Elsy here almost what felt like screamed to be taken home with me when I found several photos of her at my favourite antique store in Estonia. I mean “scream” because she actually had her name printed on the photos by the photographer! How could I leave her behind, right! I snatched a few which were all obviously of her. I wish I could have taken them all, but the lot would have been pretty pricey.
I also picked one group photo which I hoped showed her in later years:
The group photo was taken in the Lydia Koidula park in Pärnu, dedicated to the famous Estonian poetess. and the year was probably 1936-39. As most of the photos had a stamp of a photo studio from Pärnu (Estonia) on them, I had a pretty solid clue about the location.
And although the spelling of the name on the photo varied a little, I had no problem finding Elsy in the records and on Geni.
Else Marie Allesaar was born on December 29, 1906 in Pärnu to parents Jaan and Maria Allesaar. She had two older sisters, Olga and Elisabeth.
She and her fiancé Martin Kosenkranius announced their plans to be wed in June 1930. And I came across a photo of what looks like their engagement or wedding day on Geni:
When comparing my group photo and this one, I recognise some familiar faces – Else and Martin, and the older lady is the same in both photos.
My group photo might also show Else and Martin’s daughter Aino standing in front of Else. Aino was born in February 1931.
The 1937 Census has her working as a typesetter for the magazine “Kultuur”. From what I could gather from different mentions of Else in the old Estonian newspapers, she continued in the job for a while, and in the Soviet era after WWII, she published short articles about books to read by schoolchildren, and her title read teacher.
Else died in June 1990 in Pärnu and I find her buried at a different cemetery from Martin who had passed away in 1989. According to Martin's Geni page he apparently married twice and therefore shares a gravesite with his second wife. So looks like the Kosenkranius' marriage didn't last.
But their daughter Aino might still be with us! In February last year (2022) she celebrated her 91st birthday. I will try to make contact with the administrators of her Geni page. How wonderful it would be to return these photos to her!
Yorumlar