Arago: Personal Identification Tokens

Owney received this decorated tag from Mason L. Wafer of Hornellsville, New York. There is no information indicating when Owney received the tag. Wafer was a business owner according to the 1891 Steuben County directory, but his business is not listed. If the illustration is any indication, it may well have been related to roller skating. Owney received two tags from this city’s businessmen. The other came from Fred D. Lockwood, a clerk in his father’s shoemaking business. Hornellsville was on at least two railway lines that Owney traveled, the New York & Erie and the Buffalo and New York City lines.