Friday's Faces from the Past: The Bogdanows

Friday's Faces from the Past: The Bogdanows

Abe and Mollie Bogdanow with the Children Morris and Gwen, their daughter in-law
Ethel and their grandchildren. May, 1951
Left to right, Top row: Morris, Abe, Mollie, Ethel, Gwen
Middle Row: Shelly, Jodie
Bottom row: Barbara, Larry and Bill

Meet Mollie and Abe Bogdanow, my great-grandparents. This is one of the few remaining photos of the two of them. There are even fewer photographs of Mollie than there are of Abe, since he outlived his wife for ten years. This family portrait, is quite special because it features them with all their descendants at that time, with the exception of their youngest grandson Michael born in 1950 and somehow missed this Kodak moment. Mollie died of a cerebral hemorrhage (according to her death certificate) about 8 months after this picture was taken.

It's seems Sid Smith, Gwen's husband was the photographer. I deduced this fact from a second photo of Mollie and Abe with the Smiths, taken the same day.  Everyone is dressed in the same outfit and they are posing in the exact same spot. This second photo has a fairly clearest image of Mollie's face.

Top: Abe, Gwen, Sid, and Mollie
Bottom: Shelly and Jodie
(Click to enlarge)

If I photo is worth a thousand words, I sure wish these photos could share a two thousand word story about Abe and Mollie whom I know so little about. For now, I'll have to settle with these two snapshots of some special family occasion in front of an undisclosed Bogdanow home.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone, and do stop by to visit this Friday's Fabulous Finds by +Jana Last , who highlighted both my interview with Sarah Ashley from Geneartistry.com and part II of La Tienda, amongst some great genealogy finds!