I imagine that my grandmother took this photo of my mother June Blume (the eight-year-old girl on the left), her father Henry (obviously in the foreground), and her grandmother Machko (her actual name was Elizabeth Blume, neé Rabinowitz) sitting behind Henry. My grandmother would have made the dress.
I know that my mother was no older than eight because when she was eight she had rheumatic fever which left her with arthritis. Going out in a boat would not have been in the cards.
The site of the World's Columbian Exposition was Jackson Park, and I know from Michael's search of the 1940 census records that the Blume family lived in Ward 7 of Chicago. I recall their apartment was on a street in the 60s (it could have been 68th street), just five blocks from access to one of the Jackson Park harbors. This picture could have been taken there. And it could have been taken with my grandfather's Argus C3 camera, which I used as a teenager before it was stolen.
My investigative mind wandered to Henry's father, Israel (I have written about him here), who, as I learned from his gravestone, was "a restless soul who found peace."
Israel died at just fifty-four in 1932, the year my mother was born.
I know that Machko lived with Henry and my grandmother Anne in 1940 because she was named in the census as part of their household. I'm unable to find out any information about my great-grandmother's death because there is so little information on the internets about women, particularly widows, from the early 20th century.
I do know a lot more about Henry, but I will save that for another time.
No comments:
Post a Comment