It's been a long time since I've dusted off this blog (a little silver polish, please!). Now, though, it's a new year, and I can begin with a new (fingers crossed!) resolve.
I spent a little time doing one of my favorite things: rumbling around in the past. Specifically, I went cruising through the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection, just trusting to serendipity. I ended up browsing a Boulder, Colorado, newspaper dated January 9, 1880. Boulder is one of those places I'd hoped to settle in at some point in my life, but oh well...
Now, here's something interesting. Want to know the price of real estate in Boulder, Colorado, in 1880? Dabney & Russell (Real Estate, Mining, Insurrance and Loan Agents) have the following listings:
- For Sale. A whole block in West Boulder on Pearl street, for $400.
- For Sale. 1/4 in one of the best paying mines in Colorado. Will take a team and houes and lot in Boulder in part payment. Will be sold at a bargain.
- For Sale. Three good brick houses with four rooms each. Situated on Front street, one for $850, one for $750, and one for $850. Part down, balance on long time at 10 per cent interest.
Further along in the issue, I found a "Code Summons No. 678," addressed to Catharine Kirk (defendant). I've pasted the item below, but basically hubby Francisco is saying he's had enough, thank you very much, and that the clock is now ticking to "dissolve the bonds of matrimony ... on the ground of abandonment and wilful absence for the space of more than one year."
One wonders: where was Catharine when this notice was printed? Did she ever see it? Did she respond? Just what is the story behind this Code Summons, set in teeny tiny type, on page 4 of the Boulder News and Courier, dated January 9, 1880?
I hope you'll join me at the blog on Monday, January 14 (2013, not 1880!), to welcome guest blogger and good friend, Camille Minichino, who will be posting about her newest Professor Sophie Knowles Mystery: A Function of Murder.
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4 comments:
All that material makes me think your books just write themselves, Ann ;) !
Ann, do you wish you had found the notice earlier so you could have had Inez do something similar? I can certainly see the three houses be a plot point as well...
Looking forward to your blog being more active this year--and hoping more Inez is coming?
Hi Camille! Ah, if only they did! :-) I'm glad I make it look "easy."
Hello Linda!
Actually, I found several similar notices when I was researching what Inez should/could do vis a vis a divorce from her missing (?) husband, Mark Stannert. She finally settled on taking the same tack--put a notice in several Colorado newspapers that she plans to sue for divorce on the grounds of desertion. So, I'm always intrigued to find other notices like it. Obviously, it wasn't just men who disappeared!
More Inez is coming... but slowly, I'm afraid. Still, it's a step-by-step, word-by-word process, so hang in there. And thanks for asking! :-)
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