[QUOTE=ethereal_reality;7842085]I love trees too Cyndi.
Here's another 'mystery' home.
L.A. Cal, Nov 25th 1907
http://www.ebay.com/itm/RP-Los-Angel...UAAOSwhvFZDN3P
On the reverse, Chas. tells how he's 'flying' swallows 60 miles from Riverside back to Los Angeles. (I'm familiar with carrier pigeons...but racing swallows(?)
reverse
If Charles (Chas) happened to be a Bartels (like the addressee) he lived at 248 S. Avenue 20 in 1907.
I found a Charles Bartels in both the 1906 and 1907 directories
lapl
this directory lists his occupation as harnessmaker.
lapl
It's a long shot Charles is a Bartels, but if
oldstuff could trace his roots back to Wisconsin we might have the right man.
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There is a Charles Bartels in the 1870 Census, living in a family in Milwaukee with a William Bartels who is his younger brother (they are two years apart). Charles was born in Prussia and William in Wisconsin. The postcard is addressed to Dr. William F. Bartels. In 1900 William is an "apprentice dentist". They live on National in Milwaukee. They could be brothers, but Chas addresses him as "friend Will" so maybe not. Not really very much help.
As to the swallows, I don't think he is racing them, just breeding them. He says he "also started to fly homers" which are probably pidgeons. Swallows, as we know from the ones which return to Capistrano each year, are migratory birds