Whatever Happened to Hazel Vera Holbrook

This card has always given me such a laugh because of the message:

Dear Brother -  Wishing you a Happy Birthday and many more to come. Your sister (Hazel Vera)

(Wish I could see you just one minute. Maybe I wouldn't blister you.)

On a lark, I decided to search the name of Rexford E. Holbrook. I don't do this very often, because before you know it you're researching other people's genealogy and there's no end.  Interestingly enough, I found Hazel Vera before I found Rexford. Hazel was born in June, 1901, so she was 14 when she wrote this to her 7 year-old brother.  But what's so very tragic is that Hazel Vera died on September 28, 1915, only a month after writing this. I have no idea what happened, but I'm glad that Hazel's memory lives on through this card.

Rexford lived longer. I don't know when he died, but he did get married. He and Hazel are both buried in the North Volney Cemetery in Oswego County, New York. Here's the information posted on rootsweb:

HOLBROOK, HAZEL V.   lot 34
1901   1915
Born:  June 3, 1901  Palermo, NY
Died:  September 28, 1915
Father:  Ephraim L. Holbrook
Mother:  Bertha Curtis
(Vital Records Fulton)

Update: For the sad details of what happened to Hazel Vera, see Chris' comment below.

Venice, California

I think the spectators must be waiting for someone to climb to the platform and dive off? Venice, California is still a spectacle, though of a different kind.

The message on this card to Mrs. Noah Webster, sent in 1906, reads:

Ocean Park, Cal July 2

Dear Friend-

Are you still in the world of the living? And are you still willing to have a visit from me. I may come your way pretty soon now. Can I hear from you again?

Don't get all excited; the recipient of the card is not the wife of the Noah Webster of Webster's Dictionary, unless she was somehow able to outlive him by more than 60 years. However, it is conceivable that this Noah Webster was a descendant of the earlier one.

If you are confused by the differences between British and American spelling, you can blame the earlier Noah Webster.  He thought it would be a good idea to simplify spelling and, among other things, take the "u" out of colour and humour.  Although these spelling changes stayed with us, his suggested spelling for tongue (tung) did not.

Rouen, France

Three lovely views of a beautiful city.
Rouen is the capital of Upper Normandy and has a population of about 110,000. These pictures date from around 1905, long before the city was heavily damaged at the end of World War II, and long after Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in Rouen (May 30, 1431.)