A Closer Look (Part 77)

Summer Cottage, Russia, 1914. This is my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, at age 17.

Here's the original post.

A Closer Look (Part 59)

Southwestern Lithuania, about 1912. This is Mr. Irene's Great-Grandfather Jacob.

Here's the original post.

A Closer Look (Part 58)

Southwestern Lithuania, about 1912. This is Mr. Irene's Great-Grandmother Agnes.

Here's the original post.

Plaid Pants

Suburban Chicago, June 1975. Dad and his beloved Gigi visit my childhood bedroom. I was surprised to see Dad dressed this way. He had elegant taste, and he usually wore beautiful clothing. I don't know what happened here, but these style choices rattle my understanding of "stay-at-home" clothes.

On the top shelf rests a copy of National Geographic's dog book, Man's Best Friend. There also sits Watership Down (I didn't like that book—perhaps because I prefer nonfiction, and I don't care for fiction that is fantasy based) and The Gulag Archipelago. The books on the bottom shelf reflect an interest I had, at that time, in poetry.

A Closer Look (Part 7)

Panemunėlis, Lithuania, about 1902 to 1904. This is my paternal Grandfather, Vytautas. I posted the photo earlier here.

A Closer Look (Part 5)

Panemunėlis, Lithuania, about 1902 to 1904. This is Charles ("Karolis"), the first husband of my paternal Grandfather Vytautas's paternal aunt, Stanislava. I posted the photo earlier here.

I have a relative who, when young, looked a lot like Charles.

Let's look at an original print.

Summer Cottage, 1914. Many of the old photos I post are scans of images my Dad restored. If I find a faded or damaged snapshot, I usually modify it. Here's an image I adjusted earlier.

Summer Whites

 

Vilnius, Lithuania, about 1920. This is a portrait of Valerie's family. Valerie was the older sister of Suzanne—the wife of my Dad's cousin Henry.

 

Thanks to Suzanne's Granddaughter—my Kaunas Cousin—for making this photo available to us.

Related by Marriage: Happier Times on the Farm

Near , Lithuania, about 1942. Here's another scene from the farm that was Mr. Irene's Dad's boyhood home. Mr. Irene's Dad stands on the far right, with his hand on his hip. His mother, Veronica, is the second woman from the left. Older brother Ignas is in the background—he's the one wearing eye glasses. Younger brother Stacey is the little boy in the front. The man with his elbow on Mr. Irene's Dad's shoulder is the Farm Manager.

After the Soviets occupied Lithuania in 1944, they seized and redistributed the farm property.

The Soviets also emptied the banks of citizens' savings accounts. They considered savings accounts "bourgeoisie."

Staging the Salon Shot

Šiauliai, Lithuania, about 1905 to 1910. A photographer must have caught this relaxed image before taking the more formal snapshot on the same day. My paternal Grandfather, Vytautas, again appears in the front, staring at the ceiling; this time, he's reclined against a family friend. The family friend chats with Vytautas's sister, Victoria. In the back, on the left, the dashing physician Charles leans into the shot's frame next to his wife, Stanislava.

Thanks to my Toronto Cousin for making this photo available to us.

Recognizable

Šiauliai, Lithuania, about 1902. We are working on firmly identifying the people in this photo. I believe they are, from left to right: my Dad's paternal Uncle, Kaz; Kaz's wife, Bronislava; my Dad's paternal Grandmother, Salomea (I am certain this is she), and; my Dad's paternal aunt, Stanislava.

Thanks to my Toronto Cousin for making this photo available to us.

In the Salon

Šiauliai, Lithuania, about 1905 to 1910. My Dad's cousin, Henry, sent this photo to my Dad's twin sister, Jonė. Henry did not identify each person in the image, but he did point out the people that matter to us. The boy sitting on the left, and looking off toward the ceiling, is my paternal Grandfather, Vytautas. My Dad looked a lot like him as a child. Standing behind Vytautas is the physician Charles and his wife—Vytautas's paternal aunt—Stanislava. Next to Stanislava is Henry's mother, Bronislava. The little girl standing in the front is Vytautas's sister, Victoria.

Henry added, at the end of his description, "With photos like this one, it's impossible to state a date precisely." Henry wrote "perhaps 1910" on this photo, but based on Vytautas's size, I think it might be closer to 1905.

Thanks to my Toronto Cousin for making this photo available to us.

More Clues

After I posted an early-twentieth-century photo of some relatives, my Toronto Cousin sent me an image of family members from about 1902. Only after I had looked at the photo for a while did I realize that I'd seen it before here. One of the persons in the photo was a well known pastor who was a pioneer of educational reform during the time Tsarist Russia still occupied Lithuania.

Panemunėlis, Lithuania, about 1902 to 1904. Seated, left to right: my paternal Grandfather's uncle, the priest; my paternal Grandfather, Vytautas, still a boy; Vytautas's mother, Salomea; Solomea's daughter, who died; Vytautas's sister, Victoria; Vytautas's paternal aunt, Stanislava. Standing, left to right: Charles, the first husband of Stanislava; a parish housekeeper; Bronislava, the mother of my Dad's cousins, Henry and Vytas; and Salomea's brother, Leo.

A housekeeper again appears in a family photo. You saw that occur earlier, here and here.

The males in my family strikingly resemble one another.

Related by Marriage: Pear Tree

Near Panevėžys, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, about 1962. Mr. Irene's paternal Grandmother, Veronica, writes, "I am picking pears from a neighbor's tree."

Related by Marriage: Everyone is home, on the farm.

Near Panevėžys, Lithuania, about 1931. Mr. Irene's Dad is the little boy in the front row, on the right. Next to him sits his younger brother Stacey, in the white jacket, and older brother Ignas is on the far left. Mr. Irene's paternal Grandparents, Veronica and Jonas, are directly behind the boys. Other aunts and relatives appear in the background.

Here, again, we see a servant lurking in the background.

UPDATE: Mr. Irene's Dad added some more information about this photo. The elderly woman hunched behind Ignas is the Aunt of Jonas, the paternal Grandfather. So. The members of the family are all seated.

Standing behind the family, left to right, is the Farm Manager, the boys' Nanny, and the Cook. It wasn't unusual for a family of this era to sit for a portrait with the household help. In this case, the "help" ranked pretty high—Manager, Nanny, and Cook. These persons were essentially members of the family. Notice also that the person who likely doesn't rank is in the background.

My Mom cringes when she remembers that the woman, "Magduka,"who served in her Parents' household as a cook / maid slept on a cot in the kitchen and never was included in family meals. Ironically, it was Magduka who taught my mother to knit. My maternal Grandmother, Jadzė, did not know how to knit.

Related by Marriage: The Extended Family

Mr. Irene's Maternal Grandmother, Anna, and her Sister, Petra, emigrated to the United States as young women. They left behind Parents Agnes and Jacob, and Sisters Emily and Marta.

Contact with the family back in Lithuania was sporadic because of the expense of sending letters and the slow delivery of mail. A holiday greeting, like an Easter card, occasionally arrived. Anna and Petra, for example, also got word when Emily became engaged to Adam J.

The family back home also sent wedding photos and snapshots of the extended family, when they got together. Here is one such image:

 
Near Tauragė, Lithuania, about 1915. This may be the wedding celebration of Anna's sister, Emily. She stands, in the light dress, on the far left, next to Adam J., who, like the other men, wears a boutonniere. Emily's sister Marta is next to Adam J. Agnes, the mother of the young women—and the mother of immigrants Anna and Petra—sits in the center of the babushka group, smiling gently.
 
The other folks are Adam J.'s relatives. Agnes's husband, Jacob, does not appear in this photo.

Every now and then, a blind squirrel finds a nut.

(Or as Lithuanians say, "Even a blind hen stumbles on a corn kernel now and then.")

My Toronto Cousin sent an email last night. In it, she explained that she had found, among her mother Jonė's things, some photos dating back to the early 1930s. I remembered seeing the images my Toronto cousin described, but I could not recall whether we had the original photos or, if we did, where they were.

I started digging around for those 1930s photos, but I did not find them. I instead stumbled across a box I'd not yet seen. My Dad had written "Babos Nuotraukos"—Grandma's Photos—on the box's side. Inside the box were many duplicate photos that my Dad had printed for my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana. Dad organized the duplicates by person. There was, for example, an envelope containing snapshots of each of Tatjana's grandchildren, an envelope with mid-century photos of cousins living in the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, and even an envelope with images of my Mom's maternal aunt, Dora.

I didn't plan on finding an envelope called "Babos šeima Rusijoi"—Grandma's family in Russia. In the envelope are photos of my Grandmother's sisters, Natasha and Elena and their families. The photos date from the late 1950s (corresponding roughly with the time Stalin died) to the 1970s.

The envelope also has some old photos I'd never seen before, like this one:

Summer Cottage, Russia, 1914. My paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, on the far right, sits in the yard with her younger sister, Natasha, on the left. In between them is family friend. A large dog rests under the table.

This is the oldest photo in the "Grandma's family in Russia" envelope. Like another snapshot I posted earlier, this one is in rough shape because it, too, survived the Russian Revolution. It's printed on paper with prominent watermarks, and it looks as though it might have been glued to some cardboard or heavier paper at one time. It is what it is.

Related by Marriage: Old Country Holiday Table

Southwestern Lithuania, 1934. The Mother of Mr. Irene's maternal Grandmother, Anna, Agnes, oversees the family holiday table.

Related by Marriage: Greetings from the Old Country

Mr. Irene's maternal Grandmother, Anna, was one of four daughters born to a modest couple who lived in southwestern Lithuania. We don't know the precise location of the homestead, but we believe it was an area on the Lithuanian-Prussian border because the family surname dervied from a German word.

In 1910, Anna and one of her sisters, Petra, emigrated to the United States. We are not sure why they left Lithuania. Anna settled in Philadelphia, where she lived with an upper middle-class family. We assume she worked for the family as a domestic. In 1915, Anna and Petra moved to Chicago, where they settled in Bridgeport, on the South Side. The young women assimilated fluidly into American culture.

Anna married Stanley in 1917, but her sister Petra remained single.

Anna and Petra remained in close touch with their parents and the two sisters, Emily and Marta, who had stayed behind in Lithuania:

Southwestern Lithuania, around 1912. The Parents of Mr. Irene's maternal Grandmother, Anna, sit with the two daughters who did not emigrate to the United States. Left to right: Anna's Sister Emily, Anna's Mother Agnes, Anna's Father Jacob, and Anna's Sister Marta.

Picnic Culture: An Informal Display

I've posted many of our photos that feature Chekhov moments. But we still have a few more to share.  

Here's one of my favorites:

 

 

Kaunas Lithuania, about 1938. My Mom—on the far right, with the bow-tied braids—sits in front of my maternal Grandmother, Jadzė, as they enjoy a picnic in the park with two sets of neighbor families. People liked to relax while wearing swim trunks.