I can’t resist old photos of my namesakes! It’s always a special treat for me to research their stories and discover how they lived. This photo of Gretchen Stapf found its way to me in Germany. Gretchen is a sweet nickname for Grete or Margret, and many adults in my childhood used to call me Gretchen—so piecing together little Gretchen’s story feels extra special.  Gretchen was about four years old when this photo was taken in New York in 1898. Her full name was Margaret Matilde Stapf , and she was indeed born on August 11th, 1894, as noted in handwriting on the photo. She had a younger sister, Pauline Virginia ( born 1901), and a younger brother, Alfred (born 1905). In 1900 , the family lived at 116 East 11th Street in Manhattan. By 1910 , the Stapfs had moved to East Orange, New Jersey, where Gretchen, her father, and her siblings were still living together in 1940 : Source: GoogleMaps Gretchen graduated from Montclair Normal School and received her bachelor's degree at Teachers College of Columbia University in NYC. She worked as a public school kindergarten teacher at Columbia School (now George Washington Carver School) , East Orange, NJ, for 40 years. This was Gretchen's work place: Image Source In the 1950 Census : I found her living with her 83-year-old father, Wilhelm, her 88-year-old widowed aunt Pauline, and their nurse in the same house on Sanford Street in East Orange, NJ. Gretchen married William C. H. Jaeger some time after 1960. William was a widower who had buried his first wife in 1960. William had been a lace buyer and later a self-employed real estate mutual fund-salesman before retiring in 1971. William had a son William Jr. and several grandchildren. William passed away just before Christmas 1975 at the age of 93. Gretchen herself died in October 1981. The Star Ledger 18 Oct 1981 Now for a glimpse into the rough beginnings of this immigrant family’s story—and how some people make the very best of their second chance. Gretchen’s father, Wilhelm T. Stapf , was born in Augsburg, Germany, in 1866. At 19, he left his employment at the Wolfsheimer Brothers’ shirt factory in December 1885 and traveled by steamboat to New York. However, this was no pleasure trip: he was apparently fleeing the authorities in Germany under the false name Christian Stenger.  New York Tribune Jan 17 1886 The German consul notified the New York authorities, who arrested him immediately upon arrival in January 1886. He was charged with forging the signatures of his former employers in Bavaria for a draft of 500 marks. When arrested, a large sum of money and a fake passport were found on him. He promised to return the money and go back to Germany without the formal process of extradition. It seems he kept his word—three years later, I find him again on a passenger list , this time under his real name, arriving from Bremen to New York in August 1889.  This time he did everything the proper way. He used his experience in the textile business to secure work in New York, and by 1900 he had married Gretchen’s mother, Margret née Reincke, welcomed little Gretchen, and become a naturalized U.S. citizen. By 1910, he and his family owned their home mortgage-free home at 102 Sanford Street in East Orange. Wilhelm truly lived his American dream. He died at age 93, and according to his obituary , he remained in the textile trade for 50 years.  The News NJ Aug 15 1960 A few words about Gretchen’s siblings as well:  Her sister Pauline Virginia worked as a public health nurse at Palisades Hospital, overseeing the Baby-Keep-Well-Stations, before marrying Arthur Baron in August 1942 at her family home in East Orange, NJ. The couple had no children. The Record Aug 1 1942 In the 1950 Census , I find them living in Bergen, New Jersey. Virginia continued working as a nurse, while Arthur operated elevators, both at Knickerbocker Hospital (possibly the one in Harlem, known for serving low-income patients and being one of the few hospitals willing to treat Black patients when many NYC hospitals were segregated. It was also known for its maternity and “well-baby” programs, especially post–World War II). I don’t know when Arthur passed away, but by the time Virginia died in 1980, she had been widowed for the second time, from her second husband, Frederick Devine.  The Herald News Apr 27 1980 Gretchen’s brother Alfred Stapf was an athletic young man who played football on his high school team in Montclair and also worked as a lifeguard. I even found a photo of him and his lifeguard friends on newspapers.com (Alfred standing in the middle): Asbury Park Press Aug 29 1973 He remained connected to his high school throughout his life, supporting the school’s young football players. I don’t know about you, but I definitely see plausible family resemblances in their facial features! Like his father, Alfred spent many years working in the textile industry. He and his wife, Doris, had no children. Alfred passed away in 1981 and was buried at the Rosedale Cemetery in Montclair, Essex County, New Jersey, just like his parents Wilhelm and Margret.  Daily Record Jan 12 1982 It seems that none of the Stapf siblings had descendants to whom I could return this photo. Still, how wonderful that I’ve been able to get to know little Gretchen’s family—at least on paper.

Harry Charles Johnson was born on November 19, 1891, in Chicago, Illinois, to parents Henry Johnson and Caroline “Carrie” née Nonnast. Henry and Carrie, devoted members of the local German Lutheran church, First Saint John, had him christened there on December 13, 1891. The neighborhood at that time was a magnet for German immigrants. That is why I want to pause here and highlight the importance of this congregation: the church played a central role in Harry’s family history. His parents married there, his paternal grandparents were members, and his extended family remained tied to the congregation for decades. To give you a sense of its background, here’s a passage from the church’s own history: During the period from 1868 to 1875 (the Civil War just having come to an end) a large number of emigrants from the northern part of Germany came to America and settled near Chicago in a section which was known as Jefferson Township. Most of these people took to truck farming, finding a ready market in nearby Chicago for their products. Lutheran churches were few and far between, the nearest one being in Niles. (...) Chicago's only church was St. Paul's, and shortly thereafter two more churches were organized, First St. John's and First Bethlehem (...) In the spring of 1876, three lots were bought on Montrose and Lavergne Ave. A frame church, thirty by fifty feet, with steeple and brick basement was erected and dedicated on October 14, 1876. By 1900, the Johnson family was renting a home at 138 N Talman Avenue in Chicago. Harry lived there with his older brother Convent W. and his younger brother Clifford, while their father earned a living as a dry goods merchant. But how did this particular photo of Harry end up in Germany, where I discovered it? Census records suggest that Harry’s father was a first-generation American, while both of his paternal grandparents were born in Germany. His grandfather, Peter Johnson, who died in 1897, originally immigrated from Strücklingen in the Duchy of Oldenburg - though some documents, including census entries, instead give Bremen as his birthplace. His grandmother, Marie “Mary” Consor, came from Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The precise year of their emigration is unclear, but church records from First Saint John reveal that they were married in 1855. Harry’s mother, Carrie née Nonnast, adds another layer to the immigrant story. She was born in 1870 in Stuttgart, Germany, and immigrated with her family as a child, becoming naturalized in 1878 at the age of seven. A little over a decade later, in 1889, she and Henry Johnson were married at First Saint John. It seems likely that this photo was sent back across the Atlantic to relatives in the old world, a reminder of the family’s life in America. Fast-forwarding to Harry’s adult years, the 1930 Census shows that he was 33 when he married Frieda, who was just 16 at the time. By then, the couple had already been married for six years, meaning the wedding probably took place around 1924, though I have not yet found a marriage record. Frieda had been born in Massachusetts to a Swedish father and a Norwegian mother. The 1930 Census also reveals that they had no children and that Harry was both manager and owner of a dry goods store. By 1940 , Frieda had begun working alongside Harry in that same store. The census for that year again records them as childless. Earlier, in 1919, Harry appeared in a record of military service , indicating that he had served during World War I. Tragically, Harry’s life came to a sudden end in July 1940. At just 49 years old, he drowned in Minnesota. The Brainerd Dispatch  reported on the death of the Chicago businessman, noting that although he was considered an excellent swimmer, he drowned at Trout Lake, most likely after suffering a heart attack. Harry was laid to rest at Mount Emblem Cemetery in Elmhurst, DuPage County, Illinois. His widow, Frieda, was left behind at only 36 years of age. I haven't done any research on Harry's siblings and if they had any children. If you're related to the Johnsons from Chicago - please contact me!

This lovely group photo found its way into the PWF archive from an antique shop on the Estonian island of Saaremaa. It shows the following persons: Süld Oskar and Süld Elli Süld Ingel Kristiina Mihkels Olga Põldmaa and Roobert Säkk In faded handwriting on the front, it seems to read: July 1935 . Estonians are avid genealogists, and so I could easily find some of these individuals in the family trees built on Geni.com . The public Geni pages for Oskar and Elli Süld even share their wedding photo! How beautiful — and how moving it is to recognize the same faces in this group portrait. Geni.com Oskar Süld and Emilie “Elli” Rüütel married on March 9, 1935, in Valjala on Saaremaa. Oskar was 26, Elli 24. Oskar Süld Oskar was the second oldest child of Juhan Süld and Ingel (née Pärtel) . As the eldest son, he probably inherited the family farm in Uue-Löve, Valjala. Elli Süld Elli was born Emilie but known as Elli among her loved ones. According to the Geni family tree, she had at least ten siblings, being the oldest herself. Unfortunately, little is known about her parents, Toomas Rüütel and Miina (née Puppart) . By the outbreak of WWII in Estonia, Oskar and Elli were parents. And then, as so often happens in researching Estonian families of that generation, a cold shiver ran down my spine when I uncovered the next fact of their story: Elli passed away in 1945 in her mid-30s. How unbearably heartbreaking. Oskar survived all the brutal battles of the WWII, only to return home to a personal tragedy that left his children motherless. I don’t know the cause of Elli’s untimely death — whether illness, war-related hardship, or something else — but the pain must have been immeasurable. An article published in May 1982, on the occasion of Oskar’s 75th birthday, recounted his military service and life as a respected blacksmith in postwar Estonia. Yet less than half a year after that article, Oskar himself passed away on October 17, 1982: "War veteran, work veteran In August 1941, Oskar Süld was mobilized into the war. It was not an easy departure — he left behind crying children, his wife, and his mother — but he had to go. At the mobilization point in Kuressaare, men from Sakla village stayed together. Many Saaremaa men, including Oskar, were skilled carpenters, so they were sent to work battalions, building military structures. Oskar’s brigade was eventually assigned to the 925th Rifle Regiment, and he served as a mortar man near Velikije Luki. Because of his farming background, he was skilled with horses and was given responsibility for horse-drawn weapons transport. During the Velikije Luki battles, Oskar was wounded and sent to a reserve regiment to recover. He missed some of the liberation battles in mainland Estonia, but was later sent as reinforcement to Saaremaa. There he endured a long, exhausting march with his unit and returned to the front lines. During one of the marches, the men were completely exhausted. By evening they reached the Suur Väin (the strait between Saaremaa and Muhu) and crossed to the other side of the island. Most of the men just looked for a place to collapse and rest. But Oskar Süld’s longing to see his family was stronger than fatigue. Instead of lying down, he asked his commander for permission to continue the journey on his own. He then ran off the road to visit his home, which was about 50 kilometers away. He made a quick visit to his loved ones, and by the following evening, when the rest of the men arrived at Sakla, Oskar was back with them, ready to continue marching with his unit. Later he was reassigned as a signalman in the regiment, responsible for repairing communication lines under heavy fire. This was extremely dangerous work: several times he narrowly escaped death, and once a mortar explosion near his dugout severely wounded him. Despite injuries, Oskar fought again in the Courland battles (Latvia), serving with an anti-tank rifle. In one fierce attack, a mortar shell exploded nearby, and shrapnel badly wounded both his legs. This became his last battle. Victory came soon after, and Oskar spent the final days of the war in a hospital before returning to Estonia with the army. After demobilization, Oskar returned to Sakla. A blacksmith by training, he worked for years as a kolkhoz (collective farm) blacksmith, becoming a respected craftsman and worker." Ingel Süld Ingel Süld Now a few words about Oskar’s mother and Elli’s mother-in-law, Ingel Süld, the lady wrapped in a scarf sitting in front of Oskar and Elli. The resemblance of Oskar to her is uncanny, don’t you think? Mother and son, Ingel and Oskar Süld Ingel was born as Ingel Pärtel in Võhksa manor on December 14, 1877, to parents Kusti Pärtel and Mari née Leivamees. She married Oskar’s father, Juhan Süld, in June 1906 in Valjala. According to the Geni family tree , Ingel Süld died in 1946, and her husband Juhan in 1948. The 1940s were certainly hard for Oskar, who first lost his friends in WWII battles, then his young wife, and then his parents just a few years apart. Kristiine Mihkels Kristiine Mihkels How the other three persons in the photo related to Oskar, Elli, and Ingel – I don’t know for sure. Perhaps Kristiine (Kristiina) Mihkels , the other lady sitting in the first row wearing a beret, was the godmother of one of the newlyweds, or a neighbour, or a family friend? I found a Geni family tree for Kristiine Mihkels, who was born in October 1886 and in 1935, when this photo was taken, lived in the same region in Valjala as the Süld family. She would have been about 50 at the time. The Muhu Museum has a photo of her with her children from earlier years – this is the same woman in my found photo: JSM F 277:20 F The Mihkels family had standing in Valjala. Kristiine’s husband, Aleksander Mihkels, owned a transportation company, the first of its kind on Saaremaa island. SM  F 3590:49 F (A. Mihkels standing on the right) It is not exaggerated to say that every family in Estonia suffered in one way or another from the mass deportations under the Soviet regime, which destroyed families, tortured, starved, and executed those who did not fit the ideals of the Soviet Union. So did the Mihkels family, in the most tragic way. Successful businessmen and often also their families were one of the groups targeted in the June 1941 mass deportations to Siberia. Aleksander Mihkels and his wife Kristiine were both arrested in the night of June 14, 1941, and deported into exile. Aleksander died in exile in 1944 of “dystrophy,” which essentially means he died of hunger and exhaustion under inhuman conditions. According to the Database of Victims of Communism , Kristiina Mihkels, daughter of Georg, born in 1886, resident of Saaremaa, Valjala parish, was deported on June 14, 1941, to Nagorsk district, Kirov oblast, in Soviet Russia. In November 1946 she escaped back to Estonia. She was arrested again, and on July 25, 1947, sentenced by special order. After release she was sent back into exile and was finally released in April 1955. Kristiine died in June 1963 and was buried at the Reomäe Cemetery on Saaremaa Island. In 1942, when the Soviet occupation in Estonia was briefly interrupted by the Nazi occupation, letters from deportees began to reach their families. Some women and their children deported from Saaremaa in June, 1941, were able to send a letter through the International Red Cross , informing their friends and families about their whereabouts. That letter was published in the local newspaper. Of course, the letters were strictly censored, which is why the letter Kristiine and others sent sounds more neutral than real, almost as if the women were content doing hard manual labour in the forests of Russia, 2000 km away from home: Meie Maa, 9 juuli 1942 An excerpt from the memoirs of Juta Saks , who was deported together with Kristiine Mihkels and who was a 10-year-old girl at the time, was published in a local newspaper in 1990, after it had become safe to talk publicly about the horrors of the Soviet regime without life-threatening consequences (*yes, according to Soviet and even modern Russian history books, the Soviet deportations never happened...). I was particularly touched by how she described the reunion of Kristiine and her husband in exile: “One day, something unbelievable happened. Into the barrack came an old man. How he was recognized, I don’t recall, but it turned out that he was the lawful husband of one of the old women there – Aleksander Mihkels. He had been released from prison and sent to join his wife. He stood at the barrack door, and it was hard to tell whether he was a man or some kind of ghost. His beard was frosted, he wore a cap with ragged scarves tied around it, his face was thin and pitiful, with an expression one could never forget. He came to live in our room. The women gave him the best place – behind the stove wall. Whether he was considered too weak to be a man or whether the women simply did not see him as one, I don’t know, but the children soon became his companions. He always carried a beloved scarf, and the children sat on his lap. We ourselves remembered him from earlier times, when he had been a bus driver on the Kuressaare–Kuivastu line. Now, however, he told us how he survived by digging through garbage pits, mostly those near the cafeterias, and putting into his mouth anything and everything he could find. He was not sent to work; he received 300 grams of bread per day. Soon they took him to the cemetery by the lake. I remember that when his body turned cold, lice quickly left his thin hair.” May their souls rest in peace... Robert Säkk and Olga Põldmaa How the other two persons – Roobert (Robert) Säkk and Olga Põldmaa – fit into this photo, I don’t know. As far as I could find out, they were not related to either the newlyweds or to Kristiine Mihkels. Perhaps they were good friends of the young couple and acted as witnesses at their wedding? One Robert Säkk was born on May 29, 1916 in Kalli village, not far from where the Süld family lived. But I don’t know if this was the Robert in our photo. I One Marie Säkk, born in 1904, was among the deportees of June 14, 1941 , and she lived together with Kristiine Mihkels in the work camp in Kirov oblast, Russia. I haven’t been able to find anything more on this Marie Säkk, but I wonder if she was somehow related to Robert Säkk from our photo – perhaps a sister? I’ve not been able to find Olga Põldmaa of our photo in any records, or I’m not sure I’ve found the correct one. Maybe she knew Elli from school or was a childhood friend; perhaps she was her maid of honour. When I look at this group portrait, taken in July 1935, I see hope: a wedding, a family gathered, a moment of light. None of them could have imagined the storms that lay ahead, or how violently history would intrude on their lives. The accounts of their suffering are almost too painful to read. Yet they stand as a testimony to the quiet endurance of thousands of Estonian families torn apart by war, deportation, and repression. Even through all the hardship, their faces remain — captured in this single photograph. A reminder that they laughed, loved, and cherished one another before the world changed. A reminder, too, that behind every historical statistic are real people, with families and dreams, whose stories deserve to be remembered.

I found this original photo in Germany. Valentin Roedel was pretty easy to find in the records. Having immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1892, Valentin probably sent this photo to relatives back in his birth country. I’ve also found a public family tree for Valentin on Ancestry, so I will try to make contact with the relatives and return this photo. Valentin Rödel was born on December 10, 1874 in Bensheim, Germany to parents Carl Rödel and Anna née Schrader. I don’t know what brought the 18-year-old Valentin to the United States. Perhaps hope for better work opportunities? Valentin worked as a machinist at the factory in Peru, Indiana. He married Martha M. née Butzin (1890-1968) on June 25, 1901 in Miami County, Peru. Their son Carl was born in 1903, son William in 1904 and daughter Ann Ernestine was born in 1911. Valentin applied for a US passport on the same day that he was naturalised in June 1913. He was 38 years old at the time, 5 feet 7 inches tall, with blue eyes and sandy-coloured hair. He mentioned in the passport application that he had been living in the United States for 21 consecutive years and he intended to return to America within 3 years of travels abroad. I wonder if Valentin planned to take his family to Germany to finally meet all the relatives. In July 1914, WWI began in Europe. Valentin was drafted in 1917 at the age of 43, but I’m not sure if he was called to actual combat. I have a feeling that Valentin had a pretty good life in Peru. Already in 1910 , Valentin and his family lived in a house they owned mortgage free. He travelled to Germany in 1929 with his daughter, and again in 1937. His children lived long lives, too. Valentin passed away at 90 in March 1965 in Peru, Indiana, where he had been living for 73 years, 64 of them together with his wife Martha. His obituary sums up Valentin's life nicely: Valentin's son Carl was a railroad repair man. He married Rejene Latherine née Smith in 1935. I don't think the couple had any children. Carl passed away in 1990. Valentin's son William never married. He lived and worked in Peru, Indiana, all his life until his death in 1995. I found Valentin's daughter Ann's 1928 Peru High School Yearbook photo : Ann married Clyde Edward Amos in May 1934 in Grant, Indiana. At the time, Amos was a truck driver for wholesale groceries, but by 1950 Amos earned his living as a bartender at a fraternal club. Ann and Clyde had three children - Terry, Linda and Phillip. Ann died in 1994. If you know the Roedels or are related to them, please let me know!

This old photograph came to me from an online shop in Germany. Although it doesn't include the location of the photo studio, there are some valuable clues on the back. The text is written in modern German handwriting, so it’s possible that the names were added much later. It reads: “Franz Maret     Son of Karl Friedr. Maret, Berlin, and Dorothea née Lerchen”   I found the Maret family in the early 19th-century Berlin, then part of Prussia. According to the records, Carl Friedrich Maret was a Seifensieder Meister by profession - I had never heard of that profession before. A Seifensieder  (soap boiler or soap maker) was a traditional craft profession until the early 20th century. Soap was produced by boiling animal fats or vegetable oils with lye, a hot and often dangerous process. Soap makers produced different kinds of soap: hard soap, soft soap, laundry soap, and scented toilet soaps. The craft was usually organized in guilds, and becoming a master soap maker required apprenticeship, years of practice, and passing a master’s examination. In the 19th century, soap was not only important for body care but also essential for washing textiles and cleaning. With industrialization, large factories gradually replaced many small-scale soap makers. A Seifensiedermeister  (master soap maker) in a city like Berlin was a respected craftsman. The records also noted that he was an Eigenthums-Bürger  (property-owning citizen), which means he also held a recognized social status as a homeowner. I find the family in the 1830 Berlin city directory, living at 18 Klosterstr. He and his wife Dorothea Charlotte née Lerchen had 13 children between 1817 and 1835. Sadly, over half of them died in childhood:  Friederike Dorothea Maret ( born in 1817, died in 1819)  Carl Georg Franz Maret ( born and died in 1819)  Wilhelmine Charlotte Maret ( born in 1820; married Franz Friedrich August Grubitz in 1841 in Berlin)  Friederike Charlotte Maret ( born in 1821, died in 1829)  Sophie Friederike Dorothea Maret ( born in 1822; married Ferdinand Franz Karl Jansen, died in 1904 in Berlin)  Caroline Dorothee Margarethe Maret ( born and died in 1823)  Charlotte Dorothea Margaretha Maret ( born in 1825)  Hans Jacob Friedrich Georg Franz Maret ( born in 1826, died in 1831)  Caroline Luise Maret ( born in 1828; married royal architect Gustav Adolph Edouard Kraemer in 1860 in Berlin)  Carl Julius Maret ( born in 1829; married Bertha Caroline Dorothea Richter, Councillor of Commerce and Senator in Hamburg, died in 1904 in Hamburg)  Franz August Friedrich Maret ( born in 1830, died in 1831)  Georg Friedrich Franz Maret ( born and died in 1832)  Georg Friedrich Franz Maret ( born in 1835)  So, of the six siblings who survived, only two were sons: Carl Julius Maret  and Georg Friedrich Franz Maret (who I assume is the Franz Maret in my found photo). I find both the father and the older surviving son, Carl Julius, in the 1850 Berlin city directory. Both were listed as " Partikulier ", meaning "private citizen of independent means". Berlin city directory 1850 Between 1860 and 1870, I only find the father living at the same address. The eldest son, Carl Julius, had moved to Hamburg, where he built a good life for himself and his family as a Councillor of Commerce and Senator. Berlin city directory 1860 Franz’s mother, Dorothea, had passed away  in 1851, and his father, Carl Friedrich Maret, in 1873. Both were buried at the St. Marien- und St. Nikolai Cemetery in Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin.  It seems that Franz’s unmarried sister, also named Dorothea, continued to reside in the Maret family house at 17 Klosterstr. during the 1880s and 1890s as the new head of the family. Berlin city directory 1880 While I’ve found plenty of information on the older brother, Carl Julius, and his children, I’ve come across nothing about the man in the photo, Georg Friedrich Franz Maret. If the image is from the early 1860s, as his outfit suggests, he would have been in his late twenties at the time. But I’ve found nothing. Did he stay in Berlin? Did he die young? Did he marry and have children? Let me know if you have any more clues! I've added Franz' photo to FamilySearch .

On my annual trip to Estonia this summer, I also visited Saaremaa, the largest island of Estonia, where I stopped by the local antiques store and “raided” their old photos section for labeled treasures. Among them, I discovered a photo of Leen Valdov from Ninase , right there on Saaremaa — a true local! I also found a Geni.com page for her and hope to get in touch with her relatives. Perhaps after a little vacation in Germany with me, Leen can one day return home to Estonia, reunited with photos of her family. Let’s hope so! Leen Telder was born on September 17, 1885, at Nelise farm in Võhma, Saaremaa. In fact, the Estonian National Museum has a photo of that very farmhouse in their collection — how wonderful is that! ERM Fk 892:54 EVM N 49:168 Leen was the second youngest child of Mihkel Telder  and Ingel (née Ang) . According to her Geni profile, she grew up with an older and a younger brother and three older sisters. On April 7, 1914, Leen married a local young man, Toomas Valdov , in Mustjala. An idyllic countryside life might have awaited them — had it not been for the outbreak of World War I just a few months later. By mid-August, Estonia was already caught in the conflict. About 100,000 Estonians participated in WWI, and what made the times even bloodier was that the war was followed by a year and a half of the Estonian War of Independence. Out of that struggle, Estonia finally broke free from the Russian Empire / Soviet Russia and, for the first time in history, declared itself a sovereign republic. This hope of “our own country” motivated many young Estonian men to join the armed forces and risk their lives for the cause. Over the course of those six violent years, more than 10,000 Estonian soldiers lost their lives. Sadly, Leen’s husband Toomas was among them. He was killed on July 19, 1919, during the battles of the War of Independence in the village of Butõrski. He was just 31 years old. Photo by Kalle Kolter, Military Heritage Leen was left a widow with a six-month-old baby girl. Their daughter, Ella Hermiine Valdov , had been born on January 30, 1919. The battles raged on for another year, until finally, on February 2, 1920, Estonia and Soviet Russia signed the Tartu Peace Treaty. Toomas’ sacrifice had not been in vain, and I like to think that in the eyes of Leen and her daughter he remained a hero. Leen never remarried. She stayed on the farm in Ninase, Saaremaa, raising her daughter. Estonia’s hard-won independence lasted just 20 years before the country once again came under fire during World War II. In 1944, Estonia was annexed by the Soviet Union. In a Soviet propaganda newspaper from August 1948, I came across Leen’s name, listed among the “shameful farm sons and daughters” who had failed to deliver their state-imposed milk quotas on time. By then, the Soviet regime had fully imposed its collectivization and quota system. Farmers were required to hand over set amounts of milk, grain, and meat to the state — often at levels that left their own families struggling. Those who met or exceeded quotas were praised as “model farmers,” while those who did not were publicly shamed. Saarte Hääl, August 26, 1948 Many farmers resisted passively — withholding deliveries, underreporting, or hiding produce — mostly because the quotas felt exploitative and illegitimate. Being singled out as a “stain of shame” in the press branded someone as a non-compliant citizen, someone who should be watched more closely or even punished. To find Leen’s name there suggests she, too, was reluctant or unable to bend to the system. In other words: this small mention shows that Leen did not accept Soviet authority unquestioningly, and she is remembered in this newspaper as someone who resisted, even if subtly, the forced integration into the Soviet economic system. According to the Geni page about her, Leen passed away in 1971. Her daughter Ella Hermiine had married Hans Rüüs already in 1938, blessing Leen with a grandson, Jalmar Rüüs, in January 1939. Jalmar got married in 1967, but I don't know if there is any family out there. When I look into the stern face of Leen Valdov in my found photo, I’m reminded once again that the stories hidden behind old portraits so often turn out differently than I expected. I hope that by sharing her life here, I can give her story a voice, and one day, return her photograph to where it belongs — among her family in Estonia.

I love finding old photos of strangers from my home city of Hamburg! It’s a curious feeling to know I’m walking the same streets that they did, some of the building stood already when they lived, and yet so much of the city has changed and I wonder what those strangers from the past would think of that. There is not just one, but two photos in the PWF photo collection of the siblings Herbert and Gertrud "Trude" Ihle from Hamburg! Both were gifted to someone as a New Year’s greeting. The first photo bears the date December 31, 1897: While the second photo shows the siblings five years later on as the photo was gifted to someone on December 30th, 1902: I know the street Steindamm that the photo studio was located on. I lived in the same street that the siblings home stood 120 years ago. I also love that the Hamburg Archives have done an exemplary job with digitising old records. Having access to them helps me reconstruct the story of this family for you – so let’s go! Th siblings’ father Hermann Richard Ihle, born in 1849 in Chemnitz into a weaver’s family, moved to Hamburg around 1879 as a representative of a freight company from Dresden. By 1880, he had established his own freight company in Hamburg which grew exponentially over the next decades. He had a son Richard Ihle, born in 1880, with his first wife Louise Clara née Wilcke. She died in 1886. In July 1888, Hermann Richard Ihle married Eleanore Therese Helene née Süss in Dresden, the daughter of the architect August Leberecht Süss from Dresden. Eleanore gave birth to Alfred Herbert Ihle on July 11th, 1890, and to Gertrud Helene Therese Ihle who was born on February 26th, 1895. The family moved into a house in Lübecker Str. 21 which was about a kilometre away from the photo studio. I know the street very well, as a matter of fact I used to live in that same street for a couple of years and I pass it weekly. Sadly, the house of the Ihles does not stand anymore as that side of the street was heavily bombed in WWII and the ruins were replaced by ugly looking 1960s apartment houses. But when I look at the few end-of-the-19th-century buildings that survived WWII on the other side of the same street, I can imagine that the Ihles’ home probably looked similar to this: By 1890 , the Ihles had a phone connection installed to the offices and the apartment at Lübecker Str. 21, a novelty but a growing necessity in a city that had one of the largest ports in the world and referred to itself as “The Gateway to the World”. Richard’s oldest son Richard Jr. was involved in his father’s international business. He was travelling the world and I find him on passenger lists of vessels going to the East and the West Coast of the USA, or to the West Indies, Haiti. Father Richard Ihle died in October 1916 at the age of 67. The death was reported to the authorities by his daughter Gertrud. I don’t know if Herbert Ihle was involved in his father’s business, like his older half-brother Richard, or if Richard took over the management alone. In fact, I find nothing else on Herbert. Only that he died in Bargteheide, not far from Hamburg, in 1955. Gertrud Ihle married Heinrich Martin Gehrckens in April 1920 in Hamburg. Gertrud’s father-in-law Heinrich Martin Gehrckens Sr. was a ship broker and a shipping company owner. Heinrich Jr. was listed as “tradesman” on the marriage certificate, later as shipping company owner. I have come across quite a bit of information on the Gehrckens family and their shipping business on the internet . You can read about the company H. M. Gehrckens on Wikipedia . Gertrud and Heinrich had 3 children: Ursula Johanna Helene Hansen née Gehrckens, born on 08.05.1921, 1st marriage in 1943 in Blankenese, 2nd marriage in 1948 in Uhlenhorst Hannelore Gertrud Gehrckens, born on 05.06.1922, married in 1947 Heinrich Martin Gehrckens V, born on 25.09.1923, married in 1951 in Winterhude, Gertrud died in September 1989 at the age of 94 and was buried at the Nienstedten Cemetery in Altona, Hamburg. FindaGrave.com If you know anything else about the Ihle siblings from Hamburg or you are perhaps related to them, please contact me! I would love to return the two photos to the family.

Franziska reached out to me with this old photo, which she had purchased at a flea market in southern Germany. She was curious about what could be discovered about the woman in the photo. Luckily, the reverse revealed some valuable clues: Mrs. Hohmann Mother of Mrs. Agnes Pröll (wife of Senior Administrator [Centralverwalter] Pröll) Grandmother of Mrs. Mathilde Werner (wife of Manager Werner) Great-grandmother of Mr. Karl Werner, Manager Great-great-grandmother of Dr. Anna Schnopp The photo was printed at the studio of Anton Baldreich, located at 21 V. Kleine Neugasse in Vienna, Austria. I first looked into the photo studio to determine when the picture might have been taken. Mr. Baldreich appeared in the Vienna City Directory at that address between 1875 and 1907. Interestingly, however, he wasn’t listed as a photographer, but as a Futteralmacher —a craftsman who lined cases and bags with leather, silk, or paper. I initially went down the rabbit hole of researching any "Hohmann" living in Vienna during that period. That didn’t lead to any useful results — because I had gone down the wrong rabbit hole! There was clearly a connection to Vienna, but not the one we were looking for. Franziska then found information about Agnes Pröll, the woman’s daughter, and her husband Friedrich Pröll, in the Austrian newspaper archives. She discovered that Agnes was born as Agnes Hohmann on April 7, 1824, in Schlaggenwald, Bohemia (Horní Slavkov in today’s Czech Republic). That was the domino that set everything in motion, revealing two key clues: our sitter’s maiden name and the birthplace of her daughter. We had finally found the right rabbit hole — and what a rewarding one it turned out to be! But let me keep you in suspense a bit longer. What was life like in Schlaggenwald at the time that our sitter lived there? The town of Schlaggenwald (Horní Slavkov in the Czech Republic) is located in western Bohemia, about 15 km southwest of Karlovy Vary, near the German border. At the end of the 18th century, it belonged to the Prince of Kaunitz. In 1785, the town had 456 households, which rose to 543 by 1830, with 3,554 residents. By 1847, it had grown to 546 houses and 4,011 inhabitants. The people were primarily Bohemian German heritage and Catholic, with a few Protestant exceptions. In 1792, a porcelain manufactory was founded, making the area well known for its porcelain and mineral springs, later followed by a button factory and a wool weaving mill. Photos of Schlaggenwald as found on the internet Now, back to the Hohmanns! The digitized Czech Archives helped me reconstruct the following family stories: Our sitter Anna Korb and Johann Hohmann married on January 31, 1815, in Schlaggenwald. The woman in the photo was born on April 29, 1795 — nearly 230 years ago! How incredible is that? Anna’s husband, Johann Hohmann, was a Zeugmachermeister (master cloth maker), born on July 6, 1792. Johann and Anna had at least 10 children, all born in Sclaggenwald: Georg Hohmann, born on October 7, 1815 ( married Aloisia Blaschke in Vienna, 1843) Johann Hohmann, born on March 15, 1818 ( married Maria Schlechter in Vienna, 1854; died April 1907) Anna Hohmann, bor n on February 25, 1820 Joseph Hohmann, born on August 9, 1822 Agnes Hohmann, born on April 7, 1824 (married Friedrich Pröll in 1850) Amalia Anna Hohmann, born on October 19, 1826 (a haberdasher who married Karl Franz Winter, a Pfaidler [shirt maker], in 1861; possibly later remarried as Amalia Anna Petrides; died June 1907 in Vienna) Joseph Anton Hohmann, born on November 9, 1828 Margaretha Franziska Hohmann, born on July 13, 1831 Albina Hohmann, born on October 20, 1833 Wilhelm Hohmann, born on March 24, 1837 ( married Maria Portschy in Vienna, 1863) Anna was almost 42 when her youngest child was born — and that in the 1830s which was rather unusual at the time. I also reviewed the online death registers of Schlaggenwald from 1822–1839, and none of the Hohmann children appeared to have died young, either. Anna’s parents, Alois Korb and Anna Maria Wenzl , were married in 1789. Alois, a master miller, was born around 1769. Anna Maria was born on September 24, 1766. Her parents were Johann Franz Wenzl (a surgeon!) and Susanna Maria, née Kraft. Anna’s in-laws were Christoph Hohmann and Anna Knif — all from Schlaggenwald. Since both the Korb and Hohmann families have deep roots in Schlaggenwald, it would theoretically be possible to reconstruct their entire family tree, including siblings and descendants. But that’s a project for another day 😊. Now a few notes on Anna's daughter, Agnes Pröll, née Hohmann , whose name is mentioned on the back of our photo. According to the golden wedding announcement of Friedrich and Agnes Pröll the couple married on February 3, 1850. Friedrich was the Centralverwalter (senior administrator) of the Königsberg a.d. Eger ( Kynšperk nad Ohří ) and Mostau estates (Mostiv, both in today's Czech Republic). He likely managed large estates and seems to have had a good local standing. Their children were recorded in the Steinhof’s birth registers: Friedrich Pröll Jr., born on December 20, 1850 Johann Philipp Pröll, born on June 28, 1852 Emma Pröll, born on December 24, 1853 Agatha Anna Pröll, born on January 21, 1856 The only name I didn't come across in the Steinhof birth register was that of Mathilde Werner, née Pröll — the name listed on the back of our photo. I grew suspicious: was she perhaps born out of wedlock? The rabbit hole was getting deeper as we uncovered more family secrets! One detour led to another, but we finally found the record proving that Mathilde was indeed born out of wedlock on April 2, 1847, but later legitimised by Friedrich Pröll as her father. We had been searching in the wrong registers - Mathilde was born in Schönbrunn (Studánka in today's Czech Republic). I suddenly had so many new questions: Schönbrunn is located about 60 km from Schlaggenwald. What was young Agnes doing there at the time? Where did she meet the administrator Pröll with whom she later had her children in Steinhof, about 50 km from Schönbrunn, and who eventually legitimised little Mathilde's paternity? We already knew that Agnes and Friedrich Pröll married in February 1850, but now we also found their marriage record - also from Schönbrunn! Friedrich died on May 13, 1908, and Agnes passed away  on June 10, 1911, in Königsberg. Now, let's take a closer look at how life turned out for Mathilde née Pröll , wife of Director Werner . This is where my Instagram community came in with a valuable clue - they found Mathilde’s daughter Anna Werner, who was born on December 23, 1870 in Korneuburg near Vienna; we now had the full names of her parents: Adam Joh. Werner , a head teacher at the teacher training college, and Mathilde Werner née Pröll! Why is Adam referred to as “Director ” on the back of our photo? Because in 1878 , Adam Werner was appointed director of the teacher training college in Komotau (Chomutov in today's Czech Republic), where the family then moved. Chomutov lies at the foot of the Ore Mountains in northern Bohemia. For centuries it was a German-speaking town with a strong Catholic tradition. In 1878, when Adam Werner became director of the teacher training college, Komotau was marked by the modernization of schools and public life in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. New institutions, such as the teacher training college, reflected the growing emphasis on education and civic progress. Piecing together the chronology of the Werner-Pröll family, the different locations made me take a few more detours: Mathilde married Adam in Steingut (in today's Czech Republic) on September 25, 1866. By 1870, they had moved to Korneuburg near Vienna. And in 1878 Adam's new position took the family to Chomutov (back in the territory of today's Czech Republic), where they remained until the end of their lives (Adam passed away in 1909, and Mathilde in 1924). But where was their son Karl Werner, who is mentioned on the back of our old photo, born? The decisive clue came unexpectedly in the form of a short note in the September 26th issue of Iglauer Sonntagsblatt, where the Werner family bid farewell to their friends and acquantainces in Iglau - probably before moving to Vienna. Before I move on Karl Werner, I have to share this amazing discovery by Franziska! She found a photo of the Werner family gravesite on the official Chomutov genealogy website : It includes photos of Adam and Mathilde! Such a pity that we cannot zoom in on the portraits and details of the gravestone. Wow, I would love to compare Mathilde's face with that of her grandmother, Anna Hohmann, in our found photo. The gravestone also reveals an interesting fact about their son Karl Werner which I will tell you about below. Next name on the back of our found photo is "Director Karl Werner", our sitter's great-grandson. As you could read above, I first had trouble finding his birth record as the Werner family lived at several locations over the years - Steingut, Iglau, Korneuburg near Vienna and eventually Chomutov. Now , where was Mathilde and Adam's son Karl Werner born? Franziska found his birth record from March 4 , 1869 in Iglau! The gravestone photo above, although difficult to read due to the poor resolution, reveals that engineer Karl Werner was a Hüttendirektor in Chomutov - that is, a director of an ironworks, smelting works, or metallurgical plant where ores were processed into metals such as iron, copper, or zinc. While we can't be certain, Karl most likely oversaw the Poldihütte as a director. Although not located in Komotau proper, the Poldihütte played a significant role in the region. Originally established in Kladno in 1889, a branch was built near Chomutov in 1916, specialising in precision and alloy steel production. Unfortunately, I cannot make out Karl's date of death on the gravestone. And this is where the rest of our trail grows cold. I went through the death registers from 1868–1897, the marriages from 1880–1900, as well as the births from 1874–1899 in Chomutov, hoping to perhaps find either a marriage record for Karl Werner or the birth of his child Anna Schnopp née Werner , the last person listed on the back of our old photo and our sitter's great-great-grandchild. But unfortunately, I found nothing else. Registers after 1900 are not yet digitally available. Of course, it’s possible that Adam worked in Chomutov but did not actually live there, or that he and his family were recorded in a different parish. On the other hand, if they were buried in Chomutov, logic would suggest that they should have belonged to the parish church of Chomutov, but so far, I have not found them. Now, as we pivot back to the woman in our found photo - Mrs. Anna Hohmann née Korb - did she ever actually live in Vienna? By the time Mr. Baldreich was operating his photo studio at Kleine Neugasse in 1875, she would have been 80 years old. How old would you estimate she looks in the photo? It's possible that one of her children or grandchildren living in Vienna had a duplicate made by Mr. Baldreich. Or maybe the photo was taken during one of her visits to her children and grandchildren in Vienna? What supports the theory that she didn't stay in Schlaggenwald is this: I searched Schlaggenwald’s death registers from 1850–1890 and found no record of Anna or Johann Hohmann. They likely died elsewhere — but I haven’t found their death records in Vienna either. What an extraordinary journey this has been — researching the life of a woman born in the 1790s, who gave birth to and raised at least 10 children over two decades, and who may have journeyed from a small Bohemian village to the buzzing city of Vienna for this photo. I don't think I've ever taken so many detours in research as I did with this one, and I'm so grateful to Franziska for this challenge and for her support. This truly was teamwork! And yet, not finding her descendants — Anna Schnopp, née Werner, and perhaps her children — still nags at my genealogist's heart... So, dear community: if you have any clues, insights, or records, I’d love to hear from you! This beautiful large cabinet card is now in the Archives of Photos Without Families. Thank you for this donation, Franziska!

You’ve heard me say this before – I love researching photos from my home city! Harburg, where the photo of the Brinckman siblings was taken in 1900, is now an urban district of Hamburg. The photo shows Franz Brinckman at age 7, Victoria Brinckman at age 5 and a half, and baby Anita at 6 months old. I’m excited to share that I found all three siblings in the Hamburg birth records: - Franz Ludwig Adolf Brinckman was born on February 25, 1893, in Harburg - Victoria Mathilde Carlota Brinckman was born on September 6, 1894, also in Harburg - Anita Bertha Brinckman was born on August 29, 1899. Their parents, Gustav Adolph Friedrich Brinckman and Victoria Anna Eleanora Rübke, married on April 27, 1892 in Altona, which is now also an urban district of Hamburg. Franz Brinckman Franz is the sibling I found the most information about - I even discovered a photo of him as an adult! Records of the German Naval Personnel (1891-1918), which I could access on Ancestry , provide the following details about him: “ First Names: Franz Ludwig Adolf Surname: Brinckman Date and Place of Birth: February 25, 1893, in Harburg Father: Adolf, businessman, Harburg, Schlossstraße 3 Mother: Viktoria, née Rübke Education: Primaner (senior high school student), Realgymnasium Harburg, Easter 1911. Training Ship: Hansa. Naval Academy: I. II. Profession and Address: Businessman, Hamburg, Agnesstraße 45.” A quick look on Google Maps shows that the building in Agnesstr. 45 in Hamburg still stands – it’s amazing that it survived the bombings of WWII on Hamburg. Franz’s military career was well-documented: “In the fall of 1913, he was assigned to the S.M.S. "Breslau". After the outbreak of the war, he was transferred in September 1914 to the Turkish battleship "Haireddin Barbarossa", where he served for a year. During his next assignment, with the U-boat flotilla in Constantinople, he remained there until February 1917 and took part in several long-distance voyages to the Black Sea. His command was interrupted from January to August 1916, during which time he was stationed in Mesopotamia as part of the Euphrates River Division. In March 1917, he was assigned to establish the U-boat base in Beirut, Syria. In June 1917, he returned to the Euphrates River Division, where he remained until its dissolution in September 1918. He has now dedicated himself to a commercial career and is co-owner of the company Förtmann & Behnke in Hamburg. Since May 5, 1920, he has been married to Mrs. Marianne Spaethe, née Meyer.” Franz' wife Marianne Meyer was born on July 15, 1893 in Gera, Germany. Another record from Ancestry provides additional details: “Drafted in World War II, assigned to staff commands in Norway and the Southeast. After the capitulation: personally liable partner of the company Franz Brinckman K.G., Hamburg-Harburg, specializing in freight forwarding, transshipment, storage, and tug shipping. Married Marianne Meyer in 1920. Children: Marianne, born 1923, died in 1937” I also found the couple on a passenger list for the steamship “Ubena” just a month after it was launched by the Deutsche Ost-Afrika Linie shipping company. The new ship operated on a newly established route, taking 21 days to travel from Hamburg via Rotterdam and Southampton to Las Palmas, and from there to Cape Town. They then continued via Port Elizabeth, East London, and Durban to Lourenço Marques. Franz later moved to Switzerland and passed away in Vaz/Obervaz. I haven’t been able to determine when or why he moved there, or if he had any other children. Victoria Brinckman I couldn’t find much about the middle child in our photo, Victoria Mathilde Carlota Brinckman. However, a note on her birth certificate states that she passed away on March 24th, 1986 in Reinbek, near Hamburg. I don’t know if she ever married or had children. Anita Brinckman The youngest sibling, Anita Bertha Brinckman, married in February 1929 in Harburg, but I haven’t yet found her spouse. She lived a very long life - almost 100 years - and passed away on October 5, 1998, in Giforn, about 150 km south of Hamburg. The Brinckman Siblings' Parents and Grandparents I also uncovered some interesting facts about the children’s parents and grandparents. The Brinckman siblings never knew their grandfathers, as both had passed away before they were born: • John Friedrich Brinckman, a schoolteacher from Güstrow, and • Franz Julius Rübke, a merchant from Göttingen. Their maternal grandmother, Maria Mathilde (Rübke) Hector, née Wilson, remarried and lived in London, Australia, and later in Altona, near Hamburg, but also passed away before the siblings were born. I believe their mother, Victoria, was born in Mexico City in 1867. Her parents had married there in the 1850s, and many of her older siblings were also born in Mexico. Their paternal grandmother, Elise Brinckman (née Burmeister), lived about 200 km away in Güstrow. The siblings’ mother, Victoria, passed away in 1938 and was buried at the Old Cemetery of Harburg. Their father had died three years earlier. That’s all I have on the siblings for now! I hope to uncover more in the future, especially about Victoria and Anita’s lives. If you have any additional information, feel free to share!

UPDATED! This photo has been reunited with other Wiebe family photos in Estonia! With the kind permission of the keeper of the photo I have updated the blog post for you with additional information. One thing you should know about Estonians is their love for choir music. It almost seems like every Estonian has sung in a local choir at one stage in their life. I sang in a children’s choir, and after that in a youth choir. The absolute highlight of Estonian choir music is the Song Festival, held every 5 years in Tallinn, Estonia. The tradition goes back to 1869! Thousands of choir singers practice with their local choirs the same songs in different harmonies in order to qualify for the Song Festival on the central stage. Some wear their local folk costumes for the event, and everyone is aware of the great honour to perform, come rain or shine. I’ll leave a couple of Youtube links for you at the end of this blogpost – you’ll love it, or at least you’ll be impressed, I’m sure. This found group photo from 1911 shows the choir of the Haapsalu city ( Haapsalu laulukoor , lauluselts ) with their teacher and musical master Kirill Wiebe . Doesn’t he look like one proud teacher! Surrounded by his students of all ages, bound together by their love for choir music. Among the singers, you’ll also find Kirill’s own daughter Lydia Wiebe . The other members of the choir are not identified. So let’s first see what we can find out about the father and the daughter. Kirill (Karl) Wiebe (or also Viibe/Wiibe in Estonian) was born on January 30, 1865, on the Estonian island of Saaremaa. Most Estonians are of Lutheran faith, but Kirill’s family (his father Jakob Wiebe and mother Tiiu Darja née Vaust) belonged to the minority congregation of Russian Orthodox. Kirill graduated from the Teachers Seminar in Tartu in 1885 (one of the students in the back rows). Saaga His passion was choir music and he started conducting the Haapsalu choir after he graduated. Kirill Wiebe was, with some interruptions, the choir director of the Maria Magdalena Apostolic Church in Haapsalu for nearly 40 years. Here's a photo of Kirill I found in the Estonian Archives online: Fotis Kirill had two daughters with his wife Pauliina née Brandt (also: Paula; born November 1, 1867, died on March 1, 1932): Julie (also: Julia; born on September 23, 1899), and Lydia (also: Liidia; born on December 13, 1897). During WWI, Kirill’ Wiebes family was forced to evacuate to the Russian Empire. As a result of the Estonian Independence War following WWI, the Estonian Republic declared itself independent and expats could return and apply for Estonian citizenship. The Wiebe family returned to Estonia in 1920. According to the optant's application, the family was to return to Haapsalu. As I mentioned at the beginning, I have now learnt new details about this group photo and the persons in it. I now know that the woman I've circled was the girls' mother Pauliina, and the other girl I've marked was the younger sister Julie. I've also learnt that Julie fell ill with pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 24 and sadly passed away. Photo of Julie Wiebe on Geni.com The older sister Lydia was 15 years old at the time. Liidia was involved in music, like her father, and later in life gave piano lessons to children in her home. Lydia Wiebe And this is what I've learnt in the process of returning this photo: The woman in the large white hat next to Lydia was likely her aunt, her mother's sister, Iraida Siton (née Brandt, born on August 26, 1870). The woman standing behind the girls' mother Pauliina , was likely the girls' other auntie, Johanna Eleanore Neiman (née Brandt, born on March 3, 1876). The third girl in an identical white blouse was the girls' cousin, Miliza (aged 13 in the photo). Pauliina, Iraida and Johanna inherited a plot of land in Haapsalu from their father, Fromhold Gottlieb Brandt. The youngest sister, Johanna, built an additional house on the plot in 1904 for her family. All three sisters lived on the same property, and the girls Lydia, Julie and Miliza grew up like three sisters. Later in life, Miliza and Lydia lived together in the same house in Haapsalu. Neither of them had children. I am sure that the ambition of his choir was to participate in the Estonian Song Festival, too. And perhaps they even did! When I look at the photo of him, I get the feeling that he inspired many young people to love and take up choir singing. I leave a few Youtube links to Estonian Song Festivals here for you: Link for 2019 (1) Link for 2019 (2) – one of all time favourites – only women choirs Link for 2014 (1) Link for 2014 (2) The next Song Festival ( Laulupidu ) will take place between July 3-6, 2025. Find out more about it on www.visitestonia.com (no commercial ad, just a personal recommendation ;-))

Happy Wedding Wednesday! Today, I have a lovely wedding photo for you from Vienna, Austria. On the back of the photo, someone has scribbled: “Uncle Theodor and wife Acksteiner,” along with a birth date, “* 1870,” and a death date, “+ 1936,” as well as the name of the wife, Anna Dworschak. Spoiler alert – I found the couple in the records! Theodor Acksteiner was indeed born in 1870, specifically on July 1st in Great-Stiebnitz in Bohemia (today’s Czech Republic), to parents Amand Acksteiner ( 1838-1898 ) and Anastasia, née Kienel ( 1842-1921 ). Anna Dworschak was seven years younger, born on July 15th, 1877, in Felixdorf (Neustadt in Vienna) to parents Thomas Dworschak (also Dworak) and Barbara, née Frisch. I assume this was perhaps a workplace romance, as both were weavers by profession. The couple married on October 6th, 1900, in Vienna, when the groom was 30 and the bride was 23 years old. The couple endured their share of heartache. Their baby girl, Anna Barbara Acksteiner, died at less than two weeks of age in March 1904. Two years later, they lost their son, Josef Acksteiner (1895-1906), at just 11 years of age due to kidney failure. I couldn’t find any other children for the couple in the records. Theodor passed away from laryngeal cancer in May 1936 at the age of 65. Anna died just a year later from heart failure at the age of 59. With all the grief Anna endured in her lifetime, it seems she may have died of a broken heart. Theodor came from a family of weavers. His father, Amand Acksteiner, was a weaver. Theodor’s younger sisters—Theresia Brumeik (*1874), Leopoldine Kusinger (*1876), and Wilhelmine Bittner (*1872)—were all weavers, at least before they married. Theodor’s younger brother Josef (*1881) was a machinist, and his youngest sister, Mathilde, was born in 1882. Perhaps a child of one of the siblings noted Uncle Theodor’s details on the back of this wedding photo. I'd love to reunite it with its family!

In my last blogpost I wrote about the  Kratzer sisters from Shamokin Dam , Pa., whose family photos I was fortunate to snatch at an Instagram sale. Click HERE to read my previous blogpost. But there were also many photos of the Kratzers’ friends in the photo lot. Let’s take a look at some of them, shall we! The first friend is  Judson Miller . I zoomed in on the plate number, it says “G-265-J Ohio”. Was this Judson's car, and had he travelled from Ohio to visit the Kratzers in Shamokin Dam, in Sunbury, Pa? Ohio was the key clue! Judson Miller was from Niles, Ohio. His father, Clyde Miller, had been born in Sunbury, Pa., where Judson visited his grandmother, Mrs. Albert Miller, every summer. This is likely how he knew the Kratzer sisters and how his photos ended up among the Kratzer family’s collection. He seemed to have been friends (or perhaps more?) with Amy Kratzer. And then I found this in The Daily Item of April 12, 1945…. Oh, poor Judson! Such a brave and handsome young man… it's just heart-breaking. This photo of Judson might be one of the last ever taken of him, and I am honoured to share it with you so that his bravery will never be forgotten… I have uploaded his photos to  FindaGrave.com . The next special person in the Kratzer family’s life, especially for Margie Kratzer, was Jane Cyrene Hottenstein , who was born on March 14, 1931, in Sunbury, Pa., to parents Franklin William Hottenstein and Daisy Burdessa (née Rebuck). By 1940, the family had moved into the house at 209 Walnut Street in Shamokin Dam. Remember, the Kratzers lived at 212 Walnut Street at the time! So the girls were neighbors, and since Jane was an only child, she likely enjoyed the company of the Kratzer girls, especially Margie. Jane married Robert Eugene Benner in 1952, but the couple  divorced  in 1970. They had three children. Jane passed away in June 1993. I wonder if she and the Kratzer sisters remained friends for many years? Then there were two photos of the Roush family. The first one is labelled “ Harold Roush “. “ Roushie ”, as he was called by his friends, was not hard to find. I will let his obituary published in  The Daily Item  of September 12,1997, tell the many interesting details about him. I will add his photo to  FindaGrave.com . The second photo of the Roush family in the Kratzer family collection is labelled “ Roush girl “: I wonder if she was Marjorie Roush , Harold’s sister. Looks like  Marjorie E. “Toot” (Roush) Loudy  passed away just a few years ago, in September 2018. There is a  FindaGrave  memorial for her. Her  obituary , published in  The Daily Item  of September 30, 2018, also includes a photo of her: I love that the obituary says she loved “ birds, cats, dogs, and all animals ” cause this one photo of her among the Kratzer family collection is one where she was holding a dog! I will add this photo to her  FindaGrave.com  memorial. The next friend whose photo the Kratzers kept all these years was Ann Sholter . She was Nancy Kratzer’s friend and classmate at Shamokin Dam School. Ann L. Sholter was the youngest child of Andrew S. Sholter and Laura (née Stiles). She was born in 1935, and her brother, Russell, was 12 years older. In 1940 , Ann lived at 131 Main Street in Shamokin Dam. Ann married Maynard Franklin Aungst and passed away in December 2021. According to her obituary , she worked as a secretary, bookkeeper, and business partner with her husband, owning the former Jersey Shore Hotel, the Ice House, and the Grey Stone Inn near Piper Field in Lock Haven. She enjoyed reading, crocheting, caring for nature, and feeding deer in her beloved Pine Creek and Little Pine Creek valleys. Her obituary also includes her photo—still with that same smile! The last photo shows a man named Jr. Kantz standing in front of a sign for “Chestnut Apartments.” I’m not sure who he was. Perhaps he was Charles Junior Kantz  (1922–2007), born in Snyder, Pa., who married Amanda (née Reichenbach) in 1944. Reichenbach is the same surname as the Kratzer sisters’ mother’s maiden name—was that the connection? I really can't be sure about this one, so I’ll leave it as is for now. Perhaps one day, we’ll know more!