A beautiful piece in my collection is an advertising cover from the A. M. Ordway company of Hagerstown, Maryland. While I primarily feature musical stamps on this blog with some of my thoughts and research, I also like to feature other pieces from my collection. On this blog, you can find previous articles about a 1797 stampless letter, an 1845 stampless cover, and a Chickering piano company advertising cover. This post features the decorative Ordway advertising cover.
The Cover
The cover has a wonderfully detailed printed decoration that covers about half of the envelope. This features a fantastic display of instruments: a piano, reed organ, cello, mandolin, trombone, bugle, and a clarinet. In addition, there are musical accessories, a music stand, sheet music, a violin case, and a piano stool. A large banner reads: A. M. Ordway. The cover also says the city where the company is located, Hagestown, MD. There are also products listed: “Piano-Fortes,” “Organs,” and “Musical Instruments of all Kinds.”
In the upper right corner is a two-cent pink stamp featuring George Washington. This definitive issue was in circulation from 1897 until 1903. The cover has a clearly legible cancel from Hagestown, MD, dated May 4, 2 PM, 1898. Finally, written in a beautiful script is the addressee, Mrs. Dora M. Lancaster, Williamsport, Md. Williamsport is approximately eight miles from Hagerstown.
A. M. Ordway
Alvin M. Ordway was born in Vermont in 1854, but moved to Maryland to start a successful music dealership. He died in 1910. Regarding the music business, the following information is taken from the book “The Story of Williamsport,” compiled by Clarence E. Waver in 1911:
“A. M. ORDWAY & COMPANY, Dealers in Pianos, Organs, and Musical merchandise. This is one of the greatest music houses in Western Maryland, and is the oldest, having been established many years ago by the late Mr. A. M. ORDWAY. The business has grown from the very beginning, and at the present writing it requires fifteen people to handle the trade.
This great house is located at the South-East side of the Public Square, the premises being a three-story building and basement, and here is carried one of the most complete lines of high-grade pianos and organs and general musical merchandise to be found in this part of the country. A specialty is made of high-grade instruments, and it may be well to state that this Company handles many different leading makes of pianos. Mr. C. E. Shenk, who now owns and ably directs the business, has been associated with the house for fifteen years.”
Hagerstown, MD, 1898
Dora M. Lancaster
The Ordway advertising cover is addressed to Dora Lancaster of Williamsport, Maryland. A little bit of research reveals that Dora was born in 1869 to William and Elizabeth Lancaster of that town. Additionally, the 1870 census lists William’s occupation as a butcher. There are several additional documents that give a little more information about the life of Dora Lancaster.
In the 1900 census records, Dora, now thirty, is living with her parents and three younger siblings (two brothers and a sister). However, the document does give an occupation for Dora as a “traveling sales lady.”
Finally, in the 1910 census, we learn more about Dora. By this time the forty year old Dora has the last name of Dukes. She is married to 54 year old Jessie Dukes and they have two children, Harold (8), and William (1). Her mother Elizabeth Lancaster along with her sister Daisy are living at the same address. Her father William died in 1907.
A Mystery
Genealogical research does elicit one mystery. On May 25th, 1893, the Hagerstown newspaper, The Herald and Torch Light, gave a few details of a recent court case. There was a complaint by Dora Lancaster of Williamsburg, accusing a James Taylor of bastardy. The very short notice then said that the case was “taken up and disposed of,” with the judgment of not guilty. At the time, bastardy proceedings were held in order to determine the paternity of an illegitimate child. While I would assume there was a child, the later census records show no one who matches this timeline. The case remains a bit of a mystery.
