1893 Cover

I know next to nothing about covers and only have a couple, but this one struck me as interesting because of the Train Late marking on the reverse. This one came to me from one of my great-aunts, whose father was known as the family pack-rat (before I took over that particular prize!).

I wish I could see a clear date on the Philadelphia postmark, but if the 12/1/93 was the date that Mr. Bonsall received the letter, it seems to have taken a few days to get to him after that Late stamp was applied on 11/25. Were those Late marks applied when the PO received the mail or when the train finally arrived? In 1893, the 25th was a Saturday and Thanksgiving was the following Thursday, but that still seems like a long delay.

The "Train Late" stamps are a good addition to a cover. It's just funny that it happened enough to create a Hand or Machine stamp for it.

The Chicago machine markings are "Mail Delayed ..." from Barry Postal Supply Co. model HK5, "Received" from American Stodard Machines model B22.

As to the originally posted cover showing a return address from 3410 Baring St., Philadelphia, this is what the sender's home looked like:

http://poweltonvillage.org/interact...10baring.htm

As to the addressee, I didn't yet find W. L. Bonsall, but in that it was addressed "in care of" Major Bonsall (a/k/a Major William Hartshorn Bonsall) I found several pieces of information on him in his capacity as a Civil War Veteran and one-time acting Mayor of Los Angeles and President of the Los Angeles City Council from 1893-1895:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willia...horn_Bonsall

Here's his burial information and Civil War biography:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/f...Rid=73656950

That might be the date of Bonsall's reply.

Wt1, that's neat info on the Major - the Bonsall family are related to me, though indirectly, so I do know a bit about them. W. L. (William Lewis) was living in a tuberculosis sanitarium in the L.A. area and died the year after this letter was written. W. L. was only 22 when he died. I believe the letter was probably from the family doctor back east, which fits with the info you found about the Baring Street house. The Major and William Lewis were cousins, but I don't know the exact relationship. The Major would have probably been the only relative on the West Coast as the rest of the family were in the Philadelphia area.