Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Phil Roper with Team and Wagon

PhilRoperwagon
(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.


Notes on the back of the original read: "Philip Roper mail carrier/Phil Roper dairy wagon." Whether he used this wagon for both purposes, I don't know. There is no date on the photo. <> Along the Route (Ballantyne and Adams) mentions Philip Roper as a mail carrier during the time that Harry Carlson was postmaster (1929 – 1933); I wonder whether rural mail was still being delivered by horse-drawn wagon at that late date.

Notice the long fringes on the horses' harness. What a fancy get-up, just to deliver the mail or the milk.

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Here is Philip Roper Sr.'s obituary, from the Hobart Gazette of October 11, 1918. (I think it was Philip Jr. who carried mail.)

9-7-2011 Phil Roper obit
(Click on image to enlarge)

1 comment:

SuziEmig said...

I believe that the fringe covers were to keep flies at bay...my g'pa Carbine worked for Roper and Brown...I have a picture of him and the horse drawn wagon, circa maybe 1910?. I graduated HHS, class of '65 with a Louis Roper who I believe is a direct decendant of this family. Don't know if he is still in the area.