Gustaf in Galeton, Pennsylvania ~ 1910

Ännu ett gammalt foto, som när jag först hittade det, inte sa mig någonting. Först senare, när jag på andra vägar funnit att farmors äldre halvbror Gustaf bott och arbetat några år i Galeton i Pennsylvania, USA, så lade jag vid en ny titt på det här fotot märke till fotografens märke på pappersramen: Martin, Galeton, PA

Tillsammans med uppgifterna från den amerikanska folkräkningen 1910 (länk till tidigare blogginlägg) drar jag slutsatsen att huset på bilden är det där Gustaf tillsammans med andra sågverksarbetare i Galeton hyrde logi av den lokala skatteindrivaren Thomas Near med familj. 

Tillsammans med tio andra män uppges Gustaf i folkräkningen 1910 som “boarder” (inneboende) hos familjen Thomas Near i Galeton, Ward 2, Pennsylvania. Near var kommunal skatteindrivare (Tax Collector/ Borough), hans hustru och fyra barn är också upptagna i folkräkningen – och tydligen hyrde de ut logi till sågverksarbetare också.

Gustaf känner jag nu igen som mannen längst till vänster. Kortet är odaterat, men måste vara taget mellan 1904-1911. (Från hans vykortssamling kan jag se att han 1903 bodde i Port Allegany, men 1904 flyttat till Galeton. Och 1911 återvände han till Sverige.)

Jag utgår från att personerna längst till höger är medlemmar av familjen Near. Den uppgivna åldern på döttrarna i folkräkningen 1910 är 22 resp 20. Detta kan stämma med de två unga damerna. De två småflickorna finns inte listade i folkräkningen - men kanske räknades inte barn under en viss ålder? (Har inte kollat upp detta.) Den unge mannen i mitten kan vara en av sönerna (antagligen den äldre?). Mannen som står bredvid Gustaf är väl antagligen en annan inneboende.

In English:

Another old photo that at first glance didn't tell me anything. Later, I discovered the photographer's imprint on the frame: Martin, Galeton, PA. By then I had learned that my great-uncle Gustaf lived in Galeton between 1904-1911 and worked at the sawmill there. In the census from 1910 (link to a previous blog post) he is listed as a boarder with Mr Thomas Near (tax collector) and family. So I suppose this must be that house, and the people on the right the Near family. On the photo, I recognize Gustaf as the man furthest to the left. In the census, the daughters of the family are said to be 22 and 20 years old, which might match the age of the two young ladies in the photo. The young man between them could be one of the sons (probably the elder?). I'm not sure where the two little girls fit in - but perhaps children below a certain age weren't listed? (I haven't checked that.) The man standing next to Gustaf I assume to be another boarder.

Familjen på Storegården ~ 1907

The Family at the Farm ~ 1907

Bland de gamla fotona jag hittade på Nysäter för flera år sedan fanns detta foto (16x22 cm, monterat på större pappskiva), som jag då inte kunde identifiera. 

Nu flera år senare, när jag egentligen letade efter något annat, så hittar jag detta igen, och då slår det mig plötsligt: Men det måste ju vara familjen på Storegården, efter min farmors far Samuels död 1907: Farmors mor Selma, då 46 år gammal. Hennes dotter från hennes första äktenskap: Hildur, 15 år. Hennes två barn med Samuel: min farmor Sally, 7 år, och Nils, 5 år. Och så Samuels äldste son Carl, 37 - lite vid sidan av, tillsammans med hästen. 

Två grundorsaker till att jag inte kopplade fotot till Storegården när jag först hittade det var antagligen: 1/ Att Storegården på fotona i farmors album är vitmålad, inte brun. (Men de fotona är från ca 1920-talet.)  2/ Att jag i början förväxlade farmors äldre halvbröder Carl och Gustaf med varandra, och trodde att det var Gustaf som var med på denna bild. (Men mellan 1902-11var Gustaf i Amerika.)

Fotot kan dock inte ha tagits i samband med Samuels begravning, eftersom han enligt datum på gravstenen dog 15/2; och det här kortet är uppenbarligen taget på sommaren.

Fotot ser dock ut att ha tagits i samband med något slags högtid, eftersom de är finklädda, har ett bord med spetsduk och blommor i trädgården, barnen bär blommor, och även Carl bär någon slags blomma eller annan dekoration. 

Varför hästen är med på familjefotot tål också att fundera över!

In English:

A big photo mounted on cardboard background, which I was not able to identify when I first found it; but when looking at it again the other day, it hit me that it must be the family at Storegården, not very long after the death of my great-grandfather Samuel in 1907.

I'm now pretty sure that the people in the photo are: My great-grandmother Selma (46), her daughter from her first marriage, Hildur (15), her two children with Samuel: Nils (5) and Sally (7) (my grandmother), and Carl (37), Samuel's oldest son from his first marriage. 

The photo can't be from Samuel's funeral though, because according to the gravestone, he died in February, and this photo was obviously taken in summer. Judging by their clothes and the flowers, it does look like some kind of special celebration, though. 

Another question is - why is the horse included in the photo??

‘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.

Sepia Saturday: An Excellent Traveller and Packer

This week’s prompt for Sepia Saturday 213, a neatly packed suitcase, brings me once more back to my great-aunt Gerda (born 1881). I’m not sure exactly when or where this photo was taken, but the French Riviera seems likely. Whereever this particular photo is from, though, what I’m quite certain of is that Gerda packed a lot of suitcases in her life, and became very good at it!

At the age of 21, she emigrated to Chicago in America, where she lived for about ten years, working her way up as a maid. Then she returned to Sweden; but continued a career as lady’s maid and travelling companion to various noblewomen.

Last year I received a summary of her “CV” from a relative (the grandson of one of Gerda’s older sisters – while I am the granddaughter of their much younger half-sister). As documents kept by his side of the family include letters of recommendation from some of the positions she held, he has been able to fill in some “gaps” in her history for me.* (Thank you, Bengt!)

Among other things, Gerda is described (already in 1912, as well as subsequently in the late 1920s) as “an excellent traveller, packer and hairdresser, and a neat needlewoman”, fluent in English, and also good at French.

From 1928, or not very long after, she was employed in the household of the Swedish diplomat Count Folke Bernadotte (of the Swedish royal family), and his American wife Estelle (born Manville) – who of course also both travelled a lot. [Cf. my previous post from 26 January 2014.] Folke Bernadotte was tragically assassinated on duty for the UN in Jerusalem in 1948; but Gerda (who lived to be nearly 92 years old) remained working for / living with the Countess Bernadotte long past normal retirement age.

…

*På svenska, utdrag från Bengts mail:

Gerdas yrkesbeteckning i hennes flerspråkiga arbetsbetyg 1912-1928 var kammarjungfru, Lady´s Maid, femme de chambre.

1/10-1912 till 15/4 1913 i Sörby Ringstorp (Östergötland) kammarjungfru hos Adele de la Gardie (f Jacquier Frankrike gift 1911). Anställningen upphör när Adele reser utomlands. Gerda är skicklig i sömnad, hårskötsel, servering, talar engelska fullkomligt o har ”some knowledge of dressmaking”.

Nästa betyg är utfärdat i Lyon, France 28/9 1919. Gerda har arbetat som Lady´s Maid o är en ”excellent packer” o hairdresser o a neat needlewoman, her french is good.

20/5 1921 på brevpapper Oakhill Kungl.Djurgården (som varit prins Wilhelms) av oläsligt namn som skall återvända till USA.

21/7 1922 på brevpapper Sturefors  slott, Linköping  på franska av comtesse Sparre. Enligt Gerdas pass var hon i Frankrike under juli 1922. Sparres o Gerdas vägar skiljs för en tid  o under två år reser Gerda genom exotiska länder med en Lady Henry som

22/2 1924 anser Gerda vara en ”excellent traveller and packer and a neat needlewoman (vilket nog behövdes)”

7/3 1924 till 21/8 1928 på Sturefors slott hos Greta Bielke f Sparre. Comtessen återvände o gifte sig med slottsherren. Gerda är nu mycket skicklig i att sy kläder.

1928 var det år makarna Bernadotte gifte sig. Nästa dokument bland Gerdas papper är dock ett sorts identitetsbevis på franska utfärdat 9 mars 1932 om att hon är anställd i Paris på Square Lamartine no 3 som ”domestique au service du comte Bernadotte de Wisborg, neveu du Roi de Suéde”.

Ett annat dokument är ett intyg för inresa i USA om att grevinnan Bernadotte behöver Gerda som hjälp i hushållet när hon skall tillbringa julen 1948 med sönerna i sin våning på 885 Park Avenue, New York. Den julen var tre månader efter att maken Folke Bernadotte mördats i Palestina.

Gerda bodde länge på Dragongården. 1963 ringde jag henne där ---

En av kransarna på Gerdas begravning 1973 var från makarna Ekstrand. Grevinnan hade gift om sig samma år som Gerda dog.