Gamle Andersson, Tvärred
Old Man Andersson, Tvärred
If not for a note scribbled on the back of this photo (probably by my dad, when sorting old photos left behind from his dad), I wouldn't have had a clue. I also found it in the envelope marked "Tvärred", though (a place name) - where most of the photos involve the brothers Anders and Evert Andersson (who have appeared in other recent Sepia posts on this blog). So I suppose I might have made a bold guess anyway, that this was probably their father.
"Sometimes all you need is a name. You can be sorting through a pile of old family photographs, desperately trying to work out if the subject is your Great Uncle Joe or Cousin Mabel's young nephew, when you suddenly find a name pencilled on the reverse of the photograph..."
(Alan Burnett, Sepia Saturday 781)
This photo does not have names scribbled on the back, but (even more unusual) a date: 10.08.64 (10 August 1964), which pins it down in time. And in this case, I can add the names, and even the place, myself. The man to the right is my grandfather Gustaf (at age 60); and the one behind him his brother-in-law Olle. The man to the left is Edvin Kornelius - as I remember it, usually just referred to by his last name. And the place is the small farm Källeberg, where he lived together with his sisters Annie and Ellen. (From another source, I know that the three of them inherited the place in 1937.)
Olle's wife Hildur and Edvin's sister Annie both died in 1964. I don't have the exact date of death for either of them; but I guess that this visit to Källeberg was probably after both those women died.
In my own early childhood photo album there is an earlier photo that includes them both, from the summer of 1957:
Standing: Olle & Hildur (my grandmother's sister with husband), my grandmother Sally with me (barely 2 years old) on her arm, Annie and Edvin Kornelius. Sitting: Ellen Kornelius, my mum and dad, and my grandparents' dog Zepp. (My grandfather no doubt behind the camera.)
My grandparents, Hildur & Olle, and the siblings Kornelius were all old friends; and the middle photo of the three men brought Simon & Garfunkel's song "Old Friends" to mind for me...
♫ Old friends
Memory brushes the same years
Silently sharing the same fears ♫
Linking to Sepia Saturday 781
ReplyDeleteThese are great memories. Especially nice to see you at two. I’m so glad to know that somebody made a note on the back of some photos.
Lucky photographs, meaning you were lucky in having a name or date to help identify the people in them.
ReplyDeleteWhen faced with a box or large envelope of old family photos, it's nice to either have a still-living family member around to help identify the people in them, or at least a name on one of the photos that can lead to finding that one identified person in some of the other photos which then gives you an idea of who the other people in those photos might be. It's the photos of family in the past with no possible identification that are frustrating. When I see these types of photos - usually professionally taken - left behind in antique shops it makes me feel sad. I've been known to buy a few and give them names! :)