Back in November I posted this beautiful photograph of Anastesia & Paul Kroll, married in 1917. The family has contacted me and today I will be mailing the photo to Paula, a relative & friend of Anastesia & Paul’s grandson. Paula told me that Anastesia died fairly young and her grandchildren did not know her well. Paula will make sure that the photo goes to the family, who she knows will cherish this unexpected look back at their family history.
This is the first cabinet card in the Dobb Long Book, and wow, what a great first impression! This young woman is wearing a gorgeous dress, and with the floral embellishment on the bodice I’m guessing it might be a wedding portrait. The dress looks to be from the late 1880s when you take into consideration the asymmetrical draping of the skirt. She is holding a fan in one hand, and I find it strange that only one foot is showing. Finally, she has a lovely double strand of pearls at the throat.
The photographer was Smith & Kneibus of St. Joseph, MI. I wasn’t able to find much on this photographer, although I found one other photograph by them which has been tentatively dated to 1890.
Dobb Long Book
I came into possession of the Dobb Long book sometime in 2010, as the result of an eBay auction. The book is very large, with 57 cabinet cards placed within 56 photo openings. The pages allow two cabinet cards each, one over the other. The book is about 20″ high, 8″ wide and 3″ thick. The clasp is still working. The spine is damaged and somewhere along the way, someone put black tape on it, which is starting to break down. If I retain ownership of the album, I’ll look into book restoration. The insides of the book are practically pristine, with only a few of the photo openings having damage to them. The album was probably stored safely in a trunk or box, because the only damage seems to be to the outside. Even the photographs have very little wear and tear to them, not even a lot of scratches to the images which is often found on old photographs.
Of the few photographs that have been identified, the most interesting is the image of Mrs. Nina Dobb, presumably the reason this is called the Dobb Long book.
Funeral Card of Mrs Nina Dobb, died June 27, 1898
This is a funeral card, and while I have seen others and even possess one other card, this one features a photograph of the deceased, something that is unique to my experience. The poem below her image reads as follows:
Just one year ago;
A precious one from us has gone,
A voice we love is stilled;
A place is vacant in our home,
Which never can be filled.
God in His wisdom has recalled,
The boon His love had given;
And though the body slumbers here,
The soul is safe in Heaven.
Mrs Dobb looks quite young in the photograph, and the poem hints of a sudden and unexpected death. Very sad, and yet, quite a dignified way of notifying family and friends who were far away. A card mailed to them after a year of mourning could have only brought sadness, but it speaks of her in a loving manner, in remembrance of her.
This is an adorable baby, no doubt, but I chose this photograph because of how her hair has been curled into a little bow on the top of her head. That is one way of showing that this is a girl child, now isn’t it? The photographer was Hardy & Van Arnam at 390 River St, Troy NY. These photographers were one of the most prolific of the CdV era.
Baby bow girl is also going to kick off another photo album that I purchased last year, although the chances of finding living relatives may be a true challenge even to Iggy’s fabulous curiosity and research skills. The album is call the “Dobb Long Book” but there are very few people identified within. It is possible to sometimes tell who were the couples, and when that is possible I’ll post them together, but beyond that…. it’s almost totally lost to history.
Next post will be a more in-depth description of the album and a very interesting cabinet card.
Today we feature a photo of Gertrude, Ruth and Lena on what surely is Ruth’s wedding day, since she is the one holding the giant bouquet. Lena was the oldest and Ruth the youngest, both of the sisters and of the siblings. I wonder if they shared a special relationship. This must have been a lovely wedding, considering the great big hats. I picture a sunny morning wedding with lots of happiness and love.
Who Were They? 