This photo which I found in an antique store in Estonia, ties into some of the previous photographs I’ve blogged about this year. The man sitting in this photo was Johannes Einbaum, the husband of Therese Lucine Einbaum née Saapar, who was the sister of Amelia Annimäe née Saapar  and Johannes Saapar , and the niece of August Saapar  (click on the names to read my blogposts about them).    In fact, I find Johannes Einbaum in Amelie’s wedding photo from 1929, together with his wife Therese: I love to see the strangers in my found photos in different phases and ages in their lives. Johannes Einbaum (also Eenbom) was born on December 19th, 1890, in Paatna, Rakvere County. The two photos were taken perhaps some 10-15 years apart. I suppose he was in his early 20s in the photo with his friend, and almost 39 years old in the wedding photo of his sister-in-law.   I believe Johannes was a barber/hairdresser by profession . He seemed to have been passionate about his profession, his name keeps popping up in connection with representative associations for barbers and hairdressers in the 1920s and 1930s.  He married Therese née Saapar in November 1923 in Rakvere.  I’m a little confused about Johannes' children. According to the profile set up for his wife Therese on Geni.com ,  she had two children Ruth Urbas née Einbaum  (1931-2013)  and T õ nis Einbaum, probably named after the child’s paternal grandfather T õ nis Einbaum. They have been added to Johannes' Geni family tree as his stepchildren. There is also a picture of the family on Geni.com :  Johannes passed away on November 12th, 1958, and 35 years later, Therese was buried next to him at the Rakvere City Cemetery.     Johannes had three brothers: Jaan, Gustav and Aleksander, and two sisters: Liisa Ude née Einbaum, and Julie Pauliine Einbaum. One of the women in this photo was Julie “Juuli” Pauliine, but I don’t know which one: Unfortunately, I also have no clue as to who the other man in Johannes’ photo was:

I found this photo in an antique store in Estonia. On the back of the photo it says in Estonian: Johannes Saapar (my uncle) .  Johannes Saapar is the older brother of Amelie Annimäe née Saapar  and the nephew of August Saapar  (click on the names to read my blogposts about them).  As a matter of fact, Johannes can be found in the wedding photo of her sister Amelie. I believe he and his wife Helmi were the bestman and maid of honour at Amelie's wedding:  Johannes Saapar was born on October 1st, 1899, in Kihlevere, Estonia, as the only son of farmer Jüri Saapar and Katta Kristiine née Klaasberg. He had three sisters: Amelia, Therese Lucine and Milde. I don’t know what Johannes did for a living. He might have been a farmer, like his father. He married Helmi Renata née Titwei on May 28th, 1928. The couple had two children: Silva Pruer née Saapar  (1929-2021) and Ants Saapar (1935-1991). They both seemed to have had children of their own, so I’m hoping to make contact with their families and return the photo.  I found one more photo of Johannes Saapar on Geni.com : As well as one with his wife Helmi: I wish I knew who the other young man in the photo was. So far I have found zero clues:

UPDATED! This photo has been returned to relatives in Estonia! I found this photo in an antique store in Estonia together with a bunch of other labelled photos which turns out were all related. August Saapar gifted this photo of him to his niece Therese in 1929. As if August knew that one day almost a century later we’d be looking for him in the paper trail of records, he also recorded his birth date (December 20, 1879) to make our “detective job” easier . Later on, someone added “Leida Saapar’s father” to the caption. So who was August? Perhaps you read my blogpost from May 22nd and noticed the familiar surname Saapar already? August Saapar was the uncle of Amelie Annimäe née Saapar , so these two photos are connected with the same family! August Saapar was born on December 20, 1879 to parents Hans Saapar and Leen Hinno in Kihlevere, Estonia. Therese was his step-brother Jüri Saapar’s daughter, born in 1896. August was a farmer. His father Hans, also a farmer, used to hold religious sermons in the local schoolhouse on the weekends. Growing up, religion (Lutheran protestant) played an important role in August's young life. August and his wife Aline Louise lived in the Pällu farm in Kihlevere in 1919 . They had altogether five children: Elarfine, Woldemar, Erni, Leida and Agnes. Sadly, August passed away a year after this photo was taken, on May 14, 1930, at just 50 years of age. Unfortunately, I don’t know what caused his early death. I will add his photo to his Geni.com page and hope to make contact with his relatives.

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 Annimäe s! 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.

I bought these two photos online in Germany. They were not sold as a set, but luckily as I browsed the seller's labelled photos, I discovered that these two belonged together. I’m so glad I could keep them together. Hopefully I will also be able to return them to the family together! According to the handwritten information, these were Herrmann Günther and his wife Wilhelmine Günther née Peters in America. 1891-93 might indicate when this photo was taken. And we also have a clue regarding Herrmann's birth year: 1854. Someone has also written down their address: 3707 (1809) Smedly Street, which I assumed was in Philadelphia where the photos were taken. The couple was not difficult to find in the records. The only thing that threw me off at the beginning of my search was that Herrmann’s wife Wilhelmine Adolphine Bertha Peters was listed as Bertha Günther in the records, rather than Wilhelmine. So let’s see what I could find out: Carl August Hermann Günther and Wilhelmine Adolphine Bertha Peters got married on December 28, 1878 in Berlin, Germany. Hermann was indeed born in 1854 (on July 30, to be exact). At the time of his marriage, he was 24 and upholsterer by profession; Wilhelmine Bertha, born on December 30, 1855, was 22 and seamstress. Curiously, Hermann’s place of residence at the time was the Royal Museum in Berlin (today known as Altes Museum ). That was probably due to the fact that his father Carl Günther was an employer of the museum ( Galleriediener ). Bertha’s father Franz Adolph Peters was in the business of processing gold. It seems that Herrmann and Wilhelmine Bertha and their two oldest children, Karl George ( born in 1881) and Karolina Martha ( born in 1883), emigrated to the US in 1883. Son Edward and daughter Frieda were born in Pennsylvania. Back in Germany, Herrmann was an upholsterer and looks like he continued in his profession in the US as well, owning a store in Philadelphia. The Günthers resided at 3711 Smedley in Philadelphia in 1890 . By 1900 , the Günthers (or Guenthers in America) had moved to 4042 Garraroad. By 1910 , the family had again moved and lived at 3901 Folsom Street. Herrmann applied for the US citizenship in 1914 . I can’t speak to the situation regarding local Germans in Philadelphia at the time, but I can imagine that Hermann’s application had something to do with Germany starting WWI in Europe. I don’t know for sure, I also don’t know if the Guenthers were in touch with folks back in Germany at all. Herrmann passed away in 1922 and was buried at the Fernwood Cemetery and Mausoleum in Landsowne, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Wilhelmine Bertha outlived her husband by more than 20 years and died in 1945. I am hoping to make contact with Hermann and Bertha’s descendants. The youngest, Edward and Frieda were unmarried and didn’t have any children, or so the records tell. Hermann and Bertha’s oldest, Karl Georg married Florence Keighter, but looks like the couple didn’t have any children. Hermann and Bertha’s oldest daughter Martha married Aubrey Hullings and had a daughter Bertha Clark née Hullings who also had a son Robert Clark in 1936. Perhaps he had descendants who’ would like these photos.

I’m in love with this stunning wedding photo! And how lucky are we that it is identified! It shows the wedding day of Lionel and Jean Tripp with their flower girls, Sheila and Margot Wyckham (Wykeham had a spelling mistake). Although I didn’t have an obvious location clue, with both the groom and the bride’s names I could find out that Lionel Tripp and Jean Heggie got married in the summer of 1 924 in Prescot, Lancashire in England. Our handsome groom was Lionel Harper Tripp , born on April 3, 1892 in Indianapolis in the United States. His father William Owen Harper Tripp from Somerset, England, was employed as an agent in the beer industry, his mother Mabel Winifred was Welsh. I don’t know why Lionel and his younger brother William Maurice were born in the United States, perhaps their father’s line of work brought the family to Indianapolis; by the time their youngest brother Glyn Owen was born, the family had moved back to the United Kingdom. Lionel and his brother Maurice enlisted in September 1914, pretty much as soon as WWI broke out. They were still both Grammar School boys. Lionel served in the 20th Batt. of the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) which was a line infantry   regiment  of the British Army . According to wikipedia   the 18th–21st (Service) Battalions (1st–4th Public Schools)  of the regiment were recruited from public schools ; all four battalions saw action on the Western Front. He was wounded in February 1916, as was reported by Evening Chronicle of Manchester: He was in hospital for a year as a consequence of his wounds. For his bravery, Lionel later received the British War Medal and Victory Medal for his military services as a private of the Royal Fusiliers between 1914-1920. I’m sure as relieved as Lionel was to survive the war and the severe wounds he obtained in battle, he grieved his younger brother Maurice Tripp, of Royal Fusiliers, who was killed in July 1916 at just 21 years of age. Maurice was a member of the Manchester Society of Architects and twice obtained first-class distinction in design. He was a well-known tennis player and a clever amateur actor. Now back to Lionel, I know from his obituary that Lionel was on the head office staff of Martins Bank, Liverpool as well as the honorary secretary of the Aughton Tennis Club for more than a decade. In 1924, he married Jean. Jean Duncan Heggie was born on April 28, 1898, in Kildrummy, Aberdeenshire in Scotland. By 1911, the Heggies had moved from Scotland to West Lavington, Wiltshire in England. Jean was the only child of James Gorrie Heggie, an estate agent, and Janet Cochrane Heggie.  In the 1934 Register of Electors as well as in the 1939 Census , no children were listed living with the Jean and Lionel. I assume there are no direct descendants for the couple. In 1938, the abbreviation behind Lionel's name suggests he might have been Esquire (lawyer). Lionel passed away in 1950. As the churchwarden of the Aughton Church Parish for the last four years of his life, his funeral was impressive with choral service and muffled chruch bells, as reported by The Ormskirk Advertiser . His obituary published in The Ormskirk Advertiser on Sept 7, 1950, reveals many details form Lionel's life: I don’t know when it was Jean’s time to go. Let’s now look at the sweet little flower girls, Sheila and Margot Wickham. The surname of the girls has been somewhat misspellt, it should read Wickham, instead of Wykeham. I was able to find the sisters in the records. Sheila Jessie Wickham was born on July 24, 1914, and Margot Kathleen Wickham was born in January 1916 in Ormskirk, Lancashire in England. As students, Margot and Sheila travelled frequently between England and Canada. I believe the girls were enrolled in some student exchange programme in Canada. Their father Gordon's obituary from 1964 reveals that the girls' father met his wife Nora in Canada, so perhaps that was their connection to Canada later in their adolescence. The sisters also had a baby brother George, born in about 1926. I find father Gordon Wyke Wickham, mother Nora and the 5-year-old George on a passenger list leaving from Liverpool to Boston and New York in November 1931. Were the girls perhaps studying abroad at the time? I find father Gordon, and the girls Sheila Jessie Wyke and Margot Kathleen living together in Aughton in 1939 : I believe that Sheila married officer Wilfred Thomas Wilkinson in the same year. In 1946 Sheila and her two small children, Peter and Norah Ann Wilkinson, travelled  to Kenya. And in 1949 , I find Wilfred, Sheila, son Peter and daughter Sheila (what happened to Norah Ann?) travelling to Durban in South Africa. Her father's obituary from 1964 mentions that Sheila was living in Hong Kong at the time. Sheila was widowed in August 1965. Margot married John Raymond Stokke , an American WWII veteran with a military career in defense. In February 1945, John found himself in the Air Force station hospital with a concussion (non-battle injury), where he stayed until April 1945. I first wondered if John met Margot during the war in England. But then I found Margot, occupation home duties, travelling alone from Montreal to Knutsford in Cheshire, England, in 1952 . So she wasn't married then. I don't know where the couple met, but it was only at the beginning of 1957, she married John R. Stokker (misspelled, should be Stokke) in Cheshire. Her father's obituary from 1964 mentions that Margot was living in Panama at the time. Margot, like her sister, seems to have travelled a lot and lived in many countries. In 1994 , when Margot's husband John died , they were living in Vashon, King, Washington. I suppose the couple did not have any children. I was wondering where the connection between our bride & groom and the girls was. Since the girls’ father Gordon Wyke Wickham was listed as a retired bank clerk in the 1939 Census , I thought perhaps Gordon and Lionel were colleagues in Ormskirk, Lancashire. And looks like my assumptions were correct. Gordon's obituary , published in The Ormskirk Advertiser on Oct 29, 1964, mentions that Gordon was on the staff of Martin’s Bank for many years, as was Lionel. And, among the mourners mentioned in the same article, was none other than Mrs. Jean Tripp. How wonderful that the family kept in touch for all those years, and even 14 years after Lionel had passed away, Jean paid his respects at the funeral service for the man whose daughters were eternalized as flower girls in her wedding photo taken 4 decades earlier. I wish I knew who the other two flower girls were. Their story will remain a mystery. But I am so pleased that we could piece together 4 life stories that intertwined in the summer of 1924 in Prescot.

A year ago I shared a blog post with you about Eugen Keiler. While going through my vast photo archive the other day, I found another photo that I had purchased in an antique store in Estonia and that was also labelled with the same surname Keiler. The handwriting on the back of both photos is identical, including the spelling mistake 😊. Both of the photos must have been labelled by the same person. I had not made the connection until now. I was fortunate to find a family member of the Keilers and return the first photo of Eugen Keiler to them last year, and now I can also return the second photo! But first, let me share the story of this mother and her three daughters with you. Eugen Keiler had 3 sisters whose photos I also shared in my blogpost a year ago. I went back to the family tree of the Keilers on Geni.com and I can tell you that this lovely mother of three was Eugen Keiler’s sister Selma Adler née Keiler with her daughters Senta, Ines and Ellen Adler . I could find another photo of the mum, Selma Adler née Keiler in the Estonian Archives . I wrote about the Keiler family background in my blogpost about Selma’s brother Eugen Keiler. Their father Carl Leopold Keiler was an editor, a typesetter and print house owner in Tallinn. Selma Keiler was born on December 30, 1882, in Tallinn, as the middle child of altogether 5 Keiler siblings. She married fellow-Estonian Heinrich Adler in July 1904 in Moscow in the Russian Empire. All their daughters were born in Moscow, too: Senta in November 1904, Ines in December 1905 and Ellen Ludmilla in June 1907. Heinrich had family in Haapsalu, a beautiful summer resort at the Baltic Sea where Selma and her girls must have spent summers and where this photo was taken around the time of WWI. Heinrich and Senta and their three children lived in Moscow until 1920. Estonia had declared itself a Republic in 1918 after being part of the Russian Empire for 200 years. Many Estonians were scattered all over the Empire and the government of Estonia made it possible for expats to return to Estonia as citizens of the young republic. The Adlers filed for their optants’ right to Estonian citizenship in June 1920. The application mentions that the main income of the family came from Heinrich’s job at the tie factory in Moscow. But interestingly, when Selma signed the application on behalf of her husband, the comment underneath her signature reads “because husband is currently detained in prison”. In those days a mere comment that could be interpreted as patriotic towards any democratic country (like the young Estonia) or a mole's complaint about one's "capitalist lifestyle” would put you in jail in Russia (I know this from my own family history!). Luckily, the Keilers’ application was approved and they moved to Estonia in 1920 together with tens of thousands of optants from all over Russia. But I don't know anything else about Selma and Heinrich's life in Estonia. The oldest daughter Senta Adler , born on November 2, 1904, married Gustav Johann Baron von Knorring on February 3, 1924. Gustav was 10 years older than Senta. I believe Gustav was of Baltic German heritage and his family had been in Estonia for centuries. I found this information about Senta's husband on Wikipedia : Baron Gustav Johann Knorring (17/29 May 1894 Tallinn - 17 December 1989 Buchholz) was an Estonian military officer (colonel, 1937). His parents were Adila landowner Baron Gustav Knorring from the older line of Kilts (1866-1952) and Konstanze von Schnell (1870-1919). In 1924 he married Senta Adler. He served in the Baltic Battalion in the War of Independence and in peacetime in the military prosecutor's office, military prosecutor 1937-1939. I don’t know if Senta had any children or when she passed away. Her husband died in 1989 in Buchholz in Germany. So the couple must have left Estonia at some point, perhaps before or during WWII, perhaps together with other Baltic Germans in the autumn of 1939? Selma’s second daughter Ines (also Ina or Inessa in some records ) Adler , born on December 14, 1905, married Ricci Polla who according to the Geni.com family tree was a businessman from Switzerland. The couple had a son Tino Polla. I haven’t been able to find out anything else about Ines. Selma’s youngest daughter, Ellen-Ludmilla Adler , born on June 15, 1907, married a fellow dance-instructor Victor von Sivers and they became parents to Irene Maud von Sivers in 1931. Ellen and her husband had a dance studio in Tallinn and were renowned dance instructors, their students competing at European level. Source: Saaga In this article she was doting on her 3-year-old Daughter Irene-Maud who apparently had inherited the dance gene from her parents. The article also includes a photo of Ellen, unfortunately in poor newspaper quality: Unfortunately, I don’t know anything else about her or her daughter or if they survived WWII. I found these two Keiler family photos in the same Estonian antique store a year apart! And without knowing, I had reunited them in my home. And now they will be reunited with relatives which makes me very happy!

“Be a U.S. Cadet Nurse, the girl with a future” Researching this tiny snapshot has taken me a couple of years with breaks in between. I can finally share it with you and tell you how the lives of the following women intertwined with eachother’s in the middle of WWII:  Norma Jean Casper, Marjorie Pruett, Rosann Vestring, Lucille Jean Wertz, Dorothy Lee Hughes, Georgia Lee Carter, Mary Marcine Bowman, Wanda Alta Sturdevant, Gloria Jane Vesper, Nina Louise Brown, Willadean Morrison, Iva Lee Maxey, Jeanne Marie Freedlun, Vivian Truseal Hathaway, Jo Ann Ruth Rutherford, Mary Josephine Patterson, Dorothy Mae Henson, and Virginia Arlene Stroup.  But let’s start from the beginning. So this tiny snapshot shows 18 women, all dressed in a uniform I would date to the 1940s. But since the snapshot is very small, I could not make out the details of the uniform. Luckily I have my Instagram community! They identified the uniform as that of the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps!  When the United States entered WWII, it was feared that the military would need the most nurses, leaving the local hospitals without carers. So on June 15, 1943, the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps was established as an emergency programme by the U.S. Congress with the so-called Bolton Act. As a result of the successful publicity campaign of the Corps, from July 1943 to October 1945 some 132,000 girls were admitted to 1,125 nursing schools ( Source ). And between the years 1943 and 1948 that the Corps existed, 124,065 nurses graduated ( Source ). The schools provided a 24- to 30-month accelerated program, with an additional 6-12 months practice under supervision as a Senior Cadet. And of course, in order to make the campaign even more attractive for young women, a well-fitted fashionable uniform was designed: How wonderful that each of the Cadet Nurses in this photo was identified at least with a surname! Now I just needed to find out how the puzzle pieces fit together. Where did they all serve or study? One by one I inserted their names into the search engine of Ancestry and could soon make the connection – they all began the Cadet Nurse Corps programme at the St. John’s Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1944 ! So somewhere on this campus, our Cadet Nurses stood for the group photo in 1945. I’ve found the WWII Cadet Nursing Corps Card Files for each one of them, so I was able to add full first names to the initials. I won’t be able to go into great detail about each and every one of them, but I’ll share a bits and pieces on each. I was able to find a couple of close-up photos of some of them, too. I will mostly focus on those who continued in the profession and went on to have long careers as nurses. Back row left to right: J. Casper, M. Pruett, R. Vestring, L. Wertz, D. Hughes, G. Carter, M. Bowman Middle row left to right: W. Sturdevant, G. Vesper, N. Brown, W. Morrison, Maxey, J. Freedlun Front row left to right: T. Hathaway, J. Rutherford, M.J. Patterson, D. Henson, V. Stroup But now let's look into the lives of the ladies in our photo from 1945: 1st row (back row left to right) J. Casper Norma Jean Casper ( Nurse Cadet File ) was born on Sept 3, 1926, in Cushing Payn, Oklahoma. She joined Nurse Cadets in July 1944. She married Albert Coy Booth and they had a son Richard A. Booth (born in 1950 ). Norma Jean passed away in May 2001 in Broken Arrow, Tulsa county. M. Pruett Perhaps Marjorie Pruett ( Nurse Cadet File ) had a different dream for her career before WWII broke out. During her high school years, she was a keen journalist, writing for the local Henryetta Daily Free Lance. Her town was definitely proud of her patriotic efforts, as this was shared in the local newspaper : Marjorie studied at the Phillips university in Enid before she enrolled in the nursing school in 1944. In 1946, the same newspaper informs us that Marjorie, then a senior cadet, was going to graduate in the spring of 1947. Marjorie married Wesley C. Farabough in 1947. His obituary from 2017 describes how they met: “He met the love of his life, Marjorie Pruitt, while she was a nursing student at St. John Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The couple was married on December 24, 1947, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and were married for 49 years.” Marjorie passed away in 1996. R. Vestring Rosann Vestring ( Nurse Cadet File ) was born on 4 Jan 1925. She was 19 years old when she enrolled in the nursing school in Tulsa. By 1950 , she had married Hurshal Boyd and become a mother to their a 1-year-old son Michael. Rosann passed away in 2011. Her obituary includes a photo of her from her golden years. Rosann made her education her calling: she worked as a nurse for many years. "Rosann graduated from Burns High School in 1943. She entered the Cadet Nurse Corp in 1944. In 1947 she received her degree in Registered Nursing from St. John's School of Nursing in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Rosann served as a nurse in Kansas, Virginia, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania. She was employed by Holy Spirit Hospital 1964 – 1967. She served as the Director of Nursing for Blue Ridge Haven West. She retired in 1977 from the office of Dr. William Dietrich, New Cumberland. Rosann was a member of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church." L. Wertz Lucille Jean Wertz ( Nurse Cadet File ) was born 15 Jul 1925. She graduated from Lawton High School and Cameron College in Oklahoma. Here's her yearbook photo from 1942: In 1947, she graduated from the Cadet Nurse Corps as a registered nurse. She ma rried Michael M. Selzer in 1947. Unfortunately, she passed away at just 28 years of age in 1953, leaving behind her husband and son Michael: D. Hughes Dorothy Lee Hughes ( Nurse Cadet File )   attended Central High School in Tulsa before she enrolled in the nursing programme in 1944. She married Herman Hale Jr. And in 1950, they were raising two small children, Kathryn and Rebecca, in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. I wonder if Dorothy finished her nursing programme if she already had her first baby in 1947. G. Carter There is a public family tree  for Georgia Lee Carter  ( Nurse Cadet File ) on Ancestry, so there’s quite a bit of information available on her. She was born on January 22, 1926. On the left you can see her Will Rogers High School  Yearbook photo from 1944. Georgia lived a long life 90+ years of life. She passed away in 2018 in Texas. She married William George Smith in 1954 and they had 3 sons and 1 daughter. According to his obituary , Georgia’s husband was a doctor and a pioneer in colon cancer research: M. Bowman Mary Marcine Bowman ( Nurse Cadet File )   was born on 30 Jul 1926 in Tulsa. She married Milton T. Emmons in 1948. There's an announcement of their engagement in the Blackwell Journal-Tribune, including her photo: I think she might have died in 2018 at the age of 91. And although I cannot access her full obituary, I think she might have worked as a school nurse. 2nd row (middle row left to right) W. Sturdevant Wanda Alta Sturdevant ( Nurse Cadet File )   was born on 14 Jul 1926. She graduated from Henryetta Highschhol and the Cadet Nurse Corps and was working in a private practice in Denver in 1951, when she married James Allen Bradshaw. I found this photo of the lovely Wanda in the Henryetta Daily Free-Lance of Feb 11, 1951: Her obituary from 2014 shows us a photo of her in her later years: It also gives us valuable insight into the life and career of Wanda Bradshaw Risdon née Sturdevant: " Wanda Bradshaw-Risdon, 87 of Cottonwood, AZ died Tuesday July 8, 2014. Wanda was born in Parnasus, PA on July 14, 1926. Her family later moved to Oklahoma and Wanda graduated in 1944 from Henryetta High School. Wanda joined the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps due to WWII and attended St. Johns School of Nursing in Tulsa, OK. Wanda's first job was at the VA Hospital in Pass Christian, MS. 1949 Wanda moved to Denver Colorado and later met James Bradshaw at Denver University while attending a nurses meeting, and they later married in 1951. Wanda and Jim had two children: Clarissa and Doyle; Wanda skillfully balanced being a wife, a loving mother, and a registered-nurse in Colorado, New Zealand, Idaho, Arkansas and California. James Bradshaw preceded her in death December 1980. Wanda remarried an old family friend Keith Risdon in 1984, they lived in Palm Desert and Wanda continued to work as a nurse eventually retiring from Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, CA. Wanda and Keith Risdon moved to Cottonwood, AZ in 1991 they were both active in the community; Keith Risdon preceded her in death April 1998. Wanda\u0027s brother, William Sturdevant (Buddy) preceded her in death December 2006. Wanda had a sweet tooth, she enjoyed cooking, cherry pies (a family favorite) and cookies; she kept a candy drawer for herself. Wanda enjoyed antiquing, reading; she had a good sense of humor and made friends easily. Wanda is survived by her daughter Clarissa Thomas and husband Lee of Columbia, MD; her son Doyle Bradshaw and his wife Beverly of Hoopa, CA; her step-son Scott Risdon and his wife Debbie of Omaha, NE; her half-sisters Sarah Hodgens of Tulsa, OK and Judy Mains of Guymon, OK; 5 grandchildren, 3 great-grandchildren, 3 nieces, and 3 nephews. Wanda did not want a public service; her children are honoring her wish and will have a family ceremony later."   G. Vesper Gloria Jane Vesper ( Nurse Cadet File ) was born on December 18, 1923. Looks like Gloria made a career for herself as a nurse. She joined the Navy Nurse Corps after graduation from Tulsa. I also came across this photo of her on FindaGrave : She married Arthur Holloway Edwards in 1949. Here’s a photo of her as a stunning bride, as published in the Long Beach Press Telegram : Art and Gloria had one daughter, Marguerite Lynn Edwards Terashita, and a son, Arthur Jon, who tragically lived for less than 24 hours. They were divorced in 1964 and Gloria passed away in 1991. N. Brown There is a public family tree for Nina Louise Brown ( Nurse Cadet File ) accessible on Ancestry, according to which she was born on January 11, 1926. She married William Leonard Taylor. I cannot access her obituary, but looks like she passed away in 2007, 20 years after her husband had died: " Nina Louise Taylor , 81, of Tulsa, a 4 time cancer survivor passed away peacefully in her sleep on Tuesday, February 27, 2007", accompanied by her photo (left). W. Morrison Willadean Morrison ( Nurse Cadet File )  was born on 10 Mar 1928. In 1943, she attended the Central High School of Tulsa. She married Harry W. Guntheroth on July 19, 1947, in Tulsa. They were both so young, groom Harry was just 22, and already seen war firsthand. In 1950 , they were living in Kansas City, Jackson, Missouri. They had two daughters Debrah and Lorraine, and a son Harry Jr. Husband Harry was an announcer, and Willadean worked as a nurse in a hospital. Harry passed away in 1980 and his obituary gives us some more information about Willadean's family: Maxey ... There is a public famiy tree for Iva Lee Maxey ( Nurse Cadet File ) on Ancestry, including this photo of her in nurse’s uniform: Iva married Marvin E. Broam in 1948. Their son Kevin Lee was born in 1956. Unfortunately Iva Lee lived to bury her husband in 1978 and her son in 1989, before passing away herself almost 2 decades later in 2006 in Tulsa. As you can read from her obituary , she practiced nursing in several Oklahoma hospitals before retiring: "BROAM -- IvaLee (Maxey), died Thursday, March 9, 2006. lvaLee was born July 13, 1925, at home in Porum, OK. She attended Porum schools through graduation in 1944 and finished her education at St. John School of Nursing, Tulsa, OK, in 1947. She married Marvin Ellis Broam, April 9, 1948. She practiced nursing in several Oklahoma hospitals, retiring from Baptist Memorial Hospital, Oklahoma City. She was a long-time resident of Oklahoma City; moved to Tulsa in 1997. She was preceded in death by: parents, Ira Lee and Iva Elizabeth Maxey; husband, Marvin; son, Kevin Lee; sister, Ann Seay; and 4 baby brothers. She is survived by: sisters, Marie Smith, Muskogee, OK, Louise Maher and husband, David, Tulsa, and Joyce Maxey, Muskogee; brother, Maurice Maxey and wife, Stella, Tulsa; nieces Suzanne Seay, Tucson, AZ, Jane Seay Johnson, Tucson, Kem Maher, Tulsa, and Jamie Maher, Wichita, KS; nephew, William Maxey, Porum, Robert Maxey, Tulsa, Timothy Maxey, Tulsa, and Pat Maher, Sacramento, CA; numerous great-nieces and nephews. Among her many interests were needle arts, quilting, genealogy and bird watching. She will be buried at Resurrection Memorial Gardens, Oklahoma City, with her beloved husband and son." J. Fredlun There is a public family tree for Jeanne Marie Freedlun ( Nurse Cadet File ) accessible on Ancestry. Jeanne was born on September 29, 1926, in Chanute, Neosho, Kansas. She married Earl Norman Seawright in October 1947. After Earl died in 1991, Jeanne remarried and became Mrs. Galen Clayton Wiggans. Jeanne passed away in December 2002. Her very short obituary just mentions that she was a registered nurse. I wish we knew if and how long she practiced her profession. 3rd row (front row left to right) Hathaway There is a public family tree for Vivian Truseal Hathaway ( Nurse Cadet File ) accessible on Ancestry. Truseal was 10+ years older than the other nurses in the group photo. She had been born on May 24, 1914, so she was 30 when she enrolled in the nurse programme. She married Edward Wayne Kean in June 1947 in Tulsa. Edward was 38, and Truseal 32 at the time. They had a daughter Susan. I don’t know if Truseal practiced as a nurse after her graduation. She passed away in 2005 in Paducah, McCracken, Kentucky, but her obituary doesn’t mention anything in this regard: J. Rutherford There is a public family tree for Jo Ann Ruth Rutherford ( Nurse Cadet File ) accessible on Ancestry. Jo Ann was born on January 22, 1925. She married James Wesley Strickler in March 1950 in Tulsa. And guess who were witnesses at their ceremony: Wanda Sturdevant and James Bradshaw, Jo Ann’s nursing school friend and her future husband. Nice to see that friendships lasted outside of the hospital classroom.   Jo Ann died in 2016 and was buried at the Ft. Logan National Cemetery as a WWII veteran of US Navy. The record also mentions her military rank : Lieutenant Junior Grade. The description on her FindaGrave page mentions that “Her nursing career lasted over 35 years. She retired from Exempla Lutheran Hospital in Wheat Ridge after 22 years of service.” The profile also includes a photo of her: M.J. Patterson There is a public family tree for Mary Josephine Patterson ( Nurse Cadet File ) on Ancestry. Josephine was born on November 10, 1925, in St. Louis, Missouri. She joined the St. John's Hospital nurses programme in July 1944. One of the newspaper clippings announcing her upcoming marriage to Joseph A. M. van Hasselt mentions that after graduation from St. John’s School of Nursing, she continued working in the medical field, as a medical assistant with Dr. Johnson and Ward in the Doctors building in Tulsa. She was also a member of the Tulsa County and Oklahoma State Medical Assistants Association. And here’s Josephine in her wedding dress in September 1960, marrying her Dutchman, 11 years younger than her: The couple went on to have two children. Josephine passed away in November 1989. D. Henson Dorothy Mae Henson ( Nurse Cadet File ) was born on August 1916 in Maysville, Garvin, Oklahoma. I believe her father William Wesley Henson was of Native American heritage. When Dorothy enrolled in the nursing programme in Tulsa, she was 28 years old. Here’s a photo of her I found on FindaGrave : Dorothy married Patrick Kelsey in May 1968, she was 51 and Patrick 58 at the time. She passed away in November 2000 in Austin, Texas. Here's her obituary naming her survivors, daughters Joyce and Jeanette among other family members: V. Stroup The last of young nurses in the photo was Virginia Arlene Stroup ( Nurse Cadet File ), born in September 1926. I share her obituary below and let it tell Virginia’s story: Let us remember these girls with a future , smiling at us from this tiny snapshot, eager to learn and serve and make life-long friends. I leave you here with a pledge of the Cadet Nurse Corps: “I will keep my body strong, my mind alert, and my heart steadfast; I will be kind, tolerant, and understanding. Above all, I will dedicate myself now and forever to the triumph of life over death. As a Cadet Nurse, I pledge to my country, my service in essential nursing for the duration of the war.”

This photo came with many valuable clues! It shows Johanna Kostinec, wife of Jakob Kolecka (born July 21, 1846) and wife of one Melzmuf in Vienna. We can also read in the clues that she might have been born on May 8, 1881 and that she passed away on August 14, 1938.   I suspected that the birth year of 1881 would be a mistake in this case cause judging by her outfit, this photo was probably taken in the 1900s and she obviously looks much older than someone born in 1881.   So let’s find out all we can about Johanna!  As I suspected, the birth year was not correct, but the birthday itself was correct. Johanna Kostinec was  born on May 8, 1851, to parents Veit Kostinec and Klara née Lahodev in Netolitz ( as part of Austro-Hungarian Empire, Netolice in today’s Czech Republic). I don’t know when exactly she married her first husband Jakob Kolecka, but I could find out that Johanna was widowed in December 1889 when Jakob died at just 44 years of age. The cause of his death : accidental oversight.  Johanna and Jakob had one son, born in July 1880, whom they named Franz. Jakob also had a daughter Franziska, born in 1877, but the record does not mention her mother. I assume that she was Johanna’s daughter. Little Franziska passed away  at just 1,5 years of age in 1878.  Johanna married her second husband Johann Melzmuf, a tailor, in April 1890 in Vienna. They had 33 (hopefully) blissful years together until Johanna was widowed for the second time in March 1923.  Johanna’s son Franz, a locksmith by profession, and his wife Leopoldine Findre  blessed Johanna with a granddaughter Leopoldine, born in July 1908. I don’t know what happened, but I then found a death record for Franz Kolecka from May 1938, signed and stamped by the mental institution of Ybbs in Vienna. The official cause of his death stated in the death record was lung and heart failure. But I can’t help but wonder if that was the whole truth... When the Nazi regime took over in Austria in March 1938, one of the urgent policies of their inhuman politics was to eliminate the mentally ill... I read on the Internet that the Nazis used the Ybbs mental institution exclusively for mentally ill people until 1941. During the Nazi regime in Austria, 2,282 people from Ybbs were brought to the Nazi termination center in Hartheim and killed there as part of the National Socialist murders of the sick.    I wonder if that was the fate of Franz as well... I hope for Johanna that her only son died of natural causes. In any case, it broke the mother’s heart and less than 3 months later, Johanna passed away in her late 80s.  I don't know what became of Franz' daughter and Johanna's granddaughter Leopoldine. I hope she lived a long and happy life. Perhaps she was a grandma herself and her grandchildren might still be out there. Please reach out to me if you know the Kostinec-Kolecka-Melzmuf family from Vienna !

This photo was taken in Vienna, Austria, and someone has labelled it in a neat handwriting, it says: “ Souvenir, Ludwig Gezek, 18 IX 94 ”. The photo studio was located at 55 Mariahilferstr, at the corner of the Catholic Mariahilfer chruch.  I find one Ludwig Gezek in the records, born on August 9, 1875 in Vienna to parents Adalbert Gezek and Anna née Wacik. I then found a marriage record for the same person from July 7, 1915. The marriage ceremony took place in the same Catholic church of Mariahilfer which was located close to the he photo studio of our photo.  Ludwig was 40 years old when he married Wilhelmine Franziska Katzer née Thomas , a widow with two children, Franz Haver Maria Wilhelm Katzer ( born  in 1896) and Wilhelmine Anna Maria Katzer ( born  in 1900).  I can also guess why his handwriting was so neat – Ludwig became a teacher.   Ludwig's parents Adalbert Gezek and Anna née Wacik had married in 1868. At the time, Adalbert was a business owner. Later, in the birth records of his chidlren, he was referred to as Hofleibwäshmeister . I wonder about the tasks someone in Adalbert's profession had - Hofleibwäschmeister would translate to master ( Meister ) of underwear ( Leibwäsche ) at the royal/noble court ( Hof ) in Vienna. Did he sell them, sew them, wash them, organise them, buy them? Ludwig had 3 siblings. One of them, Leopold, died as a newborn in 1870.   Ludwig’s older brother Carl Gezek, born in 1872, was a civil servant / auxiliary official ( Hilfsbeamter ) in Vienna according to his marriage record to Maria Hlinka from February 1898.  Ludwig’s younger brother Franz Alfons Maria Gezek, born  in 1876, was also a director in civil service. He died  in 1928 at the age of 52 of pneumonia.   I don’t think Ludwig had children of his own. His wife Wilhelmine was 43 when they got married. But it seems that Ludwig played a big role in Wilhelmine’s children’s lives. His step-son Franz became a teacher too. Ludwig also figured as a witness to the marriage ceremony of his step-daughter Wilhelmine in 1925. Young Wilhelmine married the 61-year-old ballet master  Friedrich Josef Fränzel  while she herself was just 24. Lugwig  died in 1931 due to a pulmonary embolism. He was 55 years old at the time. He was buried in Penzing, Vienna, next to his mother Anna and brother Franz.  Perhaps the 19-year-old Ludwig was just starting out as a young teacher when this photo was taken. Perhaps your Austrian grandparents remember their teacher Ludwig Gezek?

I found this photo in Germany but it was taken in New York. I assumed, as with many other labelled photos in my collection, that it was probably sent to relatives in Germany. It says on the reverse: “Complements from Mr. Maximilian Kane to Miss Marie Eckhoff” I first assumed that this photo was taken before or during WWI, but I couldn't identify the uniform. So who were Maximilian Kane and Marie Eckhoff? Let’s find out! Eduard Ferdinand Max Köhn was born on December 19, 1874, in Breslau in today’s Poland. Breslau was the third biggest city of the German Empire in the 1870s. Max’ parents Carl Wilhelm Ferdinand Köhn , a businessman, and Wilhelmine née Schönfeld got married on July 7, 1861, in Berlin, Germany. As far as I could find in the records, these were Max’ siblings: Alfred Wilhelm Friedrich Köhn ( born in 1862) Wilhelmine Charlotte Helene Köhn ( born in 1864) Paul Oscar Köhn ( born in 1865) Emma Pauline Ottilie Köhn ( born in 1868) Benno Eugen Hugo Köhn ( born in 1870) Bernhard Rudolph Otto Köhn ( born in 1872). According to the 1910 Census , Max came to America in 1882, together with his brother Eugene Köhn, both living in the same household in Manhattan, New York, in 1910. Max was 35 at the time and working as an iron worker in a foundry, while his brother was employed as a salesman in a furniture store. The Census also reveals that Max had been naturalised by 1910. According to a military record I found on Max, he joined the military service in 1901, so I think my assumptions were wrong that the uniform was from WWI. I suppose the photo was perhaps taken in the early 1900s, right after he joined. He would probably have been in his 20s here. Max was also drafted for WWI. He was 43 then and according to his draft card, he had broken hands (whatever that means exactly). Max married Anna Engel Eckhoff on August 5, 1910 in Manhattan, New York, and they went on to have two daughters: Ethel Eugenie Kane/Koehn (1911-2011; married Frederick E. Corkrey) and Katherine Kane/Koehn (1916-2000, married Milton Rehain). And there we have the next clue – the surname Eckhoff , the same as that of the original recipient of this photo. But how were they related? Anna had immigrated as a 3-year-old with her family in 1883 . The scan of the document on Ancestry is really difficult to make out, but I understand that Anna’s parents were Johann and Maria Eckhoff and there were four daughters. Father Johann was 34 in 1883, so born around 1859, but I come up empty on this family. So I have not been able to find a connection between Max’ wife Anna Eckhoff and the recipient of this photo, Miss Marie Eckhoff. I can only assume they were related. Max adopted an americanised middle name Edward by 1917. His WWI draft card describes him as short and stout with light hair and gray eyes. I have a lovely surprise for you - you know how I love to see what the strangers in my found photos looked like in different stages of their lives. And here's one of Max, found on Ancestry , probably taken in the 1930s. He might be in his late 50s here. According to the military service record , Max passed away in 1959, and his wife Anna in 1966. I will add his photo to FamilySearch and try to make contact with his daughters’ families to return the photo of Max.

I found this photo in an antique store in Estonia. The handwriting reads:  Milda Sõmer  Mustvee 1940   Mustvee is a town, located on the shore of Lake Peipsi in eastern Estonia. Today its population is about 1600 of which approximately half identify as Estonian and half as Russian.   I came across a Geni page dedicated to Milda. She was the youngest of the children of Kristian August Sommer who married Anna née Toit  in 1905. Baby Milda was born on October 22, 1915 in Mustvee. Five siblings had been born before Milda – Alexander (*1903 from father’s previous marriage), Elmar Johannes (*1906), Elfriede (*1907), Alfred (*1908) and Friedrich (*1911), but by the time Milda came into the world, only one sibling had survived... She grew up with her only brother Alfred in Mustvee.    I’ve mentioned this a couple of times in my previous blogposts that in the 1920s and 30s Estonians started resenting their German-sounding surnames which had been given to their serf ancestors by their German masters at the beginning of the 19th century. So in the 1930s the Estonian parliament adopted a law which allowed any individual to change their German-sounding surname into a more Estonian-sounding one. And so Milda’s surname “Sommer” - clearly a German-sounding surname – became Sõmer . The letter “õ” is a unique letter in the Estonian language.   Although the Geni page includes many details about Milda’s original family, it unfortunately shows none about her future family. How did her life turn out? Did she get married, change her surname? Did she have children?  We know that she was in Mustvee in 1940. WWII was full-on and Estonia was annexed by the Soviet Union. 70% of her hometown Mustvee was destroyed by the bombings of WWII. Did Milda survive WWII, I can’t say for sure. I found an application by one Milda Žulina-Tarelkina  regarding the estate of Kristjan-August Sommer in the digital archives of Estonia (unfortunately with limited access, so I cannot read the file). Could this have been our Milda, now married with a double surname Žulina-Tarelkina? I don’t find anything else on her.  I will add her photo to Geni and hopefully relatives will reach out to claim the original.