Part One: Who Wrote and Who Received The Two Postcards of Cathedral Rock, La Jolla, California?

A visit to Southern California was not considered complete without a sight of Cathedral Rock.¹

Two postcards of the same scene–Cathedral Rock at La Jolla, California. The first postcard (Figure 1) was postmarked 1908. The postcard was sent after 1906, the year Cathedral Rock was reported destroyed by natural forces.²

Figure 1: Cathedral Rock, La Jolla, Cal. by Norman Postcard Company Publisher (front and back)

“Cathedral Rock, La Jolla, Cal. by Norman Postcard Company Publisher,” postcard, ca. 1908, in author’s private collection. The postcard is from the author’s mother’s estate and was probably purchased at a Southern California garage sale or thrift store between 1983 and 2010.

Transcription of Figure 1:

Front:

Dont you wish you could see
our beauties. While you
shiver just think how
warm — for once — I am
Letters still reach me [signature]Nell

Back:

Postmarked 26 October 1908 from La Jolla, Cal.
[Printed letter M] Miss M. A. Tribby
135 [305 lined out] Grove St
Prescott
Ariz.³

Miss Minnie “M. A.” Tribby

Minnie A. Tribby born March 1868 in Kentucky, in 1900 lived with her father in Howard County, Indiana.⁴ Her sister Nellie, born December 1876, and her brother Maurice L., born August 1874, lived in the household. Minnie was a school teacher, Nellie was a kindergarten teacher, and Maurice was a traveling shoe salesman.⁵

Minnie Tribby (left). “U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012”; School Name: DePauw University; Year: 1891; database with images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/238013944:1265 : viewed 6 December 2023).

The Tribby Move to Arizona

It was reported in July 1905 J. H. Tribby of Indianapolis, probably Minnie’s father John H. Tribby, traveled to Arizona with members of the North American Exploitation company.⁶ They traveled to Arizona to inspect mining properties, namely the Mormon Girl Mine.⁷

John plausibly liked the climate, or was drawn to Arizona to manage his mining venture, nevertheless his family soon followed. In 1906 Minnie was a teacher at the Blanchard school in Prescott, Arizona.⁸ Minnie in became the principal of the Lincoln School in Prescott.⁹

Minnie Tribby. “U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012”; School Name: San Fernando High School; Year: 1934; database with images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/467637533:1265 : viewed 6 December 2023).

Minnie in California

Minnie’s sister Nell is plausibly the signer of the postcard. Nell touted the beauty of the California coast. Minnie eventually moved to California. She taught at San Fernando High School from about 1919 until her retirement in 1934¹⁰ She died in 1953.¹¹

Part 2 will be about another postcard depicting Cathedral Rock.

“Famous Landmark Destroyed,” Cathedral Rock, The Pittsburg Press (Penn.), 16 March 1906, p. 5, col. 1; digital images, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/142167034/ : viewed 5 December 2023).
Ibid.
Arizona became a state in 1912.
1900 U.S. census, Howard Co., Ind., pop. sched., ED 55, Center Twp., sheet 6A, dw. 161, fam. 114, Minnie A. Tribby, Maurice L. Tribby, and Nellie Tribby in John H. Tribby household; digital images, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-DZZQ-MFF : viewed 6 December 2023); showing NARA microfilm publication T623, roll. 377.
Ibid.
“Visit of Business Men; Owners of Mormon Girl Mine to Spend the Day at the Property,” J. H. Tribby, The Arizona Republican (Phoenix), 24 July 1905, p. 4, col. 2; digital images, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/42183702/ : viewed 6 December 2023).
Ibid.
“City News In Brief,” Minnie Tribby, Weekly Arizona Journal-Miner (Prescott, Ariz.), 7 November 1906, p. 3, col. 4; digital images, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/46122270/).
“New Teachers for the Schools of Prescott,” Miss Tribby, Weekly Journal-Miner (Prescott, Ariz.), 12 May 1909, p. 3, col. 2; digital images Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/78137281/ : viewed 6 December 2023).
“U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012”; School Name: San Fernando High School; Year: 1934; database with images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/467637533:1265 : viewed 6 December 2023).
“Miss Minnie Tribby,” The Los Angeles Times (Calif.), 22 December 1953, part 1, p. 17, col. 3; digital images Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/386019655/ : viewed 6 December 2023).