Seven colleagues sat down for a group photo some time in the 1920s. But where? I wish I knew! The photo is kind of identified. The back of the photo seems to say: front row (left to right): Bessie McConnacher (the Scotch girl) myself another Scotch girl Margaret de Vine back row (left to right): Scotch girl Miss Porter (another Scotch girl in our office) Miss Edwards (new girl) I shared the photo on my Instagram page and my wonderful community helped me put together the story of one of our sitters: Bessie McConnacher was probably Elizabeth McConnacher, born in 1896 in Glasgow. She, her sister Anna and their mother Elizabeth McConnacher née Byrne lived at 388, Victoria Road, South, in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1921. In September 1922, Bessie arrived in Quebec in Canada. She was single and clerkess by profession. She intended to do domestic work in Canada. Her destination read: Montreal Government Scheme “Dorchester House”, Dorchester Str, Montreal. The "Dorchester House" later operated as Canadian Women's Hostel. It has also been referred to as immigrant reception hostel for women in other sources. In December 1922 Bessie travelled from Canada to St. Albans in Vermont. She had been residing in Ottawa at the time and according to her entry card had never been to the US before. She intended to stay for 6 weeks. She stayed 1,5 years. In May 1924, Bessie travelled from New York back to Glasgow . In April 1930, Bessie arrived once again in New York, this time with the intention to stay permanently and to become a US citizen. Bessie was 5”5’ tall, had brown hair and brown eyes, and 100$ in her pocket. She was received by one Mrs Bone. On Oct 10, 1932, Bessie married Gilbert E. Reid in Manhattan, a Scot from Aberdeen. But the marriage didn’t last long. By 1940, the couple had gone their separate ways. I am now pretty sure that the photo of the colleagues was taken in Canada or the US between 1922-1924. I don’t know exactly where they all shared an office. Four of the ladies were from Scotland, according to the description. I don’t know if Bessie kept her married surname after her divorce, or if she stayed in the US or returned to Scotland. I also haven't been able find anything on the other colleagues in the photo. The details are too vague. Margaret de Vine is the only one with a full name, but the search came back with too many options and I haven’t been able to find the connection to Bessie among them.

This lost photo is identified as of Roger Melland Gaskell, 6 months old on May 26th, 1882, and the photo was taken in Liverpool. Baby Roger Melland Gaskell was born on October 30, 1881 in Liverpool, Lancashire in England. He was the oldest child of James Bellhouse Gaskell and Harriette May née Melland. Roger had one younger sister Helen May (1883-1954) and four younger brothers William Ross (1884-1950). Clive Hunter (1886-1961), James Wilfrid (1887-1888) and Holbrook Lance (1897-1917). According to the 1891 Census, Roger’s father was an alkali manufacturer. In 1901, Roger was a student at the school of Kingsman in St. Julian district in Meole Brace, Shropshire, I suppose studying to become a schoolmaster. Unfortunately, Roger died on October 18, 1908, in France, two weeks before his 27th birthday. I don’t know the cause of his early death. There’s a photo of his gravesite in France on FindaGrave. The description on FindaGrave reads: Roger Melland Gaskell's grave in France with a floral tribute from a committee of Foreign Students. I wish life had given you more time to do great things in life, dear Roger! I will add his photo to FindaGrave and try to make contact with people behind his Ancestry page.

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.

This here was Johann Ewald Leyer from Vienna, Austria. He was 1 year and 14 days old in the photo, which was taken on August 20, 1892. I love how the photographer captured this moment in little Johann’s life, all distracted by his shoe. Johann could not wait to put on his shoes all by himself and go explore the big world! What do you think little Johann was like? What or who do you think he loved? I can give you a clue – probably animals. Johann Ewald Leyer was born on August 6th, 1891 in Vienna to mother Rosa Barbara née Hagner and Johann Leyer Sr.. Now you ask, why I mentioned animals? Johann grew up to become a veterinarian! He married Anna Johanna Szalay on February 1916 in Vienna. Johann was 24, and his bride 19. I assume the witnesses to their marriage were the fathers of the bride and groom: Josef Szalay, a merchant, and Johann Leyer, director of auxiliary offices of the state (if I’m not mistaken, of fire-fighters). I don’t know much else about Johann. I found him living at 38 Herbeckstrasse in Vienna in 1955, listed as a veterinarian. But that’s all. I wonder if he had any descendants who’d love to have his childhood photo.

Mr Joseph Foster sat down for this CDV at the photo studio of George N. Granniss in Waterbury, Connecticut, and looked straight into the camera. I wonder what he was thinking of in that very moment. He had come a long way from his birth town of Horsforth near Leeds in England. Was he happy with his life in America, was it all he imagined it to be? Joseph Foster, born in about 1814, married Hannah Hogg on December 14, 1834 in Birstall, York, in England. Soon after they welcomed their first son William. Son Thomas was born in 1837 and daughter Ann in 1846. According to the 1841 Census Joseph was a clothier. So he was either making or marketing fabrics or tailoring, I don’t know exactly which. In 1851 I find the family in Horsforth, but by 1860 they had emigrated to Waterbury in Connecticut. In October 1855, their oldest son William passed away in Connecticut at just 20 years of age. Which means, they emigrated some time between 1851 and 1855. The 1860 Census does not list Joseph’s occupation in Waterbury. But it does list his real estate worth – $3500 in today’s worth is nearly $130.000. With son William sadly dead in 1855, the Census should list Joseph’s younger children Thomas and Ann. But it doesn’t. I have no idea what happened to them. Did they stay behind in England? Or worse, did they pass away as children? Instead, one 12-year-old Jane Hogg was living in the same household with Joseph and Hannah. She was the daughter of one John Hogg, and she was born in 1841 in England. Perhaps she was Hannah’s niece as they share the same surname? I’ve no idea how come Jane ended up with the Fosters. She had entered the US in 1857 together with her father. In 1870, Joseph, Hannah (or Anna in the census taker’s handwriting) and Jane were still living together live in Waterbury. Joseph was a spinner and in 1870 he had a real and personal estate worth of about $116.000 in today’s value. Joseph passed away in October 1873, probably not so long after this photo was taken and was buried at the Riverside Cemetery in Waterbury. I will add his photo to FindaGrave.

Pain is so close to pleasure, they say. Would you believe that this applies to genealogy as well :)? The moment I find a lost photo, fully identified, perhaps even including clues regarding location or birthdates, such pleasure! But then I eagerly browse my favourite platforms for records, thinking to myself oh this will be a walk in the park, instead hardly anything comes up on them. Oh the pain :). Here are some of my newest Brick Walls - identified lost photos but the stories of the strangers in them remain a mystery. Käthe Tümler Finding little Käthe Tümler has been a bit of a headache. I can’t be sure if what I have found is really about the Käthe in this photo. This photo was apparently taken in July 1902. Käthe would be perhaps 2 years old in this photo? I found one Käthe Lizzy Tümler in the records who was born on September 1, 1900 in Hamburg to Bertha Wilhelmine Carla Litty née Mayer and her husband Alexander Friedrich Tümler. Her parents had got married in August 1899 in Hamburg. Her father was 43 at the time, and her mother 28. The photo studio was located in the centre of Hamburg, just a street away from Johannes Tümler's offices at 32 Neuer Wall in 1902: Käthe’s father Alexander Friedrich Tümler had some interesting patents registered in his name in the USA and the UK in 1901 and 1902! His patents concerned some specific improvements regarding the ladder tapes for Venetian Blinds. I then find one Käthe Tümler in Stuttgart in 1940, working as an artisan. I can’t be sure if this is the same Käthe. But the Käthe with the "Venetian Blinds father" passed away in August 1992 in Stuttgart, so perhaps Käthe moved to Stuttgart in the 1930s already. I really can’t be sure if I’ve found the right Käthe in the records. Which is why I’m including her in this blogpost of Brick Walls. Gabriele Bauer The text on this photo says "For you to remember your teacher Gabriele Bauer in 1892" and the photo was taken in Augsburg in 1893 (see the tiny print in the lower right corner). What did Miss Bauer teach? She could be perhaps in her 30s in the photo, perhaps born in the 1860s. But I can't find anything solid about her. Johannes Wilhelm Ostwald This one says “To my dear mother 1905, Wilh. Ostwaldt Jr.” and the photo was taken in Schöneberg-Berlin in Germany. I found one Johannes Wilhelm Ostwald born on July 24, 1904, in Berlin. His parents were Johannes Friedrich Wilhelm Ostwald and Elisabeth née Preuss from Berlin. Johannes Wilhelm Sr. had a long career in the Imperial German Navy. He was actually serving in the Navy at the time when Wilhelm Jr. was born. But there is nothing else I can tell you about little Wilhelm or his mother or how his life turned out. A classic Brick Wall! If you know anything else about these persons or recognise them in my photos, please let me know! Any new clue might help us find out more about them and their story and perhaps reunite them with their lost families again some day.

On October 16, 1906, Ewald Steffen sat down at his desk in Magdeburg and dedicated this photo to his dear friend Richard Nauendorff. Ewald and Richard were both insurance officers in Magdeburg. I could kind of guess from the way he looked that he was in that line of business, don’t you agree? Ewald and Richard were about the same age, perhaps they met at school or in job training. Friedrich Ewald Richard Paul Steffen was born on April 19, 1878 in Buckau to Maria Fähse and Otto Steffen. When this photo was taken, Ewald was still single. He married Frieda Laura Margarethe Hildegard Becker on October 9, 1909 in Magdeburg. She was 9 years younger and a daughter of a postal manager Karl August Becker from Magdeburg. There’s Ewald’s signature in the book of marriage records, he was definitely our man! The way he signed his name on the document and on the photo are identical! I find Ewald in the city directories of Magdeburg between 1910 and 1930, always in his steady job as an insurance officer. I don’t know if he and Frieda had any children. His friend Richard was taken from him in September 1913. Ewald himself died of stomach cancer in March 1939. He was only 60 years old. If you are related to Ewald Steffen, please reach out to me!

Robert Goddard had his photo taken in Bath, Maine. The facial hair reminds me of Abraham Lincoln, so looks like he favoured the same style. The following text has been changed since I originally shared it. Robert Goddard’s obituary from August 1910 in Lewiston Evening Journal sums up the most important milestones of his life: he was a moulder of iron and a dealer of ice. I initially mistook the business title for ice cream dealer. In my imagination I could picture Mr. Goddard quite the sweet tooth. But recently an attentive reader of the blogpost pointed out that it must have been ice blocks instead, used for refridgerating food. Robert owned an iron foundry business in Bath, Ma, in 1860. In 1883 I find him in the Bath city directory as an ice dealer. So I supposed he must have hopped on the train of success of ice cream craze taking over The US in the early 1880s. But instead, Robert was probably running a business, dealing with ice for food refrigeration. Wikipedia explains the end of 19th century popular trade with frozen water like this: "The ice trade, also known as the frozen water trade, was a 19th-century and early-20th-century industry, centering on the east coast of the United States and Norway, involving the large-scale harvesting, transport and sale of natural ice, and later the making and sale of artificial ice, for domestic consumption and commercial purposes. Ice was cut from the surface of ponds and streams, then stored in ice houses, before being sent on by ship, barge or railroad to its final destination around the world. Networks of ice wagons were typically used to distribute the product to the final domestic and smaller commercial customers. The ice trade revolutionised the U.S. meat, vegetable and fruit industries, enabled significant growth in the fishing industry, and encouraged the introduction of a range of new drinks and foods. It only flourished in the time between the development of reliable transportation and the development of widespread mechanical refrigeration." Robert was married three times: 1. to Elizabeth A. Eaton whom he married on August 6, 1840 in Rhode Island. With her, Robert had 6 children: James (1840-1900), Josephine, Amos (1853-?), Frank (1854-1915), Herbert (1857-1901) and Gilford (1859-?). Wife Elizabeth died in October 1859, perhaps in childbirth with baby Gilford, but I don't know for sure. 2. to Lucy Springer on February 4, 1860. With her, Robert had three more children: Edward, Elizabeth (1862-?) and Lucy (1864-?). Wife Lucy died in November 1891. 3. to widow Ellen Merriman Stover whom he married on July 26, 1892 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, when Robert was 74 years old. Ellen stayed by his side for almost 20 years, So altogether Robert had (at least) 9 children! He didn’t beat his own father’s record though – his father Amos Goddard had altogether 15 children between him and his two wives, the Crossmann sisters Abigail and Hannah. Robert’s mother Abigail “Abby” Goddard née Crossmann passed away when Robert was 20. Robert was born on June 29, 1818! And when he passed away on August 4, 1910, he was 92 years old! I will add his photo to FindaGrave. Robert outlived many of his children, but he got to enjoy his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Perhaps their descendants are missing him and would love to find this photo!

I bought this image recently at my local flea market in Hamburg. It says on the back: "To cousin Charlie from your North Dakota cousins Magdalene and Hortensia Kruger March 28, 1915" Kruger (or Krüger) is a very common German surname, so my first guess was that the sisters’ parents or grandparents must have immigrated to North Dakota from Germany. How wonderful to imagine that back in those days of snail mail, families still kept in touch with the relatives overseas, spanning over generations, maybe never having met each other in person! You couldn't just Facetime your overseas folks or keep track of their life on Instagram, but instead you sent a photo every few years. What I find even more interesting is that the photo was sent to the German cousin while WWI was raging in Europe and the world knew that Germany had started it. The US had not yet officially entered the war, but I'm sure it was not popular to be seen having close contact with the Germans, even when they were own cousins. If this photo was sent to Germany where I found it a 100+ years later, then cousin Charlie could have been Karl in German. And Karl held on to this photo for so many years, through two raging wars in fact. The sisters’ parents had immigrated from Germany, but independently from one another – father Fred Charles Kruger (or Friedrich Carl Christian Kruger) in 1884 at the age of 29, and mother Aurelia née Faustmann in 1887, at the age of 26. The passenger list reveals that Aurelia was a servant at the time, travelling together with other young German women, all servants. The couple must have met in America, they got married in Kane, Illinois, on the last day of 1888. They soon settled down in Elgin, Illinois, where I find them in the 1900 Census. Elgin was very popular among German immigrants. In 1900, 46% of the population were from Germany! The Elgin National Watch Company opened the first watch factory in Elgin in 1864. The company was one of the first to mass-produce watches. No wonder Fred chose this town as his new home – he was a watchmaker by profession, or so he stated in his passport application in 1890! He later worked as a fireman in Elgin and as a farmer in North Dakota. By 1910, the Krugers had left Elgin behind, and moved to Stark County in North Dakota, almost a 1000 miles away. I wonder what the reason for such a big move was? When I look at the names of their neighbours in Stark in the 1910 Census, the names all sound German. The sisters Hortensia and Magdalene Kruger had six other siblings – older sisters Teresa and Aurelia, and younger siblings Carl, Alexandrina, Herbert and Herald. Between the births of Teresa and Aurelia, father Fred spent a year in Germany. He had been recently naturalised and apparently well-off enough to purchase a return ticket for another overseas passage as well as leave his young wife in America with their newborn daughter. I wish I knew who was who in the photo. Magdalene Paulina Kruger was born on October 13, 1896, in Elgin. Hortensia Mildred Vilha Kruger was born on November 3, 1898 in Elgin. The older sister Magdalene married Rudolph Gerhardt who was a farmer near Taylor, North Dakota. Magdalene worked as a school teacher in the area. The couple had one daughter, Shirley (Gerhardt) James. Magdalene died in March 1992 in LaMoure, North Dakota, and was buried at the Dickinson Cemetery in Dickinson, Stark County. The younger sister Hortensia "Tenzie" married Fred Muecke on June 21, 1926 at Dickinson, Stark County. Fred had lost his first wife in 1922, just 2 years after their wedding day. The young widower was a farmer in the Gladstone area. Fred and Hortensia had three children: Louise (Muecke) Crone, Winnifred (Muecke) Wehner, and Otto Muecke. Hortensia passed away in November 1968, and Fred almost 20 years later. He never re-married. They were buried at the Immanuel Cemetery in Taylor, Stark County, North Dakota. I have added the sisters' photo to FindaGrave.com.

When this photo of baby Elvina Schouten was taken at 3 months old (born on January 22, 1881), her world was still in order. Her mummy Henrietta née Wappich and her daddy Jacob Schouten led a lovely life in Keokuk, Lee, in Iowa, and a year later, in April 1882, her baby sister Helen would be born. But when her baby sister was the same age as little Elvina in this photo, their mummy died. The sisters went into the care of their grandparents William Wappich and Stephanie née Lörz who also lived in Keokuk. I don’t know if it was an arrangement with their daddy Jacob Schouten or their daddy was overwhelmed with grief, but the girls never lived with their daddy again. Their daddy remarried in 1884 and had lots of babies who all lived in Keokuk. I assume Elvina and Helen knew their daddy and their half-siblings, too. One thing I can be sure of is that Elvina grew up with the smell of freshly baked bread in her nostrils! Both her father Jacob Schouten and her grandpa William Wappich were master bakers. Their Schouten grandfather Henry who was originally from Holland, founded the Schouten Bakery in Keokuk in 1870. Jacob, president of the Iowa's Master Bakers' Association, and his brothers took over the business and made it the "largest bakery in Iowa" (as quoted in the Daily Gate City of April 23, 1911, page 8): Source: Facebook Group Keokuk Iowa Historians Maybe Elvina and her sister got their resilience from their grandpa William Wappich. He was born on New Year’s Eve of 1828 in Baden, Germany. Which could explain why this photo ended up on sale in Germany - perhaps it was sent to relatives in Germany. William Wappich emigrated to the United States in historically pretty interesting circumstances. I found this summary on FindaGrave (Ref: Lee County History, Biographical Sketches, Keokuk, City): WAPPICH, WILLIAM, residence Johnson, between Fourth and Fifth streets; was born in Baden, Germany, Dec. 31, 1828; in 1848, went to Paris, France, and was there uring the three-days revolution; in 1849, he entered the regiment known as the Paris Legion, which was entirely composed of Germans living in that city, and were enrolled for the purpose of establishing a Republican form of government in Germany; they were however, defeated at the battle of Rastavt, and Mr. Wappich, in consequence, became a refugee; he fled to Switzerland, where he remained six months; then returned to Germany; was there only a short time before he was taken prisoner and kept in durance three moths; was tried and convicted to one year's imprisonment; the sentence was commuted to twenty days' dark imprisonment; at the expiration of the twenty days, he had to enter the army and serve until 1851; in 1852, he came to this country; live in St. Louis until 1853; then went to California; remained there until 1855, in which year he returned to St. Louis, and came to this city in the winter of the same year. He married Miss S. Lorz, of this city; have three children-Henrietta, William and Julia. Source: newspapers.com Grandpa Wappich was naturalised in 1857 and his children Henrietta (Elvina’s mum), William Jr. and Julia were first generation Americans. Still, as WWI broke out and Elvina’s uncle William Wappich Jr. applied for a membership with the Iowa Bar Association, his application was denied and his peers were very vocal about his heritage. Elvina, or “Vina” as she was known to loved ones, married Samuel Ayres Miller, a shoe salesman, on June 6, 1908. They became parents to their only child, Stuart Avery Miller, on March 31, 1911. Elvina was widowed at Christmas 1943 when her husband of 35 years passed away after a short illness. Elvina lived another 26 years and died on July 29, 1970. She was buried next to her husband, parents, sister Helen and aunt Julia Wappich at the Oakland Cemetery in Keokuk. Stuart and his wife Catherine gave Elvina three grandchildren: Stuart A. Jr., Stephanie and Diane. Maybe they are still out there, missing this photo of their grandma? I will add Elvina's photo to FindaGrave.

This photo came to me fully identified with a location, names and even birth dates. It reads: Lina Nerong (born in 1879) née Eehlers, with Ocke Nerong, born August 12, 1913 The location stamp reads Bergedorf. Bergedorf used to be an independent community and since 1938, a quarter of the great borough of Hamburg, my home city. Ocke Nerong is an unusual name, I hoped it would narrow down my search. And indeed, there were not many matches. One Ocke Nerong had made a name for himself as “the Chronist of Island Föhr”. According to Wikipedia, he was a teacher and a local researcher who published many articles and documents about the area of Flensburg, especially about the island of Föhr in the North Sea. But he passed away in 1909, so he obviously wasn’t the little Ocke in our photo. What are the odds, I thought to myself. Was he perhaps little Ocke’s grandpa? I can confirm that he was! Grandpa Ocke Nerong and his wife Friederike née Lorenzen had 5 children and the middle one, Friedrich Christian Nerong, was baby Ocke’s daddy. He married Ocke’s mama Karoline “Lina” Emma Margareta Ehlers on February 5, 1910 in Altona near Hamburg. Their marriage record also confirms that Lina was born in 1879 (on April 13), just like written on the back of the photo; and Friedrich on March 5, 1884. Friedrich was a teacher in Bergedorf. Looks like Ocke might have become a concert pianist and piano teacher. At least I think it’s our Ocke in the city directories of Hamburg between 1950 and 1970 listed as one. Ocke’s father died of a stroke in May 1939. I find mother Lina living at 6 Am Brink in Bergedorf as a widow in 1940, the same address Ocke was later registered at: Source: GoogleMaps Mother Lina passed away in May 1953. She might have had another son, Hans-Heinrich, who was born in November 1920 in Bergedorf and who was killed in action in Horodok in today’s Ukraine on his 22nd birthday in 1942. How tragic! I don’t know much else about Ocke's life or family. I couldn't locate his birth record, but if he was born in 1913, he could have lived way past the 1970s. I will add Ocke and Lina to the FindaGrave page of Ocke's father Friedrich. Perhaps someone out there is related to the Nerongs and would love to safekeep the original?

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!