Press Here to E-Mail Me!   

I love answering e-mails.  It is truly the best part of my day when someone who had warm memories of Elgin, or old river cities or pocket watches or postcards finds my site and is kind enough to write me.  As I state on the front page, I will answer each e-mail personally, however, I certainly don't know everything.  Below are some of the most popular questions:

1. How can I determine how old my Elgin watch is:

On the INSIDE of the watch, where the gears are, there is a serial number (make sure you see the words "Elgin National Watch" or some facsimile thereof).  Copy that number down and go to Wayne Schlitt's Online Elgin Database.  You can not only find out how old your watch is, but you can practically find out what the watch make had for lunch that day!

2. Someone told me my pocket watch is a 16S.  What does that mean?  

I found a pretty nifty chart on that explains how pocket watches are sized.  Click here to go to it.  

3. How can I find out how much my Elgin Watch is Worth?

Elgin watches are an American legacy.  They were  made in a factory 10 miles from my house (albeit that factory is gone!).  The trouble with being the biggest (they made 50 million of them), is that they are not in short supply.  The best way to determine a value is to find a similar watch on Ebay

4. Where is a good place to have my Elgin Watches fixed/repaired?  

I have had watches fixed all over the place, but I like Shockey's best.  They are in Downtown Elgin (in the shadow of Elgin Tower) and the man who fixes their watches used to work for the Elgin National Watch company.  Neither of those things would make me recommend them.  They are the most reasonably priced repair service I have dealt with and have done a good job.   

5. Where did you get all of those old postcards from?  

That question is easy:  Ebay!  While some of them came from postcard shows, the overwhelming majority came from e-bay.  I would tell you my E-Bay screen name, but you may start bidding against me :-)  

6. Where else can I find information about Elgin, Illinois?  

Try these links:

Elginhistory.com
Elgin Area Historical Society
The Gail Borden Library 
The Gifford Park Association

These people have forgot more about Elgin that I will ever know!

7. How do I contact The David Cook Publishing Company?
   (This is a BIG one)
   Cook Communications Ministries
                                               4050 Lee Vance View
                                               Colorado Springs, CO 80918
                                               (800) 708-5550 or (719) 536-0100

   Their web site is:  www.cookministries.com

    

8. The next question has several variations.  Here are some: "How much is my Seybold Piano worth?", or "How can I contact Mary Smith, she wrote a poem that was published by D. C. Cook Publishing" or "Why did Walgreen's go out of business?".  

I wish I had the answers for half of those questions, but like I say sometimes, "I am a high school teacher with a web site".  You would be surprised how much of the background information I got for this web site by simply going to Google.com and typing in "Seybold Piano" or "F. W. Woolworth" into the search window.  I don't want to sound like a jerk, but "do your own research".  Sometimes, someone asks me something and I start wondering myself.  I spend 2 hours trying to find out what F. W. in F. W. Woodworth stood for (Frank Winfield, by the way), but I learned that on the internet.  I recommend you learn to use that tool, it can bring the world to your fingertips.  

 If I didn't answer your question up there, or if you just want to comment on my site, I would love to hear from you.  As I said before, I will answer each e-mail I get personally, usually within 24 hours, if only to tell you I don't have the answer.  

JPMCDunn@aol.com 

Thanks for being there!
All the Best,

Jamey