Chicago and New York (1933) - Sepia Saturday 623

The Chicago World's Fair 1933 - 'A Century of Progress'

In 1933, my great-aunt Gerda's employer, Count Folke Bernadotte, represented Sweden at the Century of Progress International Exposition in  Chicago. (The links go to Wikipedia articles.) The theme of the fair was technological innovation, and its motto "Science Finds, Industry Applies, Man Adapts".

Image of poster, from Wikimedia Commons

Back in 2012 (early days on this blog) I wrote another post about The 1933 Chicago World's Fair. Among prominent citizens of Chicago who where involved in organizing it was a former employer of Gerda's, a doctor Otto L. Schmidt. (Both links go to blog posts of mine from 2012.) In the US census of 1910 (shortly before she returned to Sweden), Gerda was registred as working in his household (and from postcards, I know she had been employed there for a few years by then).

The Manvilles' estate Hi-Esmaro in Pleasantville N.Y. 

Whether Gerda also got to revisit Chicago in 1933, I don't know. What I do know from her photo album is that aside from Folke's participation in the great exposition in Chicago, the Bernadotte family (and Gerda) spent that summer with Estelle's parents (the American industrialist Hiram Edward Manville, and his wife Henrietta Estelle Romaine) at their estate Hi-Esmaro in Pleasantville, New York. 

One photo of Gerda has "Pleasantville 1933" written on the back. In another, she is in the company of two little boys, who must be Folke's and Estelle's two oldest sons, Gustaf and Folke Jr (3½ and 2½ years old that summer). These photos have been shown on this blog before (first in September 2012), and with unexpected help from readers in Pleasantville, the location of both was confirmed to be the garden of the Manvilles' estate Hi-Esmaro.  

More recently, I noticed yet another photo in Gerda's album that could be from Hi-Esmaro, and seems to include one of the Bernadotte brothers at a young age. The woman in uniform is obviously a nurse/nanny, and I think the one to the left may be Estelle. 

My first guess was that this photo too was from 1933 - in which case the boy had to be the younger of the two. After enlarging photos and comparing faces and size, I'm having second thoughts, though. Maybe it's the older brother, Gustaf, but from the summer of 1931? (He was born 30 January 1930, but sadly only lived to be six years old - he died in February 1936.)  

As for the house in the background on this photo being Hi-Esmaro, I decided to try a new web-search - which brought up some more photos of the house taken by Keith Walsh, published in a Facebook group "You know you're from Pleasantville, N.Y., if...", in October 2018 - in memory of it then being 40 years since the house was torn down (1978). As Keith sent me other photos of the house in the past, I hope he won't mind if I borrow another one of his here. The photo in Gerda's album may not be from the exact same corner of the house, but the windows do look very similar in style, and the stonework too.  (If you click on the link and look at more of Keith's photos, you'll see that it was a huge and rather quirky building - with every side looking different.)

From 1931, the only postcard by Gerda that I have is the one from Örgården in Sweden in September that year (used for Sepia Saturday 622, April 2022). However, Folke Jr was born in Pleasantville in February 1931, and it seems likely to me that the family would have stayed on there into the summer that year, before returning to Sweden.

From 1933 I also only have one postcard - but it confirms that Gerda and the Bernadottes had spent that summer in the US, and also tells us exactly when they returned to Sweden, and by which ship:

Postcard: Wall Street, New York City (M.005.01) 

Bank of the Manhattan Co.
Wall Street, New York City

MANHATTAN COMPANY BUILDING, New York City,
located on the North side of Wall Street. The building rises 
to a height of 70 stories, and is one of the outstanding
commercial structures in the world. It is 925 feet high.

"The 71-story, 927-foot-tall Manhattan Company Building or 40 Wall Street was built from May 1929 to May 1930. It was the tallest building in the world for about two months, when it was surpassed by Chrysler Building. The building is crowned by a pyramidal roof capped by a spire.

  In 1955, the Bank of the Manhattan Company merged with Chase National Bank to form Chase Manhattan Bank. In 1995, Donald Trump took over 40 Wall Street." [Geographic Guide New York Historic Buildings]

To: Herr Gustaf Samuelson, Storegården, Fristad, Sweden
From: Gerda (New York, Aug 18, 1933)

K. bror! Tack för brev, såg att du varit ute och cyklat, det var ju trevligt, det har ju varit skön sommar hemma. Här har det varit ganska hett ibland, men nu är det lagom. Vi lemnar [=lämnar] med Gripsholm d. 6 sept, är väl hemma omkring d. 14. Får se om jag kan komma hemåt något, skulle vara roligt. K. hälsningar, Gerda.

Dear brother, Thanks for your letter. I saw that you've been out cycling, that sounds nice. I understand you've had a pleasant summer at home. Here it's been rather hot sometimes, but now it's better. We're leaving with Gripsholm on Sept 6th, should be home around the 14th. I'll see if I'll be able to come home for a visit some time, that would be fun. Love, Gerda

- - -

MS Gripsholm was an ocean liner, built in 1924 by Armstrong Whitworth in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, for the Swedish American Line for use in the Gothenburg-New York City run. She was of great historical importance as the first ship built for transatlantic express service as a diesel-powered motor vessel, rather than as a steamship. [Wikipedia/MS Gripsholm (1924)]

- - -

Linking to Sepia Saturday 623

For Sepia Saturday 623, the theme 
is either telephones, bows,
cushions, or anything else
you can find in this silly photograph.

Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. Surely this must have been included somewhere in the 1833-1933 "Century of Progress" exposition! 

SVENSKA

År 1933 representerade greve Folke Bernadotte Sverige vid Världsutställningen i Chicago – 'The Century of Progress'  International Exposition  (1833-1933) . Temat för utställningen var tekniska innovationer, med mottot ”Vetenskapen uppfinner, industrin tillämpar, människan anpassar sig”. 

[ Affisch för utställningen - bild från Wikimedia Commons ]

I september 2012 (samma år som jag startade den här bloggen) skrev jag ett annat inlägg om världsutställningen i Chicago 1933, där också en av Gerdas tidigare arbetsgivare i Chicago, Otto L. Schmidt, var involverad. 

(För nytillkomna läsare: Gerda var min farmors äldre halvsyster. Hon bodde i Chicago mellan 1902-1910, och i den amerikanska folkräkningen 1910 är hon registrerad som anställd i hushållet hos familjen Schmidt. Från ca 1928 och framåt arbetade hon för Estelle och Folke Bernadotte.)

 

Om även Gerda fick tillfälle att återse Chicago 1933 vet jag inte, men däremot att hon tillsammans med familjen Bernadotte tillbringade sommaren hos Estelles föräldrar i Pleasantville, New York. Detta  på grund av att det finns foton på henne tagna på Manvilles egendom Hi-Esmaro det året. 

På ett foto står ”Pleasantville 1933” antecknat på baksidan, och på det andra syns Gerda i sällskap med två små pojkar, som måste vara Folkes och Estelles två äldsta söner, Gustaf och Folke Jr, 3½ respektive 2½ år gamla den sommaren. Dessa foton har visats på den här bloggen tidigare (september 2012, och även senare), och jag fick då oväntad hjälp från två olika läsare med lokalkännedom om Pleasantville, att identifiera platsen som Hi-Esmaro. Huset är sedan länge rivet men vissa spår av murar etc finns fortfarande i den igenvuxna trädgården.

  

Mer nyligen lade jag märke till ett annat foto i Gerdas fotoalbum, med två okända kvinnor på ömse sidor om liten pojke, som det nu slog mig också skulle kunna vara från Hi-Esmaro – och i så fall borde den pojken också vara en av bröderna Bernadotte i mycket ung ålder. Kvinnan till höger i uniform är väl en barnsköterska, och jag tror att kvinnan till vänster kan vara Estelle. (Hon ser för ung ut för att det ska kunna vara Gerda.) 

Min första gissning var att även detta foto var från 1933, och i så fall måste pojken vara den yngre av de två, dvs Folke Jr. Men det skulle också kunna vara den äldre brodern, Gustaf – men i så fall 1931? (Gustaf var född 30 januari 1930. Sorgligt nog blev han bara sex år – han dog i frebruari 1936.)

Vad gäller att bakgrunden på fotot skulle vara Hi-Esmaro, så var det en känsla jag fick av stenväggen som syns i bakgrunden. Jag kunde inte påminna mig att jag sett någon liknande glasdörr på andra foton av huset; men jag har förstått att huset var mycket stort och såg olika ut från olika sidor. Jag testade en ny web-sökning och hittade fler foton tagna av Keith Walsh, publicerade i oktober 2018 i en Facebook-grupp (”Du vet att du är från Pleasantville, New York, om...”) - till minne av att det då var 40 år sedan huset revs (1978). Eftersom Keith är en av dem som skickat foton till mig tidigare, så hoppas jag han inte misstycker om jag ”lånar” ännu ett här, för jämförelses skull. Det visar kanske inte exakt samma plats som fotot i Gerdas album, men fönstren ser onekligen ut att vara i samma stil, och även stenväggen.

Det enda vykort skrivet av Gerda som jag har från 1931 är det från Prins Eugens Örgården i Vadstena i september det året (se Sepia Saturday 619, april 2022). Folke Jr föddes i Pleasantville i februari 1931, och det verkar högst troligt att familjen då blev kvar där till frampå sensommaren det året innan de återvände till Sverige.

Från 1933 har jag också bara ett enda vykort  – men sänt från New York, och förutom att det bekräftar att Gerda och familjen Bernadotte tillbringat den sommaren i USA, så ger det till och med information om datum för deras återvändande till Sverige, och även vilket fartyg de reste med.

Vykort: M.005.01 - Wall Street, New York City

Byggnaden på bilden är ”Bank of the Manhattan Co., Wall Street, New York City” - 70 våningar och 925 fot hög. Den uppfördes mellan maj 1929 och maj 1930 – men förblev världens högsta bara i två månader (innan Chrysler-byggnaden tog över den positonen). Senare i historien, 1995, togs byggnaden över av Donald Trump.

Till: Herr Gustaf Samuelson, Storegården, Fristad, Sweden

Från: Gerda (New York, Aug 18, 1933)

K. bror! Tack för brev, såg att du varit ute och cyklat, det var ju trevligt, det har ju varit skön sommar hemma. Här har det varit ganska hett ibland, men nu är det lagom. Vi lemnar [=lämnar] med Gripsholm d. 6 sept, är väl hemma omkring d. 14. Får se om jag kan komma hemåt något, skulle vara roligt. K. hälsningar, Gerda.

M/S Gripsholm var Sveriges och världens första dieseldrivna passagerarfartyg i atlanttrafik --- Hon tog 1 643 passagerare och hade 301 mans besättning. Jungfruresan påbörjades den 21 november 1925. Hon var inte bara svenska handelsflottans största fartyg, utan även internationellt ett av de modernaste fartygen på Atlanten. [Wikipedia/MS Gripsholm] 

 - - - 

Sepia Saturday 623: ”telefoner, rosetter, kuddar, eller vad helst du kan hitta i detta fotografi”

Alexander Graham Bell tilldelades 1876 det första patentet i USA för att ha uppfunnit telefonen. Säkert fanns denna apparat med och hyllades bland alla andra innovationer i världsutställningen ”Century of Progess” i Chicago 1933!

A Royal Wedding (1928) - Sepia Saturday 615

 M.001.02 - Municipal Building, New York City

Municipal building, New York City.
© by Irving Underhill, N.Y.

Irving Underhill (1872–1960) "was one of the most notable commercial photographers in New York City during the first half of the 20th century. He produced work that was featured in postcards and numerous publications while he was still alive, and that continues to be exhibited and receive recognition long after his death." [Wikipedia]

MUNICIPAL BUILDING, BY NIGHT,
NEW YORK CITY.

Facing City Hall at Park Row and Center Streets,

contains offices for all the city departments and is the

largest structure of its kind in the world. It is 34 stories,

580 feet high, including 30 foot statue of Miss Civic Pride

on tower. Foundation consists of 116 Pneumatic caissons

sunk 260 feet below water level. Total cost $ 13,000,000.

To: Herr Gustaf Emanuelson*, Storegården, Fristad
From: Gerda (Stockholm, 31.12.1928)

Ett gott nytt år!!! önskas Er alla med hälsningar från Gerda
A Happy New Year!!! to all of you, with best wishes from Gerda

[*At some point after moving back to the family farm in Fristad, Gustaf changed his last name back from Ekman to Emanuelsson, and then to Samuelsson. His father's name was Samuel Emanuelsson.]

. . .

The construction of Manhattan Municipal Building began in 1909 and continued through 1914. That means this card can't be an old one that Gerda had saved since she lived in America. She returned to Sweden in 1911, and after that I have found nothing to indicate that she revisited the US - until, perhaps, in 1928. This postcard seems to support the theory that she did visit New York in the autumn of 1928 - even if at the same time, it also seems to prove s that she was back in Sweden to post Christmas and New Year greetings from Stockholm. (Cf card, M.001.01 - Sturefors castle)

The reason why I want Gerda to have been in New York around December 1, 1928, is the wedding between the couple that were to be her next (and last) employers: the Swedish Count Folke Bernadotte (nephew to King Gustav V of Sweden) and his American wife Estelle Manville, from Pleasantville, New York.

Folke Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg, born 1895, was a Swedish nobleman, diplomat, and nephew to King Gustav V of Sweden. In WWII he was to become famous for negotiating the release of about 31,000 prisoners from German concentration camps - the so-called White Buses operation. A few years after the war, he was tragically assassinated in Jerusalem in 1948.

Before all that, back in 1928, on December 1, in Pleasantville, New York, Folke married Estelle Romaine Manville, born 1904 in Pleasantville; the only daughter of a wealthy American industrialist, Hiram Edward Manville, and his wife Henrietta Estelle Romaine. 

Folke and Estelle met in Nice on the French Riviera in the summer of 1928. It has been said that it was King Gustav V of Sweden himself who introduced Estelle to his nephew; and it seems to have been more or less "love at first sight". Their engagement was officially announced on August 3, 1928. 

From my own family context, I seem to recall hearing Gerda's position in the Bernadotte household being spoken of as 'housekeeper' at their home in Stockholm, Dragongården. However, from what I've gathered later, it seems it was't until a few years later that Folke and Estelle properly settled in Sweden and moved into that house - a 20-room villa in central Stockholm, which was to become their family home. (Nowadays it is the Chinese embassy in Stockholm). 

Because of this, I'm not quite sure when exactly Gerda started working for the Bernadottes. But the more I've learned about Gerda's life , the more likely I find it that she probably got employed as lady's maid to Estelle even before the wedding - although not very long before.

According to the list I have of Gerda's eimployments, she left Sturefors Castle on August 21, 1928. That's just 2½ weeks after Folke and Estelle got engaged. And I have no record of her having had another employment in between. 

Estelle - a young American girl, 24 years old, "out of the blue" about to marry a Swedish nobleman and diplomat, nephew to the king... What would people around her consider her in need of? I'm thinking: Someone to help her with the transformation from rich American girl to Swedish Countess. Like... a mature and experienced lady's maid, speaking Swedish, English and French, used to working for Swedish nobility as well as wealthy Americans - and with the reputation of being "an excellent traveller and packer and a neat needlewoman". Gerda (47 years old in 1928), although the daughter of a Swedish farmer, by now filled those requirements and more. Actually, the more I've learned about her previous employments, the more I think she may even have got "head-hunted" for the position. 

Besides the New York postcard above, another indication that Gerda might have been in the US for the wedding in 1928 is a newspaper cutting found among her postcards and photos:

HERE COMES THE BRIDE: - Miss Estelle Romaine Manville arriving at the church wearing wedding veil worn by the late Queen Sophie, grandmother of the bridegroom. 

THE ROYAL GUESTS! - Count Wachtminster, Countess Martha Wachtminster*, Countess Anna Bonde and Count Platen* (l. to r.) of the Swedish nobility, leaving church after ceremony. (By Pacific & Atlantic) 

*(Wachtminster = Wachtmeister, and Platen = von Platen, I think...)

Of course a cutting from a magazine doesn't necessarily prove that Gerda was there in person. But it is from an American magazine, not a Swedish one. I kind of doubt that Gerda got to attend the actual wedding ceremony, because from what I've read, only "250 of the couple's closest friends and family members" were present in the church. But it seems likely that  as lady's maid Gerda would have been there for the preparations, and also present "in the background" at the big reception held afterwards at the Manville estate Hi-Esmaro (with around 1500 guests attending). 

After the wedding, Folke and Estelle seem to have spent some time in America, incuding Christmas at Hi-Esmaro with Estelle's family - while  Gerda was evidently (with postcards to prove it) back in Stockholm for Christmas and New Year. I suppose that spending the honeymoon in the US, the newlyweds preferred to manage on their own most of the time. So Gerda may have been given some time off - and perhaps there were also things she could help arrange for them back in Stockholm. 

I have several photos of Gerda from the Manville estate in Pleasantville; but with most of them, I don't know the year. Below is one obviously taken in winter. Whether December 1928, I dare not say. But fashion-wise, I think it's possible. (Cf. a 1928 fashion website I found.)

Stories of how I managed (with the help of readers) to establish that this and more photos in Gerda's album were taken at the Manville estate in Pleasantville can be found in various early posts on the blog - several years ago now. For example: The Secret Garden in Pleasantville, N.Y. (1914-01-26)

Linking to: Sepia Saturday 615

SVENSKA

Vykort: Municipal Building, New York City

Till: Herr Gustaf Emanuelson*, Storegården, Fristad

Från: Gerda (postat i Stockholm, 31.12.28)

Ett gott nytt år!!! önskas Er alla med hälsningar från Gerda

*[Vid någon tidpunkt efter att Gustaf flyttat tillbaka till Storegården i Fristad ändrade han tillbaka sitt efternamn från Ekman till Emanuelsson, och ytterligare lite senare till Samuelsson. Hans fars namn var Samuel Emanuelsson.]

. . .

'Stadshuset' Municipal Building på Manhattan i New York började byggas 1909 och stod färdigt först 1914. Det betyder att det här vykortet inte kan vara från åren då Gerda bodde i Amerika, utan måste ha köpts senare. Gerda återvände till Sverige 1911, och jag har inte funnit något som pekar på att hon besökte Amerika igen förrän, kanske, 1928. Det här kortet verkar stödja min teori om att hon faktiskt var i New York då; även samma kort också bevisar att hon var tillbaka i Stockholm igen vid jul/nyår.

Orsaken till att jag gärna tänker mig att Gerda besökte New York hösten 1928, är bröllopet mellan Folke Bernadotte och hans amerikanska hustru Estelle Manville, från Pleasantville, N.Y. - som Gerda kom att tjäna hos under resten av sitt liv. Paret gifte sig den 1 december 1928 i St. John's Episcopal Church i Pleasantville.

Folke Bernadotte, greve av Wisborg, född 1895, var en svensk adelsman, diplomat, och brorson till kung Gustav V. Under andra världskriget, då han var vice ordförande i svenska Röda Korset, kom han att bli känd för att ha befriat 31.000 fångar från koncentrationsläger i Tyskland. (Efter kriget blev han tragiskt nog mördad i Jerusalem, 1948.)

Långt innan allt detta, den 1 december 1928, gifte han sig alltså i Pleasantville, New York, med Estelle Romaine Manville, dotter till den förmögne amerikanske affärsmannen Hiram Edward Manville och hans hustru Henrietta Estelle Romaine.

Folke och Estelle träffades i Nice på franska rivieran sommaren 1928. Det sägs ha varit kung Gustav V själv som introducerade them för varandra; och det blev ”kärlek vid första ögonkastet”. Deras förlovning eklaterades redan den 3 augusti 1928. 

Från min egen uppväxt tycker jag mig minnas att Gerda omtalades som ”husföreståndarinna” på Dragongården, paret Bernadottes hem i Stockholm. När jag senare sökt efter mer detaljer, så finner jag att det nog inte var förrän några år senare som Folke och Estelle på allvar bosatte sig i Sverige och flyttade in på Dragongården – en villa med 20 rum, som numera hyser kinesiska ambassaden.

Därför har jag inte känt mg helt säker på när  Gerda egentligen började arbeta för paret Bernadotte – om det var först när de flyttade till Dragongården, eller redan tidigare. 

Ju mer jag hittat om Gerdas liv, desto mer lutar jag nu dock åt att hon troligen anställdes som kammarjungfru till Estelle redan före bröllopet.

En ung amerikanska, 24 år gammal, som helt plötsligt ska gifta sig med en svensk greve, därtill nära släkt med kungen själv – vad för slags hjälp kan hon behöva i denna omställning?  Jag tänker mig: En mogen och erfaren kammarjungfru, som behärskar både svenska och engelska (och därtill även franska); van att arbeta för både svensk adel och ”nyrika” amerikaner; och välrenommerad för sin erfarenhet av  långa resor, med handhavande av packning och sömnad mm. Vid det här laget stämmer allt detta in på Gerda. Dotter till en lantbrukare, men nu 47 år gammal, och med många erfarenheter och långa utlandsvistelser i bagaget. Ju mer jag tänkt på det, desto troligare syns det mig att hon antagligen blev ombedd att ta den här tjänsten, snarare än att hon själv ”sökte” den.

Enligt Gerdas betyg, så lämnade hon sin anställning hos grevinnan Bielke på Sturefors den 21 augusti 1928. Det var 2½ vecka efter Folkes och Estelles förlovning. Och i listan över hennes anställningar finns inget som tyder på att hon skulle haft något annat arbete efter Sturefors, innan hon började hos paret Bernadotte. 

Förutom vykortet från New York ovan, så finns ytterligare ett ”indicium” på att hon kan ha varit i USA vid tiden för bröllopet: Ett medfaret tidningsurklipp med foton från detsamma, som hon bevarat i alla år tillammans med diverse foton och vykort.

Urklippet bevisar väl inte i sig att Gerda var med vid bröllopet - men det är från en amerikansk tidskrift, inte en svensk. Troligen var Gerda inte med vid själva vigselakten i kyrkan, för enligt uppgift var det bara 250 av ”brudparets närmaste familj och vänner” som deltog där. Men som kammarjungfru bör hon väl ha funnits med i föreberedelserna, och även i bakgrunden vid den stora mottagningen efteråt på Manvilles egendom Hi-Esmaro, då det lär ha varit 1500 gäster inbjudna. 

 

Efter bröllopet ska Folke och Estelle ha tillbringat sin smekmånad i USA, och även ha firat julen med Estelles föräldrar på Hi-Esmaro.  Gerda var dock uppenbarligen tillbaka i Stockholm vid jultid, eftersom hon sände jul- och nyårshälsningar till anhöriga därifrån (förutom New York-kortet till Gustaf, också kortet på Sturefors slott till sin styvmor Selma, jmf föregående inlägg).

 

Det förefaller dock inte så konstigt, om brudparet avstod från att ha sin svenska kammarjungfru med på smekmånaden i USA, där Estelle var på ”hemmaplan”.Jjag tänker mig att Gerda fick lite julledighet; men kanske att hon också hade saker att utföra för paret Bernadottes räkning i Stockholm. (De måste ju ha haft någonstans att bo i Stockholm även före Dragongården.)

Jag har flera foton på Gerda från Manvilles egendom i Pleasantville, men med de flesta vet jag inte när de är tagna. Fotot här är dock uppenbarligen taget vintertid. Om det är från 1928 eller något eller några senare vet jag inte – men modet ser ut att kunna stämma rätt bra med 1928.

Bland tidigare inlägg på den här bloggen (som jag startade 2012) finns flera som redogör för hur jag, med hjälp av läsare bosatta i Pleasantville som hört av sig, kommit att kunna fastställa att vissa foton i Gerdas fotoalbum måste vara tagna på Hi-Esmaro. Huset är rivet, men vissa murrester från trädgården finns kvar.

Exempel från januari 1914:  The Secret Garden in Pleasantville, N.Y.

 

Another Pleasantville Interlude (~ 1930)

Way back in September 2012, I wrote a post entitled Summer in Pleasantville 1933. I had one photo of Gerda, posing on some kind of brick terrace, and with 'Pleasantville 1933' written on the back. And another of her in a garden with two little boys, which looked like it might be from the same time and place. I knew Gerda was working for Estelle Manville-Bernadotte and her husband Count Folke Bernadotte (from Sweden) at the time. I also knew Estelle's parents lived in Pleasantville; and furthermore, that Folke Bernadotte represented Sweden at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair - which made it likely that the whole family had been to the US that summer - lady's maid/housekeeper Gerda included.

Over the years that followed, I had emails from two or three people who happened to come across my blog posts in their own internet searches to do with Pleasantville, and who could confirm - in one way or another - that those photos of Gerda were indeed from the Manville estate.

One of those emails, received in July 2014, got put aside because I had little time just then for my family research projects. I happened to find it again the other day, and realised that I never got round to adding those photos to the blog. I have remedied that now, in a post that I decided to "back-date" to 2014: Hi-Esmaro, Pleasantville - Again. One photo shows the house in 1925; the other is from 1978, shortly before it was demolished.

On second thought, I'll include these photos here, too 
- for comparison with some more to follow below...

After I had finished that back-dated blog post yesterday, I was flickering through Gerda's photo album agian. It's a very challenging collection, because not only are the photos very small, and some of them of poor quality - but they have also been firmly glued into the album in no particular order, and with no notes or dates whatsoever. (And as the separate album pages can't be removed, scanning the images is tricky, too.)

Now, with that 1925 image of the Hi-Esmaro estate fresh in mind... Suddenly another photo in the album jumps out at me. Surely this looks like it could be from Hi-Esmaro as well - from another angle?

I'm guessing Gerda is the one in the middle.
And then surely, the photo below shows the same three ladies:

And then I suppose this photo could be from there as well
(even if it could also be somewhere else)

And perhaps this one?

‘Secret Garden’ Update: The Gardener

I’m afraid I haven’t had much time the last couple of years to dig deeper into “the secrets of the past” hidden in the inherited old family photos and postcards. This blog is still “out there” though - and every now and then, I still receive an unexpected email from someone who happened to come across it in their own research, found something of interest to themselves, and decided to share some of their own findings with me in return. Much appreciated!

Last week, I received an email from Lois in England, who was excited to have come across my post ‘The Secret Garden’ in Pleasantville N.Y. In short, that post compares some old photos from the album of my great-aunt Gerda (born 1881), who used to be lady’s maid/housekeeper to Estelle Manville-Bernadotte (married to the Swedish count Folke Bernadotte in 1928) + photos from 2013 sent to me from someone living in Pleasantville, confirming my guess that some old photos from 1933 must be from the garden of the Manville estate Hi-Esmaro in Pleasantville. While the house itself is no longer there, some of the old garden walls still are.

The recent email from Lois in England (written 27 August 2017) says:

Like you I am very interested in history and tracing my relatives from the past. My great Uncle Walter [Everett] emigrated to the US and worked as a gardener at the Hi Esmaro in the late twenties up until 1932.  He then returned to England where he attended Kew Gardens as a student/worker working in their very famous Orchid House.  In 1936 he qualified as an accomplished gardener and went to work for Sanders Orchids in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England.  Sanders had a Royal Warrant to grow orchids for  the Royal Family since Queen Victoria.  I am still investigating his interesting life and was so surprised to come across your photos of the Manville estate in Pleasantville. The Secret Garden photos and article on the blog  particularly amazed me, as I am a retired horticultural lecturer and have a passion for Walled Gardens --- I hope you and your blogger from Foxwood will find this interesting and it is nice to be connected in the Ether. I wonder if any photos of the garden or the gardeners in 1928-1933 still exist?  ---

There are very few notes of dates and locations in Gerda’s photo album, and the photos obviously don’t come in strict chronological order either. I’m not even sure if Gerda visited Pleasantville before 1933 – but she might have. A relative sent me (a few years ago) some dates he found in documents in his possession. From those can be concluded that Gerda was definitely with the Bernadotte family in Paris in the spring of 1932. There is also evidence that a previous employment of hers ended in August 1928; while the years between 1928 and 1932 are unaccounted for. So I conclude that it is possible that she did start working for Estelle Bernadotte even before the wedding, which took place in Pleasantville on December 1, 1928. And in that case, it now strikes me that the (undated) winter photo of Gerda (standing on snowy ground close to a low wall looking very much like Hi Esmaro), might actually be from December 1928. To support the idea that Gerda may have been there for the wedding, there is also the newspaper cutting from the wedding (winter photo and newspaper cutting also included in my ‘Secret Garden’ post).

Anyone out there who can tell me if it was snowing in Pleasantville in December 1928?? (well, it doesn’t hurt to ask…)

If Gerda was employed by the Bernadottes “right from the start”, it is also not unlikely that she may have visited Hi-Esmaro more than once between 1928 and 1933. And if so – well, then I suppose she might even have met the gardener Walter Everett!

- - -

One more photo of Gerda sitting on a terrace overlooking a garden does spring to mind for me, and I managed to find it in her album.  In my mind, I recall an enlarged version of the same photo, with some pale colouring added, on display with other family portraits in my grandmother’s house.  I also have a vague memory of having been told (a very long time ago) that it was from Gerda’s 50th birthday. But that would have been 25th October 1931 – and this doesn’t look like October to  me. (Definitely not in Sweden, and I would think not in Pleasantville, N.Y. either.) The year could still be right, though, I suppose.

 

---

 

Hi-Esmaro, Pleasantville - again

(Post written June 1, 2019 - backdated to July 18, 2014)

Over the years, some posts on this blog showing my great-aunt Gerda visting the Manville Estate Hi-Esmaro in Pleasantville, New York, have generated some interesting email replies from readers previously unknown to me, who have been able to confirm or add to my guesses.

One such email I think I failed to post about when I got it, as it happened to arrive at a very busy time in my life. It got put aside and I only recently found it again. To get it more in context with other related posts on the blog, I will "back-date" this post to when I received the email - July 2014. (My other posts from 2014 are also about Gerda.)

In my post Summer in Pleasantville, 1933 (2012-09-04), I posted photos of Gerda from Pleasantville 1933. She was then (and onwards) working as lady's maid/housekeeper for Estelle Manville-Bernadotte and her Swedish husband count Folke Bernadotte. From other sources I learned that Folke Bernadotte did visit the United states in 1933, representing Sweden at the World's Fair in Chicago. So it was logical that the whole family (with two small children at the time) would then also take the opportunity to visit Estelle's parents in Pleasantville.

In that previous post, I also included this image from a book, that I found online:

Now to the email from Keith Walsh, sent to me in 2014. He writes that he grew up in Pleasantville in the 1970s, and since then has done much research on the Pleasantville era of the Manville family and the former estate itself; and continues:

The black and white image of the two houses for your original post dates from around 1918. The house on the left was Charles B. Manville's home (Hiram's father) and the house on the right was Hiram Manville's before the mansion was built in 1924 on the same spot. 

I can confirm for you that the pictures of Gerda sitting on a circular brick wall were photographed is at Hi-Esmaro's south garden. The flag in the background flew from a knoll near the mansion. 

I am attaching for you two views of the mansion and garden where Gerda posed: one from 1925, and the other taken by me in 1978 shortly before both were demolished.

Thank you so much for this contribution, Keith!
It's wonderful to know what the house itself look like.

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to include it on the blog.

‘The Secret Garden’ in Pleasantville N.Y.

Follow-up of the serendipitous story mentioned in yesterday’s post (Sepia Saturday 25 Jan 2014).

A few months ago, in September 2013, I received an unexpected email with some photos attached, in response to a blog post I had written about a year earlier (4 Sept 2012 - Summer in Pleasantville, 1933).

The sender of the email was a young woman of Swedish descent herself, now living in Pleasantville, N.Y. The reason she wrote was that she was able to provide some evidence to support my guess about the location of two photos I believed must be from the Manville estate Hi-Esmaro in Pleasantville. (Which in turn also confirms that the boys in one of those photos from 1933 – see below – must be Gustaf and Folke Bernadotte, sons of Swedish diplomat Count Folke Bernadotte and his wife Estelle Manville-Bernadotte. Gerda was working for the Bernadotte family at that point in time, either as housekeeper or lady’s maid, or some position like that.)

Here is an abridged version of her email + my translation:

Jag bor i Foxwood, Pleasantville, New York. Jag och min 6-åriga dotter brukar promenera mycket i trakten och vi har ett favoritställe. Det är en gräsmatta med gamla murar runt. Det känns som en hemlig trädgård och man kan liksom känna att det måste varit en fin plats för länge sen. Jag har frågat grannar osv om de vet om det legat ett hus där förr, och den gröna ytan varit en trädgård, men ingen har vetat någonting. Jag har kollat i gamla böcker om Pleasantville och så fann jag Din blogg och de fantastiska fotona på din släkting. Jag tror att "vår" hemliga trädgård kan vara den som är på dina foton!

Hi, I live in Foxwood, Pleasantville, New York. My 6-year-old daughter and I have a favourite place that we often walk by. It’s a big lawn surrounded by old walls. It feels a bit like a secret garden and you can sense that it must have been a beautiful place a long time ago. I have asked people about it but no one seemed to know anything about it. So I looked in old books about Pleasantville, and then I also found your blog and the photos of your relative. I think our secret garden is the one in your photos!

“The entrance to the garden from the bottom of the hill.”

▲ “The lighter rectangle in the lawn may show the remnants of an old pond.” ▼

▲ Enlarged detail of the right-hand corner of the wall, compare Sofia’s photo below ▼

The wall surrounding the whole estate is still there as well:

▲Sofias’s photo above; below an old photo found online (also included in my Summer in Pleasantville 1933 post)▼

I still don’t know when exactly Gerda started working for Estelle Manville-Bernadotte – if it was after her marriage to Folke Bernadotte (Dec 1, 1928), or before. The only piece of fragile evidence I have that it might have been even before, is an old (American) newspaper/magazine clip about the Manville-Bernadotte wedding, kept by Gerda through the years.

The wedding between Estelle Romaine Manville and Folke Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg, took place on Dec 1, 1928, in the rather small Episcopal Church of St. John in Pleasantville. Only 250 guests attended the wedding service, but more than 1500 people were invited to the reception held at the Manville estate, Hi-Esmaro. This was the first time in history a member of a European royal family married on U.S. soil. The wedding expenses totaled $ 1.5 million.

Folke Bernadotte was assassinated on duty in Jerusalem for the United Nations mediating team in 1948, 53 years old.

Estelle, only 44 years old when her husband died, became a leading figure in the International Red Cross, and in the Swedish Girl Scouts movement. She did not get remarried until 1973 (to Carl-Eric Ekstrand); which was the same year that my great-aunt Gerda died. (Gerda lived to be nearly 92 years old, and she remained with Estelle Bernadotte long past normal retirement age.)

Sepia Saturday: Snow

This photo is from my grandmother Sally’s photo album.
I don’t know who the people are, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen that kind of man-drawn sled anywhere else!

This is from grandma Sally’s photo album, too. I recognise Sally on the right in the trio, and I’m pretty sure it’s her half-sister Hildur on the left, but I don’t know who the girl in the middle is. The man walking towards them could be Sally’s brother Nils, there’s something slightly familiar about the shape of him. My guess is the photo is from the late 1920s. The road is probably in the neighbourhood of the family farm where they lived until 1930.

Here we have Nils to the right; I don’t know who the man on the left is. The photo is from my grandfather Gustaf’s album and he dates it to 1923, when both he and Nils were in military service.

The last two photos are from Gerda’s album (my grandmother’s older half-sister). The photo above is one of the few in her album that has any place and/or date attached. I don’t know which Oakhill, though (does anyone recognise the building in the background?) or what exactly she was doing there.  Correction (26.1.2014): I just found the answer in an email from last year from my relative Bengt who has been filling in some details in Gerda’s history for me. This Oakhill is not in the United States at all (as I assumed, knowing that Gerda travelled a lot) but in Stockholm, Sweden! It was built in 1910 for Prince Wilhelm and his wife Maria Pavlovna. However, they got divorced in 1914 (big scandal), so who lived there in 1921, I don’t know. Since 1926 it’s been the Italian Embassy in Sweden. (There’s no end to the things one learns by blogging!) But according to my relative, there is a document with illegible signature among Gerda’s papers, indicating that she did work for someone at Oakhill in Stockholm in 1921.

Browsing through her album again today, looking for more winter pictures, I also found this one, which had pretty much escaped my notice before:

There is no note of time or place attached to this one – but I now feel pretty confident that it’s from the Manville estate in Pleasantville, New York, in the early 1930s. The link will take you to a previous post of mine from September 2012, where I discuss the possibility of that stone wall belonging to that estate – and why.

Moreover: Between that post and this one, in September 2013, I received an unexpected email from a Swedish woman now living in Pleasantville, who came across my blog post when she was trying to find out something about the history of this very estate. (How extraordinary is that?!) She was able to confirm that while the house itself is no longer there, the stone wall surrounding the property still is:

I’ve been meaning to do a separate blog post about Sofia’s  email and photos, but as I have been taking a bit of a break from the family history research lately, I haven’t got round to it. Finding yet another photo including the wall today reminded me! I’ll get back to it, I promise. For now I just include one of her pictures, for comparison. There is no doubt in my mind now that it is the same wall.

Linking to:

Summer in Pleasantville, 1933

I ett inlägg från mars 2012 har jag tidigare visat det här fotot av Gerda, som är ett av de få äldre släktfotona med en tydlig angivelse om tid och plats antecknad på baksidan: Pleasantville, 1933.

Gerda var 51 år sommaren 1933 (född i oktober 1881).

Inklistrat i ett album har jag hittat ett foto till som verkar kunna vara från samma tid och plats. Lägg märke till muren i bakgrunden, och Gerdas klädsel.

Om fotot vid dammen också är från Pleasantville 1933, så bör pojkarna på bilden vara Folkes och Estelle Bernadottes äldsta söner Gustaf Eduard (30.1.1930 – 2.2.1936) och Folke (född 8.2.1931); och fotona kan vara tagna på familjen Manvilles gods Hi-Esmaro.

Som jag konstaterade i föregående inlägg, så representerade Folke Sverige på världsutställningen i Chicago 1933. Säkert passade familjen i samband med detta även på att hälsa på “mormor och morfar” i Pleasantville. Det verkar troligt att pojkarna kanske också fick stanna där (tillsammans med Gerda) medan Folke (och Estelle?) besökte utställningen i Chicago.

En bild på Hi-Esmaro på avstånd hittade jag i Google’s preview av Images of America: Mount Pleasant av George Waterbury, Claudine Waterbury och Bert Ruiz.
(här en uppförstoring av en del av bilden – jag noterar återigen stenmuren…)

“The Manville family was one of the wealthiest families to settle in Pleasantville. Charles B. Manville, cofounder of the Johns-Manville Corporation, purchased 150 acres of farmland from Hanna Pierce in 1908. In 1923, his son Hiram Edward Manville hired renowned architects and designers to erect the 56 rooms and three marble staircases in the Hi-Esmaro mansion. In this photograph, Hiram Edward Manville’s mansion has the curved walkway in front…”

 

In English

I have shown the photo of Gerda at the top before; it is a rare one in that is has a time and place noted on the back: Pleasantville, 1933. (Most of the old family photos are annoyingly anonymous!)

In an album I found another photo of Gerda with two little boys - and no explaining notes. However, the stone wall in the background and her dress and hair etc indicate to me that the two photos may have been taken at the same time and place. If so, the boys in the photo should be the two first-born sons of Folke and Estelle Bernadotte, Gustaf Eduard and Folke. (Gustaf Eduard only lived to be six years old. Here, he’d be 3½, and his brother a year younger.)

As mentioned in the previous post, Folke Bernadotte officially represented Sweden at the World’s Fair in Chicago 1933.  It seems plausible that the boys got to stay at their grandparents’ estate Hi-Esmaro in Pleasantville, N.Y., while their parents were off on business. I’m still not sure about Gerda’s exact position in the household or if the Bernadotte family had more servants also travelling with them. Anyway Gerda was probably an important presence for the boys when their parents had to go off on various kinds of business and representation, as must have happened frequently.