UPDATED! This photo has been returned to relatives in Estonia!
This wedding photo came from a pile of photos I found in Estonia last summer. It shows Ameeli and Albrecht Annimäe on their wedding day on May 13, 1929.
Eduard Albrecht Miltop was born on February 2, 1899, in Estonia to parents Juhanes and Leenu Miltrop. On May 13, 1929, Abrecht married Amelie Agathe née Saapar. Amelie had been born on April 16, 1907, in Kihlevere, Estonia, as the youngest child of farmer Jüri Saapar and Katta Kristiine née Klaasberg.
In the 1930s, Estonians were growing wary of the German-sounding surnames that had been given to them at the beginning of the 19th century by their German masters (Estonians were serfs back then) and a law was adopted which allowed to change a surname into a more Estonian-sounding one. And so in June 1935, the Miltops became Annimäes!
A remark by the couple’s oldest child Astrid that I came across on geni.com explains that the couple chose their new surname together cause they liked the sound of it and in translation “Annimäe” meant the “hill of Anni” which was a small hill close to where the couple lived.
Albrecht and Amelie kept a farm in Võipere village in Aaspere, Haljala county. They had two children, Astrid and Mart. Albrecht was a passionate hunter. He passed away in April 1963. Amelie outlived her husband by more than 30 years, and passed away in October 1995.
There are some photos published on geni.com of the couple. I have added my photo to that collection, hoping to make contact with their descendants and return the photo to the family.
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