What would I do without my Instagram community! Once again they’ve helped me put together the puzzle pieces of another lost photograph! I wasn’t sure what was written on the back of this early 1900s wedding photo from Vienna, Austria, so I asked my Instagram family and together we pieced together that it says: Tante und Onkel Windisch (aunt and uncle Windisch) Leopoldine & Johann (Mannsdorf 4 Bruder von Maria Pohl (brother of Maria Pohl) Ok, so my first step was to check if any Leopoldine and Johann with the surname Windisch got married  in Vienna in the 1900s. And indeed, I found one Leopoldine Antonia Windisch and one Johann Ankerl who tied the knot in Vienna on November 22, 1908. But who were the “aunt and uncle Windisch”? Leopoldine’s parents, Leopold Windisch and Theresia née Sternek? Or was this photo dedicated to Leopoldine’s paternal uncle and aunt (if she had any)? And what about the last line “brother of Maria Pohl (I can’t quite make out the surname). Was Johann Ankerl the brother of one Maria Pohl née Ankerl? The only sister I’ve found for Johann was one Caroline Elisabet Ankerl, born in 1888, with the married surname Regal. Sometimes too much information is confusing! Anyways, what I can tell you about the couple is that both Leopoldine and Johann were 24 when they got married. Johann worked as a streetcar operator in Vienna. Leopoldine was employed as “Diensthelferin” which I think means she was probably a maid. But I must say, her dress is way too stunning for someone on maid salary. I wonder what I'm missing... The couple's first son Johann Franz Leopold Ankerl was born on June 6, 1907. What is curious about this birth record is that at the time their son was born, Leopoldine and Johann were not married. They got married in November 1908. I can only speculate why they chose to stay unwed at the time when cohabitation without marriage was highly unusual. Maybe they were modern in their thinking. But looks like when Leopoldine found herself pregnant with their daughter Leopoldine, the couple decided to make it official. Little Leopoldine was born into wedlock on June 19, 1909. Sadly, she died just 2 days later. I can only hope that the birth of little Karl on January 26, 1911, gave the grieving parents new hope. Sadly, Leopoldine died of tuberculosis on July 30, 1917. She was just 32, leaving behind a grieving husband and two boys, aged 10 and 6. These tragic ends of young people in my found photos has become the norm these days; many of the stories I’ve recently discovered have involved the persons dying way before their time, or losing their parents or children. This is just heart-breaking. Life is just so damn precious! Her sons would live long lives. Johann Jr. passed away in 1983, and Karl died in 1991. Their father Johann Sr. lived a long life too, and passed away in 1947. I will add this wedding photo to FindaGrave.

This photo was a birthday gift to Agathe Gerbracht’s mother at Christmas 1890 in New York. The dedication on the back of the photo says in German: “Der lieben Mutter zum Geburtstage von Agathe Gerbracht Dec 25 / 90” I think the surname was added later (and thanks to whomever added it, otherwise we wouldn’t have found this woman’s story!) So I set out to find an Agathe whose maiden name or married name had been Gerbracht. How old do you think she was in 1890 when she had her photo taken? I can answer that: she was 26! Yes, I found her! Watchmaker’s daughter Agathe Lampe was born on October 27, 1864 in Germany. She was 7 years old when she made the journey from Germany to New York just before Christmas of 1872 together with her mother Anne Lampe née Beyer and her younger sister Anna who was 4 at the time. Her father Heinrich Wilhelm Lampe must have got to New York some time earlier in the same year. The Lampe’s would pass through the Castle Garden upon their arrival: "Castle Garden Emigrant Depot was America's first facility dedicated entirely to the welfare of immigrants coming to America. The facility opened to the public on August 3rd, 1855, and closed on April 30th, 1890. Between August 3, 1855, and December 31, 1889, the last year for which data was recorded, 8,280,917 of the 10,956,910 immigrants who entered the United States (75%) passed through Castle Garden. The largest ethnic group that came through the facility were Germans, followed by the Irish, English, Swedish, Italians, Scottish, Russians, Norwegians, Swiss, and French. Today, about 20% of Americans can trace their ancestry to someone who came through Castle Garden. The facility was the first of its kind to take detailed records of the people who passed through its gates. Officials recorded the names of each individual and family, the vessel they arrived in, their destination, the amount of money they had on hand, and even the names of family members already in the United States. Castle Garden provided these new arrivals a safe place to buy railroad tickets, exchange money, contact relatives, rest, and even wash up before leaving. Though most of its original records were destroyed and little of the facility remains, original stories and images of the facility have been preserved in newspapers and other media." Referenced from: National Park Service, NY Source: Library of Congress I can only imagine what Agathe and her little sister were thinking, taking in the New World after a long journey of several weeks at sea. Old photographs of New York can only do the city so much justice. Life was buzzing with languages and so many smells of food, people, animals: "New York City had expanded considerably in the years since the Civil War. The city had come to dominate nearly every sector of the US economy, helping to drive a national post-Civil War surge in commerce, manufacturing, and finance. The city’s population had doubled from 500,000 in 1850 to around one million.[4] The city’s physical landscape was also expanding, with an increasingly complicated transportation network facilitating the construction of new residential neighborhoods in upper Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Westchester, among others. New York City was no longer just important nationally. By the early 1870s, the city had become the “Metropolitan City of the World,” generating a new form of urban capitalist modernity that became a global export in the latter half of the 19th and early 20th centuries." Referenced from: The Gotham Center for New York City History. The Lampes settled down in Brooklyn where I find them in 1875. 40% of Brooklyn’s wage-earners worked in NYC. Boats and ferries would bring thousands of them to NYC daily. The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge had just begun and would not be completed until 1883. Once the bridge connected Brooklyn with Manhattan, Brooklyn’s population exploded. Rents were lower in Brooklyn and demand was high. At the same time, by the late 1860s, Brooklyn’s street numbering system was getting out of hand. All this must have been overwhelming for young Agathe. Agathe married Ernst Gerbracht on May 1889 in Brooklyn. Which explains why our photo, dated December 1890, was signed with her married name. Ernst was 11 years older than Agathe and in a sugar refinery business. In 1892, I find the couple living in Brooklyn.  But by 1900, their marriage had ended. By 1905, Agathe had moved in with her widowed father. A year later in 1906, Agathe remarried and her second husband was Charles Winfield. Agathe’s father Heinrich Wilhelm Lampe (naturalised and americanised to be called Henry William) died in 1912: Source: newspapers.com Henry William Lampe had done well in the US. According to the 1910 Census, he owned a house, free of morgage, and had own income. Apparently he left his daughters some value in Brooklyn real estate. Sadly, Agathe died of a stroke on April 5, 1914, in Queens, New York. She was just 49 years old. But before I end, I have to share something curious about Agathe’s last will. As mentioned, Agathe’s father probably left Agathe a comfortable inheritance cause when she died in 1914, her estate was worth $8,700 which is about $275,000 in today’s value (about $243,000 in real estate, and about $31,000 in personal effects). Agathe did not have any children and was married to Charles Winfield at the time of her death, but the couple had separated. Curiously she only left her husband $5 from her estate ($158 in today’s value). Charles filed his objection with the court, claiming that his wife must have been a victim of fraud and undue influence when she executed her will just one day before her death. Source: newspapers.com Source: newspapers.com The Springfield News-Sun even published a caricature about Charles in their April 29, 1914, paper. I don’t know if Charles was successful in court. Source: newspapers.com Some of Agathe’s estate went to Agathe’s sister Anna Elisabeth Kleber. Just two months after Anna lost her sister, Anna would also lose her husband  Adam Kleber. Two deaths within 2 months, just heart-breaking! Neither Agathe nor Anna had any children, at least I’ve found none. I still hope that there’s someone out there who might miss her story and photo! I will add her photo to FamilySearch. 132.705 alien passengers from Germany arrived at the Port of New York during the year 1872, more than double as much as from any other nationality. The Lampes were among them. They would make a good life for themselves in Brooklyn, the melting pot that was and still is New York!

This photo came identified with the name of the person, the names of her brother and her father. I wish it also had a stamp of the photo studio, but unfortunately the photo bears no reference to a location. This was: Therese Hebberling, Schwester v. Fritz Hebberl. (Sister of Fritz Hebberl.) Tochter v. Karl Hebberl. (Daughter of Karl Hebberl.) Judging by her outfit style, the photo was taken in the 1880s. How old do you think she was in this photo? In her 30s-40s? So perhaps she was born in the 1850s? I found one Ida Auguste Therese Heberling, born on November 29, 1859 in Augustwalde in Pomerania (Pommern, today's territories of Germany and Poland) to Carl Friedrich Heberling and Marie Magdalene née Falk. Father Carl was a farmer. But there is nothing else known to me about them. Now the next find has nothing to do with my first findings. I found one Karl Friedrich Josef Hebberling, born on November 3, 1849 in Immenstadt in Allgäu (Bavaria), who was married to Barbara Haller and had a stepson Friedrich Haller. I initially thought perhaps this could have been the brother Fritz (Fritz could be a petname for Friedrich as well). But since there is no other information, like about his parents, this remains just a guess. I'm afraid Therese Hebberling will remain a brick wall for now. Hopefully one day I can solve the mystery.

Happy Wedding Wednesday, everyone! Today I want to share a lovely wedding photo with you from 1910. Someone has labelled this photo with: “Magdalena Ernerth née Lohn with husband Peter, married on January 8, 1910, Coblenz” Such a good-looking couple, well-dressed and ready for big plans for the furture! But my smile soon disappeared when I found yet another tragic story hidden from view of this photograph. Just after Christmas of 1916, Magdalena must have received a telegram with the horrid news that Peter had perished from his head wounds he received in the battles of Verdun in France, on December 27, 1916. His name has been forever carved into stone of the WWI memorial in Kesselheim in Koblenz. He was 32 years old at the time and father of three small children. Magdalena never re-married. She was probably too busy tending to her sons Peter (1910-1988), Josef (1912-1975) and Ernst Jakob (1913-1965) as well as to their farm with lots of farmwork in their fruit gardens and fields. I can only imagine her heart breaking a thousand times all over again when she had to send off her three sons to fight in WWII. Luckily, they all survived, married and gave Magdalena several grandchildren. Magdalena passed away in 1970 at the age of 82. I reached out to a regional historian who has been looking into the military records of everyone who perished from the region and he was able to confirm my findings as well as give me a bit of context and background information. I am in awe of Magdalena’s strength and resilience. She endured so much heartache and hard work. She lost her own parents as a child, and then her own children lost one of theirs. She made the best of her life, and I truly hope that she found happiness and joy through it all! I hope to make contact with Magdalena and Peter’s grandchildren so that I can return this wedding photo to the family.

Updated! This original photo has gone home to Eugen's sisters family! This handsome man was Eugen Alfred Keiler, 26 years old in September 1906. I found his photo in an antique store in Estonia. The little piece of paper was clipped to it, so looks like someone already did a bit of research on him. I wonder why the photo still ended up in the pile of lost photos despite someone taking such interest in recording his details. I did some fact-checking and this is what I found: Eugen Alfred Keiler was born on November 13 (new calender November 26), 1880 in Tallinn, Estonia. He was possibly of Baltic German heritage, but I'm yet to confirm. He had 4 sisters: Agnes Hermine (Keiler) Fliegenring, Selma Elisabeth (Keiler) Adler, Frieda Ludmilla Keiler and Erna Dagmar (Keiler) Hljupin. But he was the only son of his parents Karl Leopold Keiler and Maria Amalia née Tolck and the only heir to his father’s business. Eugen’s father Carl (also: Karl) Leopold Keiler was an editor, a typesetter and a print house owner. Between 1904 and 1906 the popular Estonian family magazine “Rahwa Lõbuleht” was printed at his father’s printing house "Karl Keiler", with his father and Victor Jacobson as chief editors. Source: Dea.digar.ee The magazine spread articles and short stories on family, humour, culture and science on 32 pages and was published twice a month: Source: Dea.digar.ee When Eugen’s father passed away in April 1909, Eugen took over his printing business. Eugen married Katharina Amalie Anna Danelius on September 6, 1909 at the St. Olai’s Church in Tallinn, in the same church his parents had wed in 1878: St. Olai's Church (Oleviste kirik), Tallinn, 1909. Source Katharina was originally from Latvia (possibly of Baltic German heritage?). And Katharina was not the only one Eugen married that day. In fact, Katharina brought her little daughter Herta-Marie into the marriage too. Little Herta was almost 2 years old at the time, and Eugen was probably the only father she ever knew. Although it looks like Eugen never legally adopted Herta (she shared her mom's maiden name Danelius into the 1920s), Herta's confirmation record from 1923 lists Eugen has her father, For a while, life was bliss for Eugen. His daughter Agnes Elise was born on June 29, 1910. He was running a successful printing business. But in February 1911, life took a tragic turn. Baby Agnes died at just 7 months. Katharina was pregnant with her third daughter Erica Anna at the time who was born at the beginning of May and died just 3 weeks later. Within 3 months, the Keilers lost two of their three small children. It was probably little consolation when he was honoured for his 10-year-service in the volunteer fire department a few weeks later. On top of that, WWI would soon begin and Estonia would be sucked into it, too. I don’t know what exactly happened, but in September 1916, at just 37 years of age, Katharina passed away. With Eugen in military service during WWI, I don’t know who took care of the 10-year-old Herta, perhaps Eugen's mother. After WWI ended for the rest of the world, Estonians fought their Independence War against Russia for another 2 years. Finally, on February 2, 1920, the Tartu Peace Treaty was signed and Estonia declared itself a sovereign democratic republic. Eugen helped pave the way to democracy and independence, as he served in the Estonian Army during the Independence War. Here's a photo of his regiment in 1920. Perhaps Eugen was in this photo too? Source: Wikimedia (Põhja-Lääne armee Narvast Nõukogude Venemaale ärasaatmise eel, 1920) I don’t know what became of his printing house. Strangely, in 1921, Eugen's occupation was carpenter. He was living in apartment 8 at 23 Uus Str. in the old town of Tallinn. his church, the St. Olai’s, was just a walking distance from his house (located just behind his block). Source: GoogleMaps According to the St. Olai’s list of congregation members from 1928-1939, Eugen was living in that house together with his mother Marie. He never remarried. I don’t know how the rest of his life turned out or how long his life was. In 1940, the Soviets occupied Estonia and put brakes on Estonia’s independence for the next 50 years. Did Eugen witness the devastating bombings of his city during WWII? Or how his house was nationalised by the Soviets? I don't know. I hope that despite all the curveballs life threw at him, he lived a fulfilling life. I will add his photo to his Geni page and will try to make contact with its administrators. Perhaps I can return this photo to the family. In the meantime, enjoy the Keiler siblings' line-up - Eugen and his sisters (from the left, click on name for source) Agnes, Erna and Selma. A stunning family for sure!

Updated: This original photo has gone home to family! It can be challenging to differentiate between Victorian era boys and girls. The Victorians were not adamant about gender distinction in children's clothing. The clothes would often be identical. There’s of course the theory that boys often wore the hair parting on one side, while girls' hair was mostly parted in the middle. But this babe wore no parting at all. Luckily, this babe came fully identified, so we know he was a boy: Georg Oetling, 2 years + 4 months old. August 1896. So he must have been born in April/May of 1894. The photo studio stamp is from Hamburg city centre in Germany, my hometown! With all those valuable details I was able to find him in the records. And he sure left quite the paper trail! Georg Oscar Bernhard Oetling was born on May 1, 1894 in Hamburg. His parents were Julius Friedrich Jakob Oetling and Charlotte Elisabeth Ellen née Booth. The family lived in Winterhude in Hamburg. The head of the family was listed as a businessman on Georg’s birth record. Over the next couple of years, Georg’s siblings were born: Helene Olga Mariquita Oetling (1895-1984) Oskar Julius Helmuth Oetling (1897-1961) Ellen Gladys Oetling (1900-1902) Fanny Carlota Margarethe Oetling (1907-1996) And now the story gets really interesting. I find Georg on several passenger lists between 1927 and 1934, sailing between Hamburg and the USA and Mexico. In 1927 he was single, by 1930 married. As I was looking for any record of his marriage in Hamburg, I came across one from Mexico instead! Georg – or Jorge Oscár Bernardo Oetling as he was known in Mexico - married Maria Eulalia Elisa Carmen Collignon Robles Gil on October 29, 1927 in Guadalajara! Georg and Carmen had four sons: Georg Julius Oetling (1928-2021) Julius Carl Bernard Oetling (1929-1932) Hans Bernhard Oetling (1935-?) Carl Oscar Alexander Oetling (1938-?) And now the cherry on top – a public family tree on Ancestry shows Georg as a young man! Source: Ancestry public tree Oh how I love those age comparisons. You can recognise his smile in his toddler photo. And the haircut didn’t change much either. So handsome! According to the passenger list from 1930 he was 5 feet 6 inches tall (1,70m) tall, had blond hair and blue eyes. Georg was widowed in 1971. He passed away in February 1982 in Guadalajara. The family tree on Ancestry is very well researched and goes back many generations. There are photos of two of Georg’s siblings, of his parents, grandparents and even great-grandparents! I will try to make contact with the family and return the photo.

This little fellow was Carl Frederick Gustavus Schroth. Someone marked down his birthday too: February 23, 1885. Little Carl was 6 months old when this photo was taken in London. I find one 6-year-old Carl F. G. Schroth living with his parents Carl E. and Marion Schroth in Islington, London, in 1891. Looks like Carl was his parents’ only child. According to the same Census, Carl Sr. had been born in Germany which might explain why this photo was found in Germany. Perhaps it was sent to relatives in Germany? I don’t know when Carl Sr. came to England. I find one possible match for one Karl Eduard Schroth, born 27. Jan 1845 in Gröbitz in Saxony, Germany, who fits our profile. If that’s the case, we might also know baby Carl’s grandparents ‘names – Carl Friedrich and Christiane Schroth from Gröbitz. Perhaps recipients of this photo in 1885? In 1891, Carl Sr. was listed in the Census as a scientific instrument maker. I wonder what scientific instruments he made/manufactured in 1891? A decade later in the 1901 Census, Carl Sr. listed as a mechanical engineer. By 1911, Carl Jr. had lost his mama Marion. I don’t know what happened to her. In 1911, it’s just Carl and his father as well as Carl’s unmarried auntie Ida Baddeley living at 48 Mercers Road, Tufnell Park, Upper Holloway N, and Carl’s father is listed as widowed. This was their home for many years: GoogleMaps Carl’s father died in 1916, leaving his son about £160.000 in today’s worth in effects. For the next two decades Carl lived in the same house at 48 Mercers Road where we find him in the polling lists of 1936. Carl was an electrical engineer by profession. Carl married Kate Coward at the beginning of 1939 and the couple moved to 24 Bridge Way in Twickenham where we find them in the 1939 polling lists. I don’t think they had children – Carl was 54 and Kate 45 when they wed. Carl passed away in October 1961 at the age of 76. How wonderful that his baby photo was found in Germany in almost pristine condition some 140 years after it was taken. Someone kept it safe all these years, so that Carl could never forget his roots.

Another team effort here! I’m so touched every time my fellow-genealogy-detectives on Instagram and Facebook help me solve a photo mystery. My special thanks goes out to Maud! My gratitude is endless and the interaction is one of the reasons I keep digging and recording the family stories of strangers of the past. I’ve never seen a "padded" CDV like this one. It actually feels soft underneath the baby's image while it's flat in the corners. I asked around on Instagram and apparently it was indeed a thing. The cabinet card was pressed and with a unique technique the centre was raised to give the image this elevated effect. Photographers were experiencing, trying to stand out and offer something unique. And apparently Mr. Brezinski was one of the innovative photographers in Saint-Denis who offered this unique touch. I can imagine it was not for everyone's wallet. Maybe that explains why this type of a CDV is not so commonly known nowadays. I had no difficulty reading the first name: “Marcel”. But I was not 100% sure what the surnames were, so again I turned to my Instagram and Facebook community and within minutes we had solved the surname mystery, thanks to Maud! Next, I was wondering about the date underneath the name and if it read “1881”, But why does the second “1” look so different, I wondered? Until I was informed on Instagram by one Italian follower that this was an old way of writing the number “5”. So this photo dates to 1885. So here we go - this little pumpkin was Marcel Son Dumarais, or officially Jacques Joseph Eugène Marcel Son Dumarais, born on New Year’s Eve of 1884 in Saint-Denis in France. His father Joseph Jean Baptiste Georges Son Dumarais was a man of the law, a notary public. And apparently, his son was to become one too. In the early 1900s, Marcel was a student of law in Paris. Marcel was one of 10 children born to Léonie Louise Son Dumarais between 1879 and 1898. The family trees I’ve found on FamilySearch, Geneanet and MyHeritage are pretty detailed, if you want to know about the lives of Marcel's siblings. Marcel was about 1m 73cm tall (about 5’7”), had brown hair and grey-blue eyes. Marcel joined the military in 1904. He was assigned to the 4th artillery corps in Laon. In 1906, he was awarded the certificate of excellent conduct. I did not want to believe the twist in the story. Young Marcel died on May 5, 1908! His death was recorded in the 10th arrondissement in Paris. He died at home where his widowed mother cared for him. We don’t know what the cause of his early death was. Sadly, this was not the first death in the Son Dumarais family, and was not to be the last. Four more Son Dumarais children died before they could celebrate their 25th birthday, among them two brothers who died for France in 1917 ("mort pour la France"). Moreover, mother Léonie had been widowed just a year before Marcel died as well as lost her 9-year-old daughter the same year. Heart-breaking! Marcel’s life was over before it really began. I hope his life was packed with as many experiences as possible in those short years on Earth. I hope he experienced love, true friendships. What path would he have chosen, if life had not turned off his lights so soon? Would he have graduated from his law studies? Followed in his father's footsteps to honour his memory? Or did his passions lie somewhere else? Would he have fought in the WWI alongside his brothers? And survived, unlike his brothers? Rest in peace, Marcel Son Dumarais. I hope to return your photo to the descendants of your siblings.

This lovely photo came to me partly identified. Someone has written the following on the inside cover of the studio photograph: To Auntie Vida From Jack & Norman with love Oct 15th, 1922 Jack aged 3 years Norman aged 2 years So we know that Jack was probably born in about 1919, and Norman probably in 1920. But I was missing a very important detail – the surname of the boys! I knew I needed to narrow down the location where the photo was taken. I couldn’t read the somewhat calligraphic signature of the photographer. I turned to my Instagram community for help, and I’m happy I did – they always come through for me! Someone commented that the location was Narrandera (here spelt Narandera) in New South Wales, Australia, and the photographer Harold Phillip Jackson operated his photo studio there between 1921 and 1938. I am not acquainted with Australian genealogy and was hoping records are available online for me to look through. As I still didn’t have a surname for the boys, I looked for “Norman” with a “Jack” as brothers living in Narrandera in the early 1920s. Jack could of course be diminutive for John or Jackson, or even James. I knew the brothers were just a year apart in age. And that the seller of this photograph didn’t find the photo in Australia, but in the UK. So perhaps “Auntie Vida” lived in Europe, possibly UK. The Narrandera city directories I found online were not much help. I next turned to public family trees on Ancestry which might include brothers by the names Norman and Jack (or John, Jackson, or James) from Narrandera. It took me a while, but I found them! As soon as I saw the photo of their father, published on Ancestry, I knew I had the right family! Just look at the three! Photo of the father on the left: public family tree on Ancestry I then discovered that the boys’ father had a younger sister Vida who lived in England at the time this photo was dedicated to her, so that’s probably how the photo ended up in the UK. Yes, yes, yes, I love when all the puzzle pieces fall into place! So let’s see what we can find out about the brothers and their family. I can tell you that their lives were pretty well documented in the local newspapers which to my luck are accessible online. According to a public family tree on Ancestry, the boys’ father William Henry Canton emigrated to Brisbane, Australia in February 1911 from Tottenham, England. According to his application to the Mudgee Municipal in 1940, William was a veteran of WWI, he held the position of the first honorary secretary of Mudgee and District Patriots War Fund. He married the boys’ mum Violet Hayley in March 1918 in Sydney. Violet had been a nurse during WWI. She was from Tambarora, New South Wales. There is a tiny photo of Violet on the same public family tree on Ancestry: Their older son John “Jack” Henry Canton was born in 1919: And their younger son Norman William Canton was born on November 20, 1920: Weren't they just the cutest little fuzzy heads, like their daddy! In fact, I actually found a newspaper article mentioning Norman winning the 3rd prize in a Baby Competition at the Scotch Fair in Narrandera in November 1922: Source: Trove In 1930 I find the family in Mudgee, Robertson, the boys’s father listed as a salesman; according to a newspaper clipping from 1923, Mr. Canton was an auctioneer. Both Jack and Norman were avid athletes. Jack seems to have played excellent cricket, tennis and hockey. And Norman was a very good tennis player. Their names were in the local newspaper Mudgee Guardian in connection with matches held and prizes won all through the 1930s to 1950s. The readers were even kept informed about any injuries the two suffered or operations they underwent. Source: Trouve Source: Trouve Source: Trouve Source: Trouve Source: Trouve Both Jack and Norman were enlisted during WWII. Jack returned in 1941, and Norman stayed with the Royal Navy until 1948, he was in war service at sea until 1942. Whenever the boys visited home and parrents, the local newspaper made a mention of it: Source: Trouve Source: Trouve Source: Trouve Source: Trouve Upon return, Jack worked as a porter at railway stations in Dunedoo and Mudgee. Source: Trouve Source: Trouve Jack married Willa Margaret Knight in 1944 in Katoomba, New South Wales. Of course, the loal newspaper reported about the happy day. Source: Trouve As already mentioned, Norman was an excellent tennis player. The local newspaper mentions his wins in 1936 and 1941. Norman joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1938 and served till 1948. Another local newspaper article mentions that he and Carl Hughes won the Navy doubles in 1939. In June 1941, Norman was on leave at home “from a strenuous time at sea”, as reported by the local newspaper. Source: Trouve Norman married to Tomima Canton. In 1958 I find Norman and Tomima in Warrawong, Werriwa, Norman listed as labourer. His parents William and Violet were listed on the same page, living at Lake Heights. In 1963, Norman and Tomima are in Warrawong, Norman now listed as a waterside worker. In 1968, I find Norman in Oak Flats, Macarthur, working as a patrol officer. I don’t know if either of the couple had any children. Norman died on January 4th, 1979 and was buried at the New Wales Garden of Remembrance in Rookwood. Source: Trouve Jack passed away on January 30, 1997 in Wollongong, New South Wales. But what about their Auntie Vida, the woman this photo was dedicated to? She was the youngest sibling of the boys’ father William, born in 1902. So she was only 9 years old when her big brother William left England to start a new life in Australia. Vida stayed behind with their brother Oswald, mother Emily and father Henry Canton, who was a dentist in London. Aunt Vida married Harry King in 1923. Harry was a dental assistant and 20 years older than Vida. The couple did not have any children. In 1939, Vida was in government service, working as an examiner in government work. I wonder if the boys ever met their Auntie or if this photo was all she had of them! I hope to reunite the photo with the family!

I bought these two photos together at a local antique market in Hamburg. They were taken by the same photographer in Freiburg, Germany. Only the one of the gentleman is labelled: “? Otto Kretzschmer ?, father of Andreas Kr., in Mittenwald” I can only assume that the two photos are related. Perhaps father and his two children? Perhaps the boy in the second photo was the said Andreas Kretzschmer? And we cannot ignore the two question marks before and behind the name Otto Kretzschmer. Whoever labelled the photo apparently wasn’t 100% sure themselves. All I have is speculation, and a couple of facts to back it up. I could find one Otto Kretzschmer in the Freiburg city directory of 1905. I wonder if “Privat” behind his name means Privatier (“a man of independent means”)? He lived at Mozartstrasse 17 in Freiburg at the time. He lived in the same address a year later as well. But by 1907, he had passed away and the 1907 Freiburg city directory only mentions Mrs. Otto Kretzschmer, his widow. We also learn that her maiden name was Errock. She is listed in the Freiburg city directories between 1910-1912; then for a while not, but reappears in the 1930s. This time, they also state her first name, Annie: So I now looked for any connection of the names Otto Kretzschmer and Annie Errock and found an incomplete family tree on Ancestry for Annie Kretzschmer neé Errock and her husband Johann Georg Wilhelm Otto Kretzschmer. According to another tree on Geneanet, Annie and Otto got married in 1890 at the Anglican Chruch in Moscow! Annie had been born in Ardwick, Lancashire in England. Apparently, Annie’s father had moved the family from England to Moscow in about 1869, shortly after Annie’s birth in 1865. I don’t know what brought Otto to Moscow, where the two met and married. The Ancestry tree doesn’t give us any other dates regarding Otto. We learn that Annie died in Freiburg in 1942. Next I found a marriage record for one Mary Sarah Helena Kretzschmer, daughter of Otto and Annie Kretzschmer. She married Hermann Ferdinand Lüders in October 1919 in Berlin. By the time, her father Otto was diseased. The marriage record also gives us Mary's birth date: September 10, 1897. Perhaps she was the girl in the second photo? I find nothing on Andreas Kretzschmer. The description on our second photo mentions Mittenwald, a place in Bavaria. Could he have lived in Mittenwald later on in life? I have already written a blogpost about another family of Kretzschmers from Berlin. Now I’m wondering if these photos are in fact related to one another. I bought the two sets of photos at the same antique market in Hamburg about 6 months apart, but I can’t recall if from the same seller. I wish we knew more!

I don’t usually explicitly look for French photos simply for the reason that my French skills are very limited. But since more and more French birth, marriage and death records are available on the big international genealogy platforms, it makes research a lot easier. This beautiful woman has been identified as Marie Masson Lombard, the mother of Marcelle and Georges. I figured either Masson or Lombard was her maiden name, and that the photo was taken in the 1880s. And I found her in the records. Marie Odile Lombard was born on August 16, 1864 in Xivray Dans Leur Maison, Xivray-et-Marvoisin, Meuse, in France, to Marie Emélie née Soulier and her husband Henry Joseph Lombard. I wish I understood if her birth record mentions her father’s profession. Marie married Louis Eugène Guillaume Masson on September 4, 1886 in Xivray-et-Marvoisin. Again, I wish I understood enough French to read if their marriage record mentions their professions. The MyHeritage family trees for Louis and Marie mention that Louis was a “manoeuvre” (a technical operator?) and Marie “Couturière” (a seamstress?). Marie gave birth to at least 5 children. I then sadly learnt the devastating facts that Marie and Louis lost 3 of their children as babies: Marie Victoire Masson, born on Febr 27, 1888. She died just 3 days later. Germaine Marcel Masson, born on Sept 23, 1889. Sadly, baby Germaine died at just 2 weeks of age. Marguerite Louise Masson, born on August 26, 1890. She married Henri Briey in December 1910 and had 10 children. She passed away in 1968. André-Jules Masson, born on March 2, 1893. Baby André-Jules died four months later. Marcel Maurice Masson, born April 4, 1899. He married Gilberte Alexandrine Monin in November 1921 in Paris and they had a son Rene. Marcel passed away in 1976. I have not found a record for a child named Georg (or Georges). I don’t know much else about the life of the Lombard-Massons. I find Marie and Louis in the 1931 Census, still living in Xivray-et-Marvoisin. But I don’t know when they passed away. I hope to make contact with the descendants of the 11 grandchildren of Marie. Let's hope this photo goes home soon!

The photo shows a young man, Ludwig von Boecklin. The little cross under his name suggests that he died in 1898. The term “von” in front of the surname in Germany often suggests that the person might have been of noble patrilineality. And that was true for Ludwig! Ludwig von Boecklin was from an old Alsatian noble family. This is their coat of arms: Source: Der Ortenauer According to Wikipedia and Der Ortenauer, the family name was first mentioned in the records as early as 1200. In the 13th century, and especially during the 14th century, members of the family were able to acquire significant real estate. In 1442, the Rust estate in Ortenau in Baden came into the family ownership and became the family's ancestral home for a long time. At the same time, they received knighthoods several times because they were increasingly active in state administration. In 1513 the family was given the name Boeckhle von Boeckhkelsau and other lordly privileges by means of an imperial diploma. The surname then changed with time to what it is today: Boecklin von Boecklinsau. In 1773, Louis XVI acknowledged the baronial class (Freiherrenstand) in France. For almost 400 years, the Castle of Rust was the family's home. Today, the castle has been integrated into an amusement park of Europa-Park and it houses a restaurant in style of the Middle Ages. Source: Alemannische Seiten Here’s the family’s coat of arms (as found on Wikipedia): But now back to the young man in our photo. He was Ludwig Emil Adolf Georg Rudolf Boecklin von Böcklinsau, born on September 25, 1875 in Karlsruhe in Baden, Germany. Ludwig’s father Adolf August Ludwig Karl Ruprecht Baron (Freiherr) Boecklin von Boecklinsau was a Prussian lieutenant general. He had an impressive military career. In recognition of his many years of service, Adolf Boecklin von Boecklinsau was awarded the Commander's Cross, First Class, of the Order of Berthold the First on June 8, 1903, the Grand Cross of the Order of the Zähringer Lion on September 22, 1906, and the Grand Cross of the Order of Frederick on November 5, 1907. He actually has a Wikipeadia page dedicated to him. The Wikipedia page also says that Ludwig’s grandfather Emil Karl Ernst Eduard Boecklin von Boecklinsau had been a Baden chamberlain and district forester. Ludwig had an older sister Auguste von Wahlen-Jürgass (1873-1935) née von Boecklinsau. Their younger sister Amalie died as a toddler in 1880. I don’t know what Ludwig’s path was going to be. Was he going to follow the footsteps of his father on a military path, or was he interested in something completely different. He looks comfortable and in a good mood in the photograph, as if he did not have a care in the world. But there it is, the record confirming his death date. Ludwig was only 23 years old when he passed away on November 21, 1898 in Baden. I don’t know the cause of his early death. What a tragedy! No record suggests that he was married or had any children at the time of his death. But I'm still hoping to find someone who would appreciate this photo, perhaps his sister's descendants or a museum or a family archive of the Boecklin von Boecklinsaus.