1923 - 1924
Nathan Gardner
216 Mt Eden Ave., NY City
Born 1882; 5' 5"; WHT ML; 156 lbs; BLK eyes; BLK hair
Do you have a driver's license for your relative? This New York State driver's license belonged to my maternal grandfather, Nathaniel Gardner. Look at all the information it gives. Fortunately my grandmother saved this one & the one below. They were a bit of a surprise because I did not know they had a car. Nathaniel was NY City born and raised and I though he used public transportation only. He worked for the Western Union so perhaps he used a company car.
Read more about drivers' licenses and what you can learn from reading them. As early as 1910 NYS had photos on licenses. Read the New York Times article below.
1935
Nathan Gardner
2856 East 197 Street, Bronx
Born 21 July 1882; White male; 149 lbs; 5' 5"; black eyes; black hair
This one includes his signature.
That's really cool. I have a car registration card for a 1920 Model T owned by my Great-Great Grandfather. These little documents are some of my favorite types to find because they are so unique.
ReplyDeleteThat registration sounds wonderful. These little documents tell us a lot about our ancestors.
DeleteI hadn't thought about driver's licenses as a source of genealogical information, but you're right. I wonder if the same can be said of military ID cards and such. I need to check.
ReplyDeleteWendy, I'm not sure about military IDs. These licenses are tiny little documents with lots of information.
DeleteLove the signature on the second one - nice handwriting.
ReplyDeleteCharlie, Nathan had nice handwriting, probably because he worked for the Western Union. Sometimes when he wrote to his wife he actually used the dots & dashes of Morse Code.
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