running long. Now that I am doing a book on Wisconsin stars, of which there were many, there should be room for him and some others such as Wilson Charles and Wallace Denny.

Here is an update on the flag in the band photo that was discussed in the previous message. Richard Tritt, photocurator at Cumberland County Historical Society, researched the photo and found the following:

I found the photo in our collection, but only in school publications and in postcards. It appears as a large full page photo in the CARLISLE ARROW, July 27, 1906. There is no story. It appears again with a story about the band being at an event in the CARLISLE ARROW of Jan. 31, 1908. The same photo was used on a postcard that was issued prior to Feb. 28, 1907. It is printed on an undivided back postcard, thus the date. After that date postcards were divided on the back. Even with the best of the four copies that I have, the stars on the flag can’t be counted. The top row of the stars is hidden by the leaves in the tree. We do know that it had to have been taken before July 27, 1906. The 1908 written on the copy that she had is probably because her copy was taken from the 1908 issue of the ARROW.

So, the flag wouldn’t have been a 1908 flag because the photo was taken prior to July 27, 1906. George Gardner’s great grandson is right. This is surely not a 1908 flag.

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Posted in Carlisle Indian School, Doctors, Lawyers, Indian Chiefs, Publishing | 3 Comments »

1908 Flag Mystery

July 8, 2009

George Gardner’s granddaughter sent me a scan of a photo of the 1908 Carlisle Indian School band. George’s brother, William, was better known than George due to his exploits on the football field, the sidelines and alongside Eliot Ness. However, George was quite active at Carlisle and also played on the football team. In the photo below, he is in the second row from the top, third from the left.

George’s great-grandson doesn’t think the flag in the photo is a 1908 flag. My eyes aren’t good enough to determine whether it is or not. On Saturday, November 16, 1908 the areas that had previously been known as Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory were admitted into the union as our 46th state. The flag necessarily changed as a result because a star was added.

Below are images of the 45-star flag that was used from 1896 to 1908 and the flag that was used from 1908 to 1912. My eyes aren’t good enough to determine which is in the photo, so I did a little detective work. This photo appeared on the front page of the January 31, 1908 edition of Carlisle’s school newspaper, The Arrow. The photo does not appear to have been taken in the winter. The photo had to have been taken before January 31, 1908 and in good weather. Therefore, it was likely taken when the flag had only 45 stars.

Perhaps someone with sharper eyes or a higher resolution photo can prove me wrong. Keep in mind that US flags never expire. It is always proper to display an older version of the flag provided it is in good shape.

 carlisle band 1908

US Flag 1896-1908

us-1896

US Flag 1908-1912

us-1908

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100th Post

February 23, 2009

After posting the most recent message I noticed that it was the 100th one since the inception of the blog last March. That means that if you’ve read each and every message, you have read 30,000 words (100 messages X ~300 words each) in a little less than a year. On March 7th it will be a year. Something else just happened – minor brag alert – Doctors, Lawyers, Indian Chiefs was selected as a Finalist for the Reader Views 2008 Literary Awards in the Biography category. The most rewarding thing about blogging is that relatives of Carlisle Indian School students sometimes become aware that some information about their ancestors is available. For instance, last week someone asked about George Gardner, the brother of William Gardner. I didn’t have much on him but I was able to point the person to places that likely do have records and photos. Over the weekend I was looking for something in John S. Steckbeck’s Fabulous Redmen and opened the book to page 38. Opposite page 38 is a page full of player photos. In the upper right corner standing next to Wauseka is G. Gardner. That has to be George. I will tag this message with his name so that people searching for him stand a better chance of finding this. If you want to communicate with me privately, email me at Tom@Tuxedo-Press.com. I don’t post emails on the blog without prior permission. Sometimes I don’t post comments if they seem too personal in nature. This blog has helped some long-lost family members to get in touch with each other. That has been the most rewarding part of this endeavor. Now it’s back to working on my upcoming release, “Oklahoma’s Carlisle Indian School Immortals,” the first of a series that should be of interest to children as well as adults.

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