Found on eBay

First, I want to thank everyone that commented on the previous entry. Your suggestions and support are very important to me. Thank you Junyah, for the links and information on how to follow up with the Veterans Administration. I will be following up on the matter of the missing gravestones - time will tell what results I have.

While searching the Internet for old pictures of seashore, I found this postcard listed on eBay. Imagine my suprise when I saw the name of the publisher. I might not of even noticed or recognised it, except that I had just oh-so-recently learned who the man was...




Boardwalk
Location: Wildwood, N.J.
Maker: Geo. E. Mousley, Phila, Pa. Made in USA
Postmarked: Yes
Stamp: Yes
Year: 1910
Size: 3 1/2" x 5 1/2"
George Edward Mousley was a "cousin" of mine. He was born in Philadelphia, PA in 1862 and died in 1940 and is buried in Camden, NJ.

George's father came to the United States around 1845 with his father Joseph and brother Charles. The elder George is the one that went on the fishing trips with my g-g-g-father Charles that I wrote about (here).

George's father, George owned a stationary business in the heart of the Philadelphia business district. Young George however decided to branch out and start his own business so, at the age of 21, he opened up an importer, wholesaler, and retail shop selling stationary, toys, and fireworks on Germantown Avenue in what is now the "Northern Liberties" section of town (just north of center city).

His lasting claim to fame was his postcards and toys. Geo. E. Mousley, Inc. was the first to sell prepackaged Christmas Stockings filled with toys. Business was very good, and George opened a manufacturing plant in Camden, NJ and moved across the Delaware River.


1950 Vintage Toy Pony Made by Geo. E. Mousley
When George died, the business was sold to a firm from New York, and it later moved to West Warwick, Rhode Island.


Many items, such as the Lassie "Trick Trainer" toy shown above, and "Pitch to Mickey Mantle" were made by George E. Mousley, Inc. (later known as G. E. M.)

The Lassie Trick Trainer toy was actually a set of items that a young boy or girl could use to train their dog. Lassie was first introduced in a best selling novel in 1938. She then appeared on the silver screen, went on to radio productions and finally moved on to that newfangled gadget called the television. In 1954, the Campbell’s Soup Company also of Camden, NJ, sponsored "The Lassie Show". Campbell’s was commercially involved with The Howdy Doody Show and the Mickey Mouse Club, but found a real winner with Lassie. Ultimately 35 million viewers sat before the television set on Sunday evenings watching the adventures of Lassie and having warm thoughts about Campbell’s soups and wonder if their own dogs could be trained to be just like Lassie.

In the Pitch to Mickey game, kids would try to improve their hand-eye coordination skills by trying to throw a ball into one of the four circles on the Mickey Mantle game board. Three of the four holes were outs and one of the holes scored a home rum. The playing board featured a nice photo of Mickey batting left-handed with an airbrushed Yankee pinstriped uniform. This game dates back to the early 1960s.

George had an uncle whose family ran several hotels in Wildwood, NJ named the Rosemont, the New Rosemont, and the Delwyn. I'm still checking, but I believe one of those hotels is shown in the postcard I found on eBay.

I think there will be some more interesting (to me at least) stories of the relatives. I know there was one that successfully raced wooden boats on the Saint Lawrence River and lived in Miami... I might investigate his story next.