If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 597

 

 

 

 

 

Schloss Nussdorf [Nussdorf Castle], near Vienna, Austria, 1910

 

This used vintage postcard that features black & white photos of Schloss Nussdorf is dated 16 XII (Dec) 1910.  It has a divided back, a written message and a stamp with the profile image of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria.  This stamp design was issued 1908 to 1910. 

 

 

 

The card was mailed to Miss Selma Schricker of Davenport, Iowa.  The message is “Since the end of November I am staying with my sister here and I am enjoying the country live [life] on leave.  On the 1 Nov. I arrived in Vienna from the East then I went to Pola [Austria] and then I [extended?] for 3 months leave.  How are you and what are you doing?  I wish you a Merry Xmas and I hope that you are healthy and happy.  Yours sincerely with best greetings, A. Dolene"  And on the front of the card is written:  "my present address is:  Schloss Nussdorf, Prestranek Krain. .. I will be here till the ei[ghth] of February.”

 

I am often curious about the people who sent and received these old cards.  When I looked for Selma Schricker on the U.S. census records, 1880-1930, I discovered that she was a single woman, not employed, but enjoying a life of independent means, who had one to three servants depending on the year.  She was born in 1880 and died in 1931.  She was the youngest daughter of lumber baron, Lorenzo Schricker.  Her father was married three times and had a total of 9 children.  One of Selma’s sisters, Harriet, married Frank Dvorak, “a captain of the marines.”  The Dvoraks lived in Vienna, Austria.  Harriet died in 1912 in Vienna, just two years after this card was send to Selma.  Another sister, Ottillie Von Pietruska of Pola, Austria is also mentioned in the obituary for Harriet.  It is not possible to track all the places this card may have traveled or whether A. Dolene was a friend or relative; however, a brother, William Schricker, lived in LaConner, Washington, which may be partly why this card ended up in a jumble box of postcards at a Seattle antique mall.  Selma’s father, Lorenzo Schricker, was born in Bavaria. 

 

 

Selma Schricker House

[Photo:  Wikipedia]

 

Selma’s house, known as the “Selma Schricker House,” in Davenport, Iowa, is on the National Register of Historic Places.  It is a Georgian Revival style house.  The house was designed by Clausen & Burrows, a prominent Davenport architectural firm of the time, and built in 1902, about 4 years after Selma's mother died.  Selma never married and died in this house in 1931 at the age of 50.  She was known for her love of flowers, her beautiful gardens, and her charitable work.  After her death, the house was purchased as the official residence of the bishop of the Diocese of Davenport in 1933.  The diocese sold it in 1996 and in 2000 the new private owners did extensive restoration work on the house. 

 

 

Selma Schricker, ca 1900

[Google image; photo also found on the Scott Count Historic Preservation Society Newsletter, October 2013]

 

A Google Search of her name pulled up a couple of pictures of her when she looks to be about 20 years old or around 1900.  The above photograph of her can be found on the cover of the Scott County Historic Preservation Society Newsletter, October 2013.  Another picture, with a different pose, was taken at the same time and is found in the book “Scott County Cemeteries,” published by Arcadia Publishing, 2011.  The Davenport Public Library has a brief obituary with a picture of Selma taken when she was older. 

 

It may be a coincidence but, Selma’s father, Lorenzo Schricker, was born in Bavaria.   Nussdorf, where the writer of the postcard message is staying in 1910, is identified as located in Central Bavaria. It sits on both banks of the Nussbach, where the brook meets the Danube Canal.  The name of the town is thought to have come from the numerous nut trees and hazelnut shrubs that grew in the area.  It was a separate municipality until 1892.  Today it is a suburb of Vienna. 

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nussdorf,_Vienna

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selma_Schricker_House

Ancestry.com  [Lorenzo Schricker]

Ancestry.com [Selma Schricker]

The Daily Times [Davenport, Iowa] obituary for Harriet Schricker Dvorak

http://www.arcadiapublishing.com/.../Scott-County-Cemeteries

http://www.umvphotoarchive.org/digital/collection/scdpl/id/2700/