Mystery Monday- Green or Golumb Family?

 

Here are more delightful family pictures, but which family??? And are the photos related, other than being taken at the same photo studio? I answered part of my own questions by working on my FSLOW New Year’s resolution- Find it, Scan it, Label it, Organize it, and Write about it.

This group of photos was in with family treasures from the Green and Cooper families. I have just found notes from 30 years ago that identify the above picture as three of the children of Abraham and Rose (Brave) Green: Ann, Herman, and Bess, taken circa 1895. But why isn’t Estelle, child #2, in the picture with children #1, 3,4?

The back of the photos is charming:

I especially love the line: “Instantaneous Portraits of Children a successful Specialty.”

Here are two more photos with the same backing:

These last two photos appear to have been taken at the same place, possibly at the same time- note the chairs. Thirty year-old notes also ask the question- ?Golumb Family? for the image with the couple and baby- no hints for the picture of the two girls.

Could the two girls possibly be the same ones as in in the photo of the three children? Note the long fingers of the older girl in both, and the shorter, wider hands of the younger girl. To me, their facial features are somewhat similar in the other picture, just more mature.

Some old notes from family oral history state the girls in the last photo may be Estelle Green and Ann Green.

Ann Green was born 1885 in Lithuania, and Estelle on board the ship in 1887 that carried her mother and 1 year-old sister Ann to America. Abraham had immigrated ahead of them, as was often done, probably in 1886, and he had established his tailor business before sending for his family. Their next known baby is Bess Dorothy Green- she was born in 1891 in Pittsburgh. One thought was that the baby in the picture with the couple could be Bessie, but the couple just doesn’t look like I think Abraham and Rose would have looked when young, comparing other pictures. And it is strange to only have some of the children in the first and last picture- that would have been fairly unusual.

Another possibility is that the pictures are of the Golumb Family. Sarah Rebecca Green, sister of Abraham, married Louis Golumb (also Louis Golomb, Lewis Golumb, or Lewis Golomb, dear Google search engine), and they lived in Pittsburgh. In the 1900 US Federal Census, Lewis Golumb and Sarah were living with their 4 children, Esther, Rosie, Bessie, and Isadore, born 1894, 1896, 1897, 1899, respectively. Lewis was a painter and paperhanger and had been born in Poland/Russia like his wife. Censuses vary in when each arrived, but the 1900 census states they had been married for 7 years. Could these be photos Sarah sent back to her brother in St. Louis? If so, and again, why only some of the children, not all?

Here is a picture of Sarah Rebecca Green- well, the family thinks it is Sarah:

Does she look like a younger version of the woman in the photo with the baby? To me her face is too thin to be the same woman.

So there’s your mystery for today.

I am currently trying to find out when R.D. Cochran had the Pittsburgh “Artistic” photography studio, and that may help to confirm the date of these photos. Looks like we also need to learn when  the Fischer Studio was active in St. Louis, Missouri.

Any other information or ideas would be much appreciated.

 

 

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) Family oral history.

2) Family photo collection with identification on a very few.

3) Source Citation: Year: 1900; Census Place: Pittsburgh Ward 8, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: 1358; Page: 11A; Enumeration District: 0129; FHL microfilm: 1241358. Accessed on Ancestry.com on 1/17/2014.

 

 

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