Early 1900s Call Album - page 45

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Sometime in about 1904, someone in my grandmother Evelyn Clara Call's (1895-1962) family started taking photographs and placing them in an album. My grandmother was nine in 1904, so she could have been the photographer. Or it could have been one of her parents Charles Joslin Call (1859-1939) or Elizabeth Ann (Coe) Call (1861-1956). Most of the early photographs are of family gatherings and places someone visited. I believe by about 1911, my grandmother was taking the photographs. There are photos of her classmates at Batavia High School and groups of teenage girls. 

The Call family live in Stafford, Genesee County, New York. They had a cottage at Silver Lake in Wyoming County. So many of the photos were taken in these locations. 

Photos on the this page are related to Wichita, Sedgewick County, Kansas! 


My grandmother, Evelyn Clara Call, was born in Wichita, Kansas, as were two of her siblings. Her parents, Charles Joslin Call and Elizabeth Ann Coe, moved west around 1888, and back to Stafford in 1895. One of Elizabeth's sister, Clara Addie Coe, and her husband, James Daniel McEwen, lived in Wichita until their deaths in 1950 and 1901 (James). The photographs on the page were likely sent back to family in Stafford. 

Friends University Basketball Team, 1911-1912

According to a version of this photo printed in the Wichita Eagle newspaper on 30 January 1912, Harold McEwen was a member of the Friends University Basketball Team. The people in the photo were identified as Alfred Glover (forward), Carl Gerstenberger (guard), Charles Brazil (center), Roy Salsbury (forward), Harold McEwen (guard), Kyle Trueblood (forward) and G.C. Hawk (coach). It the names in the caption are in the same order as the men in the photo, Harold McEwen is third from the right. [1] 

Harold Daniel McEwen, son of James Daniel McEwen (1861-1901) and Clara Addie Coe (1864-1950) was born 27 May 1892 in Wichita, Sedgewick County, Kansas. He married Evelyn M Rorabaugh (1896-1972) daughter of Anson O. Rorabaugh (1863-1936) and Ollie Genevieve Fauble (1868-1925) on 12 November 1921 in Wichita. Harold died 8 December 1963 in Dallas, Dallas County, Texas.   



May Day, 1911, Wichita, Kansas

While the photograph is labeled as 1911, the scene looks more like one described as taking place at Friends University in 1912, when the first May Day Queen was crowned.  "Miss Hazel Brewer, as the May-day queen, came next under a canopy of yellow and white which was borne by James Stewart, Carl Gerstenberger, James Davis and Leroy Salsbury. Miss Brewer was charming in a white mesaline en train and trimmed in pearls. Her train bearers were little four-year-old Edwin Phillips and Louise Brewer. The senior girls in caps and gowns added a dignity to the procession. They were followed by thirty girls in white." [2] During the festivities, 8 young women and 8 young men wound a maypole with scarlet and grey ribbons as they waltzed to "Ciribiribum' played by a five person orchestra. Harold McEwen, Carl Getrsenberger,Charles Brazil and Leroy Salisbury all participated in the maypole dance. [3] A track meet was held later in the day, where McEwen (presumably Harold) placed first in the 100 yard dash with a time of 11 seconds. [4]


Notes:
 [1] "Friends University Basketball Team," The Wichita Eagle (Kansas), 30 January 1912, page 7 column 2; image, Newspapers.com  (https://www.newspapers.com/image/63728242/ : accessed 15 October 2025.

[2] "May Day Queen Saw Gym Drills," The Wichita Beacon  (Kansas), 1 May 1912, page 6, column 1; image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/76863404/ : accessed 15 October 2025

[3] "Winding of May Pole," The Wichita Beacon (Kansas), 30 April 1912, page 9, column 1; image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/76648006/ : accessed 15 October 2025). 

[4]  "Freshmen Lead in Track Meet," University Life (Wichita, Kansas), 3 May 1912, page 1, column 2; image, Newspapers.com  (https://www.newspapers.com/image/419124362/ : accessed 15 October 2025. 


All the photos on the page have been digitally enhanced.
Location: Wichita, KS, USA

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