Saturday, September 18, 2010

Sepia Saturday - Mystery Celebration - page 33


I recently purchased another of the series of Images of America books by Arcadia Publishing. Today's Sepia Saturday picture is taken from Detroit's Polonia, by Cecile Wendt Jensen, a pictorial look at the old Polish neighborhoods of Detroit, Michigan.

The picture is a bit of a of a mystery: The groom is named Edmund Grocholski. There is at least one Edmund Grocholski in my paternal family tree, and Detroit Grocholski's are pretty much all related to each other. Edmund is the son of my great uncle Ignatz, and he would have been about 21 - 23 years old when this picture was taken.

The groom may be standing just to the right of the bride. His pose is certainly that of a groom. If that is the case, he appears to be in his late 30's and would not be the distant cousin Edmond in my family tree.

I thought perhaps the man seated just to the left of the priest might be the groom and has seated himself next to his mother for the shot. He certainly (and several others) looks very much like a Grocholski.

And then there's the bride. Does she look to be in her early twenties? It appears she may be older - close to thirty, perhaps? What do you think? Her father is the fellow with the white beard seated among the women to her left.

There is one person in the picture who said to me "Yes this IS your family!" That is my great Grandmother, Rosalia Grocholski, seated third from the left of the priest! She is wearing the dark dress. What a wonderful surprise it was to see her smiling back at me when I turned to page 33.

I have written to the author to see if she can shed some light on who is who in this beautiful old photo. In the meantime I am hoping that the good looking - and "Grocholski" looking gentleman seated next to Rosalia is my great Grandfather, Stanley (Stanislaus). It would be nice to know what he looked like!


The pretty plant from whence we got our name, Grocholski

Click here for more Sepia Saturday surprises

9 comments:

DougVernX said...

It's also a very patriotic celebration isn't it. Thanks for sharing and thanks for visiting my crazy blog. I liked your comment. :)

Alan Burnett said...

Ah to marry the daughter of a brewmaster. That was always my ambition in life, but I never managed it. Good luck in your quest for further information about this fascinating photograph.

viridian said...

There seems to be a small space next to the bride. Could the groom BE the photographer or standing next to the photographer? But that doesn't make much sense either.

Marilyn & Jeff said...

This is such a wonderful photo and how exciting for you to come across it in a book. I do hope that you manage to find out more about it as I couldn't tell which one is the groom. Your great grandmother looks lovely.

Unknown said...

I agree with your thinking about who is the groom. I love the flowergirl..in fact a very fine wedding all round!

Bruno Laliberté said...

while the bride doesn't look "prstine"... the guy next to her would be a poor choice. let's go with YOUR instinct, the guy next to the priest...
:)~
HUGZ

Jinksy said...

What a grand occasion that looked...

Christine H. said...

I'm still laughing about Alan's comment. Yes, indeed. This is such a beautiful wedding picture. The bride is gorgeous and the bunting really adds to the occasion. I hope you find out who all the people are.

Nancy said...

I think the man next to the priest looks much younger than the bride. I could easily put together the bride and the man standing to her right as we look at the photograph. I hope you'll follow up with what you find and let us know. What an interesting puzzle.