Taft & Fellows

Recently picked up this hook that hails from Southwest of Metro-Bakofeel.


Taft and Fellows basically sprang up around the oil industry in the early 1900s.

from:
HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified
With Its Growth and Development From the Early Days to the Present

HISTORY BY WALLACE M. MORGAN
ILLUSTRATED
COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME
publisher:
HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
1914
Fellows first appeared on the map as a railroad terminal in 1908, when the Sunset Western railroad was extended from Pentland Junction, near Maricopa, to the northern portion of the Midway field. Nothing but a growing or diminishing pile of lumber and oil well supplies marked the spot, however, until the revival of interest in oil development in 1909 began to make it an important point for the unloading of supplies for the oil companies that began about that time to venture out into the upper part of the Midway valley. Then the Santa Fe Railroad, operating large oil properties in North Midway as the Chanslor-Canfield Oil Company, established headquarters at Fellows and made the place noteworthy by sparing enough of its expensively obtained domestic water to grow a row of Cottonwood trees on the barren mesa. As the field developed Fellows became a modest trading point. James & Dooley established the first store in the place in 1910. Lawton & Blanck followed soon after with a similar establishment, in which was located the post office, and by the beginning of 1911 Fellows boasted two stores, a drug store, a billiard room, a livery stable and a liberal supply of saloons.

A set of 5 hooks I picked up in October at an Antique Show

From Tucson to San Francisco to Sacramento ...

Wolf & Davidson's Chicago Shoe Store, San Diego

Both sides of this elongated oval hook. No end to the various designs and configurations with these utilitarian objects.

A couple hooks from Texas

A hook from John Mertel Shoe Store McLean, Texas (sorry for the blurry picture); this was from an unbid lot of 10 hooks on ebay. I emailed the seller and asked if he'd be interested in selling just the one.



Here is one from W.T. Read Mercantile Co. Pecos, Texas:

New Mexico Ghost Town hook

I recently won this on ebay. From San Marcial, New Mexico a ghost town.
From Google Books:
New Mexican History

EDITED, COMPILED AND ANNOTATED BY

RALPH EMERSON TWITCHELL, Esq.

VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF NEW MEXICO.
AUTHOR OF "THE MILITARY OCCUPATION OF NEW MEXICO.
1846-1851." "THE SPANISH ARCHIVES OF NEW MEXICO."

VOL. IV
ILLUSTRATED

THE TORCH PRESS
CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA
1917
E. GRANDJEAN

E. Grandjean, manager of the San Marcial Mercantile Company, was born in Switzerland, September 13, 1866, a son of L. J. and Mary Grandjean, both of whom are now deceased. In the schools of his native country he pursued his education and when sixteen years of age left home to start upon an independent career, since which time he has made his way in the world unaided. Through the passing years he has been identified with New Mexico and hei interests. He first located at Paraje, where he secured a clerkship, there remaining for ten years. In 1892 he removed to Cuchillo, where he spent ten years, and during the succeeding four years he was engaged in business on his own account in Paraje. On the expiration of that period he sold out and removed to San Marciat, where he opened a general mercantile store, which he has since conducted. The business has grown along substantial lines and he now has a store which would be a credit and an attractive mercantile feature in the business circles of a much larger city. He carries a large line of goods and employs six sales people.

In 1906 Mr. Grandjean was married to Miss May Leseemann and to them have been born three children, Mercella, Emil J., and George V. The religious faith of the family is that of the Methodist church and Mr. Grandjean also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He supports the republican party and there is no call upon him for public-spirited citizenship that does not find a ready response, his aid and cooperation being salient features in all those movements which work for the benefit of city and state.