Greetings from Lake Geneva, Wis. (Sepia Saturday 736)

 

To: Mr Gustaf Ekman, Galeton, Box 342, Potter Co, Pa
From: Gerda (sent from Chicago, Jun 9, 1908)

Käre bror! Undrar hur du mår. Jag är nu på landet, detta är platsen som jag arbetar, men den är så otydlig. Du väntar nog på bref, jag skall snart skrifva. Här är så vackert, jag önskar du vore här. Jag har just varit och badat i sjön idag. Kära hälsningar frän syster Gerda. 

Dear brother, I'm wondering how you are. I'm now in the countryside, this is the place where I work, but it [the picture] is very blurry. You will be waiting for a letter, I will write soon. It is so beautiful here, I wish you were here. I have just been to the lake for a swim today. Love, sister Gerda

To: Mr Gustaf Ekman, Galeton, Box 342, Pa.

From: Gerda (Lake Geneva, Wis, Jul 23, 1909)

Käre bror! Jag är nu på landet, och jag har ej hört någonting från dig på så länge. Jag undrar hur du mår. Jag mår fint. Jag minns ej om jag skref till dig innan jag lemna Chicago, så kanske är min tur. / Här är förtjusande vackert, jag önskade du kunde komma hit. Jag kanhända lemnar här nästa vecka. / Min adr. är c/o Mrs Seipp, Lake Geneva, Wis.

Dear brother, I'm now in the countryside, and I haven't heard from you in so long. I'm wondering how you are. I'm fine. I don't remember if I wrote to you before I left Chicago, so perhaps it's my turn. / It's charmingly beautiful here, I wish you could come here. I might leave next week. / My adress is c/o Mrs Seipp, Lake Geneva, Wis. 

After a few shorter employments in Chicago, my great-aunt Gerda ended up working in the household of a well-known physician, Otto L. Schmidt. (Among other things, he was prominent enough to be one of 25 citizens to have his name engraved on The Illinois State Archives building in Chicago in 1938.  He was also the first physician in Chicago to use X-rays.) His wife was Emma Seipp, daughter of a wealthy Chicago brewer, Conrad Seipp. They were both of German heritage; and had three children: Ernst, Alma and Clara.  

I have written about them before on this blog (some of the posts not linked to Sepia Saturday). For example, you can read more about Otto L. Schmidt in a post from September 2012, and about his wife Emma and the Seipp family in a post from April 2021. 

Here, I'll just repeat that it seems the Schmidts (and at least some of their servants) used to spend the summers at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, where Mrs Schmidt's mother had a house - or even two. An article I found online says that the Seipp family built a summer home there in 1888, and after the death of Conrad Seipp, his widow (Catherine Orb Seipp) added a rather large and more modern "cottage" in 1905 - "to also accommodate her large and growing family".

I have also come to the conclusion that the two photos below of Gerda together with other servants were probably taken at Lake Geneva, on two different occasions. My guess is that both these photos show the summer staff at the Lake Geneva houses, consisting of Mrs Seipp's own servants +  those that Mrs Schmidt brought with her from her own household in Chicago. (In case you are wondering, Gerda is standing in the middle of the top row in the first photo, and sitting down on a tree stump or a rock in the second.)

The second postcard above (with the boat) shows the residence of a Mrs. Otto Young. I also found an article about Otto Young and his stone manor. It seems that Young was another German immigrant who arrived in New York in the 1850s, worked his way up in business (involving jewellry and real estate) and ended up very rich. He had a stone manor built at Lake Geneva, and died there in December 1906. I suppose that after his death the manor came to be known as the residence of his widow - and so named on this postcard.

To finish off this post, I recently noticed two more postcards of residences along Lake Geneva, Wis.,  in Gerda's collection of unwritten cards. I have not yet done any research on those names - maybe I'll return to them some other time... (I'm already late with this post as it is!)

Linking to Sepia Saturday 736

 

The Chicago Portraits - Sepia Saturday 695

Among my inherited family photos, there are also some portraits that I don't recognise as "family". Taking a closer look at some of those for this month's Sepia theme (portraits), I noticed a bunch  of rather large ones in paper frames from the early 1900s or so that were from studios in Chicago. This suggested that they must have belonged to my great aunt Gerda (older half-sister to my grandmother Sally), who lived in Chicago c. 1903-1910, working as a maid. So likely to be of people she knew back then... 

For SS 636 (2022-08-27), I wrote a post based on the addresses on postcards sent to Gerda while she lived in Chicago. They show that during the first years she changed employers rather frequently, but from around December 1906 and until she returned to Sweden, she remained living on the same address: 3328 Michigan Avenue. Thanks to the American census of 1910, I also know who she worked for there: A Dr Otto L Schmidt with wife Emma (born Seipp), both of German heritage; at the time with three children in their teens: Ernst, 17, Alma, 15 and Clara, 14. At the time of the census, besides Gerda they also had three more white female servants (from Austria and Germany); plus a 'mulatto' chauffeur with wife and two children. Dr Schmidt was a rather prominent citizen of Chicago, and his wife also belonged to a well-known and wealthy family there. 

At the bottom of this post, you will find an image from the census, plus links to a number of earlier posts where I've written about Gerda and her time in Chicago and with the Schmidt family. 

Anyway - my first thought about the Unknown portraits I was looking at now was that they might be of fellow servants that Gerda had been working with. However, at least one of them did not seem to fit that theory: A child portrait.

 

Putting these two photos side by side, not only do they come from the same studio, and have the same background - but to me, it also looks like the woman and the child may well be mother and daughter. So I'm beginning to wonder if this could actually be Emma Schmidt with one of her daughters (a bit earlier than 1910, as the girl looks younger than 14). 

The double portrait below comes from the same studio but with a different (updated) logo. I also think the two young women look like sisters - and that the one on the left could be an older version of the girl in the portrait above. Could they be Alma and Clara Schmidt? 

Next, a portrait of a young man - not from Chicago, but from Palm Beach, Florida. At first, it made me wonder if there had been a "special man" in Gerda's life during her time in Chicago after all, even though I have not really come across anything else pointing to that.

 

Then I put his photo next to that of the two young women, and now I couldn't help but think I see a family resemblance between all three of them. So what if he's actually Ernst Schmidt?

(Another curious fact, by the way: there are two identical copies of the girls' portrait...)

Trying to verify my guesses, I searched online for photos of the Schmidt family. There are quite a few available at the website of Wisconsin Historical Society, in a collection named "Black Point Estate and Seipp Family Papers". (I.e. Emma's side of the family.) These all seem to be subject to copyright, though, so I won't include any copies here. But here are a few links if you're curious: Ernst in 1912. -  Alma in 1906. - Otto and Emma in 1891.

There are no copies of the same portraits that I have though - so hard to be sure. (Btw, searching for photos of this family, it's also rather confusing that they seemed to like naming their offspring after close relatives... Emmas daughters, for example, were named after her own two sisters, also called Alma and Clara.)

For now, I will assume that the portraits above are indeed of Emma Schmidt and her children. Maybe some day I'll get it either confirmed or disproved - that has happened before with theories I've come up with in this blog!  

Then there was this portrait below, which seemed somehow familiar... But where from??

It hit me after a while that she must be the woman 2nd from the left in the photo below, standing next to Gerda (in the middle). And this (I have concluded earlier) must be from the Seipp/Schmidt families' summer residence(s) at Lake Geneva - probably a group photo of staff from at least two households, "joining forces" while there.

 

I think she's also the friend posing together with Gerda in the studio photo below; which makes me assume that she too was a servant in the Schmidt family household in Chicago. Probably one of the two from Austria - but whether Maria or Amalia, I dare not guess. (Both a little older than Gerda, according to the census of 1910.)

And at last, below, two more Unknown photos. They look to me like they could be one and the same woman, though, even if I don't know her name. Unless something turns up to provide more clues, I'll assume her to be another servant colleague of Gerda's. (The portrait to the left is from Rockford, Illinois - so could be someone she worked with for a while in Chicago, but who either came from, or moved on to, Rockford.)

The 1910 census from 3328 Michigan Avenue (the handwriting a challenge!)

Links to previous "related" posts of mine about Gerda, the Schmidt family, and Chicago:

1910 US Population Census (2012-08-31)

Otto L. Schmidt, Gerda’s employer in Chigaco 1910 (2012-09-03)

The 1933 Chicago World's Fair (2012-09-04)

***Lake Geneva (2021-04-24) (where the family had their summer residence)

Changing My Theory About a Photo (2021-05-08)

Chicago Then and Now (2022-08-27)

Linking to Sepia Saturday 695

 "head and shoulder portraits"

Christmas & New Year 1907-08 - Sepia Saturday 653

Cards sent to my great-aunt Gerda in Chicago for Christmas and New Year 1907/08.

(See previous post  - Sepia Saturday 652 - for more background)

R.011.02

God Jul tillönskas dig af: Agnes Andersson
Merry Christmas from Agnes Andersson

Ett Godt nytt år önskas Gerda af vännen Hilda Olson

Happy New Year, to Gerda from your friend Hilda Olson

R.012.02

Tack kära Gerda för kortet som du sände mig i jul. Jag är frisk och kry, hoppas du är också frisk. Ett gott nytt år tillönskar jag dig. Vännen Helén 

Thanks dear Gerda for the card you sent me for Christmas. I am well and healthy, I hope you are well too. I wish you a happy new year. Your friend Helén 

R.013.01

Min kära Gerda! Mottag härmed min varma och hjärtliga nyårshälsning med glädje och mycken välsignelse af Gud, och må vi under detta ingångna år komma i innerligare förening med vår Frälsare. Din vän Ester Svenson

To Miss Gerda Ekman, c/o Teckla Ericson, 3416 Michigan Ave., City

(Please forward this to Gerda)

 
My dear Gerda, I'm sending you my warmest and heartfelt greetings for the new year, with joy and much blessing from God, and wishing that during this new year we will be getting even closer united with our Saviour. Your friend, Ester Svenson

R.013.02

Happy New Year - B.H.

R.014.01 - With best New Year Wishes 

Chicago den 29/12. Tack för kortet! När kommer du opp? Låt mig veta när din dag är att stanna inne. En vacker dag kommer jag nog och ser dig om det passar för dig. Vänligen, Mary, 1619 N Campbell, City. * - Hälsningar från gubben min. 

Chicago 29.12. Thanks for the card! When will you be coming up [to see us]? Let me know when it's your day to stay in. Some day I'll try to come and see you if it's convenient for you. Best regards, Mary, 1619 N Campbell, City. - Greetings from my hubby. 

Cf. an earlier post, Chicago Then and Now (for Sepia Saturday 636): In December 1906, one Christmas card was sent to Gerda at 1619 N Campbell Ave and forwarded from there to 3328 Michigan Ave. N Campbell Ave may have been where Gerda worked before she started her job at Michigan Ave. Or she may have been staying with a friend there between employments.  

R.014.02

Jag önskar dig all lycka och välgång på det nya året 1908 - Broder Gust.

Wishing you all the best for the new year 1908 - Brother Gust.

(Gerda's brother Gustaf in Galeton, Pennsylvania. He and Gerda emigrated around the same time, in the autumn of 1902, and both returned to Sweden in 1911. While Gerda worked as a maid in Chicago, Gustaf spent most of his time in America in Galeton, working at a lumber yard.) He seems to have been called 'Gust' during his years in America - the full name Gustaf hard to pronounce in English.) 

R.015.02

A Merry Christmas to you. - Signe P.

R.016.01

God jul önskas af Anna Johnson, till Gerda

Merry Christmas from Anna Johnson, to Gerda

R.016.02

Många hälsningar från O.S.
Many greetings from O.S.

R.017.01

From Julia A

From J.L.

My impression from these cards is that most of Gerda's friends in Chicago were other Swedish maids. 

Linking to Sepia Saturday 653: 
"Preparations for Christmas 1907"