Our Sepia Saturday theme this week featured men hauling jugs in front of a fountain in Mexico. Really none of those things fit the folks in my family tree and certainly not my husband’s tree, or at least not in those broad strokes. However, going with the fountain at the center of the photo, I found a pond!
In the left photo we have Albert Dijkema and his wife, Jantje Oosting along with their grandson, Johan. This was likely taken in the early 1960s in Holland, and I think it was taken at a small pond in the Noorderplantsoen (Northern Public Garden) – link to a current photo here. It even looks like at one time it did have a fountain which ties us in neatly to the prompt! I know that in 1949 via a record for a stillborn child, Albert was the Head Constable in Groningen (hoofdagent van politie). Albert and Jantje were married in Groningen on 10 October 1934.
In the right photo, it looks like at the same time/place is another photo with Johan’s mother Betsy, the daughter of Albert and Jantje. You can even see the same child in the background on the left side of the frame splashing in the water. I really love finding sets of photos like this since they tell a larger story together than they would apart. Albert and Jantje, proud of their grandson, took photos with him at a park in their town along with their daughter and then sent them to Albert’s sister an ocean away in the USA. While Albert passed away in 1993 and Jantje in 1974, Betsy and Johan may still be alive, with Johan being my husband’s second cousin.
It’s pretty exciting to be able to be able to piece this together and finally find the location. There are SO many photos in the collection from his side that sometimes it feels overwhelming. Fortunately, with Sepia Saturday, I get to take it one photo a week and in a way, it really does give me the opportunity to scrutinize photos I may not have otherwise given a second look!
UPDATE – 7 March 2016 – Exciting news! We have the place and an approximate date of 1961 (or 1962) confirmed by a living family member and sister of Johan. Finding this photo led me to look around Facebook for Johan and his siblings and sure enough, I found one! She got in contact right away and I’ve sent off a file full of photos for them. Really the best part of this is being able to reconnect all those photos with living descendants and connect to long lost family. So, Sepia Saturday leads me to a breakthrough yet again!
I also discover a lot of information about things on my postcards that I would never know if I didn’t try to write a blog post about them.
We received a box full of old photos from my husband’s side of the family – very few of which were identified. Fortunately one relative is still living & has been great helping me identify who most of the folks in the photos are – otherwise I’d be quite at a loss. (Thank goodness for scanners to make it easy to send copies of photos to someone who can help.)
It’s so good the people in your photos are identified. It’s interesting to look at these two together and see the child in the left background in both (as you mentioned). Little Johan is a cute baby.
You are so right about scrutinizing photos…I never did that before Sepia Saturday. Now I get so much more out of my collection. Very good post.