Here we go again - sharing some of my Brick Walls with you. I'd love to find their story, but even though the photos are identified, I'm having difficulties piecing together their story. As always, if you know anything else about them or recognise the faces in my found photos, please let me know!
Therese Schumann
Here’s Therese Schumann at Christmas of 1907 in Berlin. She dedicated her photo to (I believe it reads) Hanchen (sweet for Hanna, Johanna) Treptaw as a thank you note for lovely hours spent together.
I find it so hard to guess the age of the strangers in old photos. Life was harder and hardships sometimes made people look twice their age. On the other hand, women hardly wore make-up and would sometimes look younger than their biological age. How old do you think Therese was in this photo? In her 50s? Was she born in the 1850s/1860s perhaps? Or was she even older, or I'm completely off here and she was in her 30s-40s?
In 1907, more than one Therese Schumann lived in the almost 4-million-population city of Berlin in Germany. What makes it more difficult is that I also don’t know if Schumann was her maiden name or married surname.
One Therese Christine Schumann, born in about 1864, died in Berlin in March 1916 at the age of 54. She was the daughter of a furniture polisher Eduard Schumann and his wife Josefa. This Therese was unmarried and kept her maiden name.
Then we have one Therese Christiane Schumann who was born on July 14, 1865, and died in Berlin in November 19401 at the age of 75. Her parents were Karl and Christine Röhrig. So this Therese Schumann’s maiden name was Röhrig.
Another Therese Schumann née Reichenbach died in 1924 at the age of 85 in Berlin, so she was born in about 1839. She might be a bit too old for our photo, though.
And then we have one Therese Emilie Schumann née Taubert who died in March 1923 in Berlin at the age of 66.
No idea which one could have been the Therese Schumann in the photo, or if any of the options is correct at all. A Brick Wall she will remain for now.
Oskar Zechendorf
Oskar Zechendorf had this ornate souvenir photo taken at a photo studio in Torgau, Germany.
Was it our Oskar I find in the city directory of Zeitz in the 1920s and 1930s listed as an organ builder (Harmoniumbauer)? Zeitz is not far from Torgau, just around 100 km.
I don’t think this was a mourning photo, even when it may look like one with the flowers and the text “to remember” (Zur Erinnerung). This was a common way for anyone to sign their portraits. Some photo studios adopted a fitting template with this in mind. Do you agree?
Grete Lenthold/Leuthold
You know I can't resist old photos of my namesakes. I so wish we found little Grete's story!
Grete could have been Grete or short for Margarethe. I was not entirely sure about little Grete's surname, so I asked my community on Instagram. The two options I couldn't decide between were Leuthold and Lenthold. Also Leuthow was suggested (but I see a Kurrent "d" at the end of the surname).
At the time little Grete started school in Magdeburg. She was carrying a Schultüte in her arms, a cane full of sweets and toys and school utensils gifted to the child on their very first school day. Germans wrote in Kurrent and Sütterlin cursive which are different from the modern (Latin letters) handwriting. Names were usually written in Latin letters. But the "d" at the end of her surname is a standard "d" in Kurrent/Sütterlin. "u" would have a little wave on it in Kurrent/Sütterlin, but not in names written in Latin. Very complicated, a science of its own :). So I still can't decide which option - Lenthold or Leuthold - is correct.
One of my Instagram followers suggested that perhaps she was Margarethe Weiß, born on August 17, 1892, in Magdeburg. Her family lived in Breiter Weg, not far from the photo studio. She married Friedrich Lenthold in 1922 in Magdeburg (he passed away in 1970 in Schweinfurt). Perhaps the photo was labelled by someone who already knew Grete by her married name and that's why labelled it as Grete Lenthold.
Please let me know if you recognise any of them or are related to them.
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