Thunder Butte

March 04, 2010

Lemmon Family's Baby Book For Sale on Ebay

Are there any relatives of Lemmon's Wilbert "Billy" Tubbs out there? Billy's baby book from 1912 is for sale on Ebay, which somehow seems a sad and tragic end for the treasured memories and photos of a loved one. According to the seller:

"Wilbert (Billy) Alfred Tubbs... was born on August 26, 1912 in the town of Lemmon, South Dakota. Billy's parents were Alfred S. Tubbs and Helen Catherine (Meagly/Meagley) Tubbs. Alfred was well known in the community being the President of the State-Line Land Company and was also the deputy state surveyor. There is a record of his "Holy Baptism" in the Trinity Church in Lemmon on July 27th, 1913. There are quite a few photographs... of him in the early years of his childhood. It looks like there is one with a grandma holding him, a few with mom holding him, one shows mom? getting ready to bathe him in a sink, one with dad? sitting next to him with a cute hat on, a photo of their house from a distance, him with a cute smile as mom is kissing his head, him standing by a table with a little stuffed dog on it, standing by their front door as mom holds his hand over the rail, there is a neat one with him sitting next to a friend at a later age holding a football and a dog next to them, a group of his friends/playmates, him in a field with a football standing by a friend and a dog, him on a horse as well. There are a few letters written to him including a unique tall skinny envelope that appears to be of Japanese origin with neat thin paper that the letter was written on with a neat Japanese scene on it. There is a small "family tree" diagram on one page showing his line from his mom and dad. There are several other informational pages that tell about events in his early years."

This Tubbs family baby book is for sale on Ebay right now, here, and my fervent hope is that someone from Billy's family will rescue the book for the family.

Update -- I contacted the seller on Ebay and offered a nominal fee in an attempt to buy the book and reconnect it with the family, but was turned down. The seller is asking for $130. Nice money if you can get it, I guess. Frankly, though, I think it is a sad thing for things like this, veritable family heirlooms, to fall out of the hands of families. I'm sure that Billy Tubbs descendants, if he has any -- or cousins for that matter -- would appreciate having this bit of family history.

--Mike Crowley

Editor's Note--Other than finding this baby book on Ebay, I have no relationship to the buyer and don't know anything about why this book is being sold.
Mike Crowley Thursday, March 04, 2010 | (3) comments |