"With love and best wishes, Blanche Rippetoe" This photo was found in Germany, but it looks like an American RPPC written in English. The dedication on it, handwritten in ink, has almost faded, but it's still readable enough to identify the sitter as Blanche Rippetoe. So how come this photo ended up in Germany? I … Continue reading Miss Eleanor Blanche Rippetoe
Heinrich Krevert
This found photo first gave me hope - I had a name (Heinz Krevert), location (Giessen in Germany) and birthdate (March 5th, 1909). The back of the photo says: "To my dearest Maria on my 31st birthday on March 5th, 1940 (in Giessen)." My hope soon turned into chills: this young man had fallen in … Continue reading Heinrich Krevert
The Hackner sisters
A real family treasure came into my possession through ebay - not just one family photo album, but four of the same family! One of the decisive clues I found in one of the photo albums was a marriage notification of Georg Hackner and Marion née Bechtold from Altmannstein, Germany, from July 1921. Georg Hackner … Continue reading The Hackner sisters
The Schaible family
UPDATED: The photo album has been returned to the family! It is time to open a new photo album! It came to me from German ebay and I've been sitting on this well-labelled album for a while, every now and then trying my luck with more research on the names mentioned in it. Meet Otto … Continue reading The Schaible family
Carl Julius Norkus, the brick mason
Someone has scribbled the name Carl Julius Norkus on the back of this photograph of a brick mason. I did my quick search on my usual genealogy platforms but couldn't be sure if I had found the right person since I didn't have any idea of a location. But then a Google search came back … Continue reading Carl Julius Norkus, the brick mason
The Brick Walls, 5
Some persons have left no papertrail behind. Could they have really led such quiet lives so much under the radar of future genealogists that we find nothing on them today? Maybe that was their intention. But maybe they wish we dug deeper, and remember their faces, their stories, their names. So let's do that with … Continue reading The Brick Walls, 5
The Brick Walls, 4
Oh, those brick walls... I keep knocking on them, but they don't break. I have names, but no location to tie them to. I may have a location, but no records are available online. Faces that are lost to history. Let's try and change that. The first one up is Miss Johanna Müllenberg who had … Continue reading The Brick Walls, 4
Actors Konrad Gebhardt & Olla Bauer
Today's blog post is a bit different. It is not about who signed and sent or received the real photo postcards (RPPC) I'm about to share with you, but who's in it. These four RPPCs from my collection were printed to advertise the famous play called "Old Heidelberg" ("Alt-Heidelberg" in German), starring actor Konrad Gebhardt … Continue reading Actors Konrad Gebhardt & Olla Bauer
Family Krake
Family Krake - Minna, Gretchen, Herbert and Gustav - spent their vacation in July 1912 at the Baltic Sea on the island of Rügen. If only I knew who was who in this stunning photograph! The RPPC is addressed to sister-in-law Ida Meinhardt in Triebes, Germany. The Krakes are enjoying their stay very much and … Continue reading Family Krake
The Pittners from Berlin-Neukölln
I'm thinking that these photos, found in the same "blind" photo lot from ebay, might be connected. I think these are a mother and a daughter! Else Martha Perthel was born on June 15th, 1896, in Greiz, Germany. She married Max Pittner on July 22nd, 1920 in Berlin-Neukölln. Max was 4 years Else's senior, born … Continue reading The Pittners from Berlin-Neukölln
