Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Vintage "Missing" Persons

I originally posted a version of this on another blog a while back and despite a few phone calls and emails never made a connection with the right Greenberg family....so I'm posting it again in hopes that someone out there might see and recognize the children in the photo.
Mysteriously, I found this vintage photo of three children in early 20th century dress under my bed.


Photo of two girls and a boy in early 20th Century dress
Elizabeth, Pearl and Philip Greenberg, circa 1911.
As it turned out the back was more interesting than the front!  As was common back then, the photo was also a post card and in old-fashioned cursive handwriting, the sender identified the little ones to the photo's intended receiver.

The boy, Philip, towered over both of his sisters -- Elizabeth and Pearl.   The writer also identified the girls by age, hair and eye color and noted that the photo had  been taken in Minneapolis.  Additional details included the name "Mary Greenberg" and a partial address. 

What really got my attention were the final words on the back in the form of a heartfelt request to the recipient: 

"....Please send it back as it is the only one I have, My wife wants to keep it....."

Sadly, the plea obviously had gone unanswered. Instead of making its way back home as requested so long ago, the once treasured photo had wound up discarded under my bed.

I found myself, a hundred or so years later, contemplating the peculiar circumstances and wondering if somewhere out there, the descendants of these two little girls and their brother wondered what Elizabeth, Pearl and Philip had looked like......

So, based on their period dress, I searched the internet for records early in the 20th Century which linked the names.  After a few false starts, I located a 1920 Census record for a Mike and Mary Greenberg living in San Antonio Texas with their three children: Philip, Elizabeth and Pearl!

I had found them!

Sorta.

Because that's where the trail went cold.


For a couple of weeks I emailed and called Greenbergs in the San Antonio area and never got a "hit".

I think it's sad that the photo of the  Greenberg children is relegated to a box in my craft room and have hopes that maybe someone reading this on the internet will provide the missing link and help the photo find its' way home 100 or years so after it was taken.


Smiles and Purrs!
Kitty

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