Saturday

Grandma Lydia Kallman and her baby

from the collection of my late Aunt Laverne Kallman Johnson comes this photo.


In this photo I can positively state that is my grandmother Lydia. However, which of her five children is she holding? Again I relied on my photoshop program and blew up the photo. One of the photos on the piano is a wedding portrait of Lydia's sister Ruth and her husband Andrew Soderstrom. They married in 1917. That eliminates my Uncle Albin (b.1912), Aunt Eva (b.1915) and my Dad (b.1916). One of the photos on the wall is of her parents Robert Albin and Anna Abrahamsson. A smaller copy of the same photo is on this blog and marked 1923. That eliminates my Aunt Ebba (b.1920). Bingo! the picture is of Aunt Laverne (b. 1923).

It seems the firstborns every move is captured on camera or video. We sort of run out of steam with the later kids don't we, I am sorry to say? In years past with photos being so expensive and families having more than a few children it may have been even more so. I heard a story about a gal who came  from a large Irish Catholic family. She had in her possession only one baby photo of herself that her Mom had given her. An older brother saw the photo and said "Hey that's me!". She confronted her mother who was still living. "Well, yes, I gave you one of Marty's baby pictures because I did not want you to feel hurt. Dad and I loved and wanted each one of you, but you were number eight after all and we had just pooped out. What's the big deal? you looked just like Marty  anyway." God bless that Mama, I just loved that response!

Perhaps Aunt Laverne saved this particular photo as it was one of the few or maybe the only baby photo she had of herself. She was the youngest Kallman child, the family was financially poor or maybe Grandma and Grandpa had just "pooped out?"










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