Friday, August 6, 2010

An old photo

My 2nd cousin, Janet Trotter, sent me a bunch of vintage family photos to scan. I just love this one. I asked my Mom about it, and she said that's her Mother's Grandma, which makes her my Mom's Great Grandma, and my Great Great Grandma! Her last name on the back of the photo is Heins. We don't know her first name. Can you believe that? It isn't written down anywhere.
There must be a way to find it out. I would love to learn how!
My Mom said that her Mother used to have the original photo sitting on her dresser in her bedroom. My Mom would look at it often when she was a little girl, because she wondered why the little girl in the photo was making such a funny face.
One day she asked her Mother and she was told the little girl was chewing gum! Isn't that funny? The little girl is a cousin but we don't know her name either.
My Mom told me today that this picture was sent from Germany, after my Mom's Grandparents had moved to the USA. My Great Great Grandma Heins moved back to Germany after the rest of the family emigrated to the USA. It's a good thing, too, if you know anything at all about Joseph Stalin.

3 comments:

Betty said...

That's a shame that no one knows her first name. Do you know her husband's full name? I was thinking you might be able to locate a marriage certificate.

Your mom's grandparents moved to the USA? Do you know where they died? I found my great grandmother's parents' names on her death certificate. I only knew that she died when my grandmother was a baby so I contacted the NYC archives and paid for a three year search. They found her. My grandmother had actually been around 18 months old when she died. That was long before computers. A lot of information is online now. I keep thinking I'll get around to searching my roots again someday, but it hasn't happened yet.

Celestial Charms said...

What a lovely photo treasure to have. So funny about the chewing gum. I just love her hair bow...the bigger, the better :)
Maureen

Helen said...

wow! You have a photo of your great great great grandmother. That is really something. It is a nice photo too.