An Exciting New Project in the Works!

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Before I move on to the next child of Moses Blumenfeld I, I have two other matters to write about. In my next post I will share some wonderful photographs that my cousin Robin shared with me. Robin, my fifth cousin, once removed, is descended from Abraham Blumenfeld and Geitel Katz through their son Moses I. More details to follow in the next post.

But today’s post is about some other amazing photographs. A couple of months ago I received an email out of the blue from an antiques dealer in Santa Fe named Peggy Gonzalez. Peggy had found me through my blog while looking for a descendant of John Nusbaum, my three times great-grandfather and my father’s namesake. Over thirty years ago at an estate sale, she had acquired a photograph album engraved with the name John Nusbaum on the front. She wanted to know whether I would be interested in buying the album.

At first I was skeptical. There are so many scams out there today. Anyone could have found my blog and made this up. But Peggy sounded honest, and she sent me these scans of the front and back of the album as well as a few representative photos. The back is engraved with “To F. Nusbaum.” My great-great-grandmother was John Nusbaum’s daughter Frances Nusbaum Seligman, and she had lived much of her adult life in Santa Fe with her husband Bernard, my great-great-grandfather. Peggy’s story seemed to be authentic.

 

I was extremely excited—as you might imagine. I’ve never seen a photograph of John Nusbaum or Frances, and here was a whole album of photos. Almost 200 photos. Thanks to the generosity of some of my Seligman/Nusbaum/Cohen relatives, I arranged to purchase the album. I also got extraordinary help from Mike Lord, our guide in Santa Fe from 2014 and a close friend of my cousin Pete. He acted as the middleman between Peggy and me, retrieving the album and giving Peggy my check and then sending me the album.

The album is now safely in my house, back in the hands of one of John Nusbaum’s descendants. I have retained the services of Ava Cohn, aka Sherlock Cohn, the Photogenealogist, and am now waiting in her queue for her to have time to devote to this project. I’ve scanned the front and back of all the photos. They are all studio photographs—cabinet photos, I think they are called. Small, but very clear. And they all have the names and addresses of the photographers on the reverse side. But only three have any identification of the people in the photograph.

There are photographs that were taken in several cities in Germany as well as all over the US: Philadelphia, New York, Santa Fe, Peoria, Lewistown (PA), and St. Louis. I am hoping that if Ava can provide dates for when they were taken and perhaps the ages of the people, I can then figure out who these people are.

I will wait to share the photos until after I have had the benefits of Ava’s help, but I wanted to share now my excitement about this. Stay tuned for more!

 

34 thoughts on “An Exciting New Project in the Works!”

  2. Wow!!! That is so cool!! And yes, I don’t blame you for being wary, but glad Peggy’s offer was genuine. What a treasure. And proof positive that blogging our family history really can help us with our research! Excited to learn what Ava can tell you – I follow her on FB 🙂

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  3. Hi Amy,

    You might recall that I contacted you sometime ago regarding the Loebs who were a pioneer family in DuBois, PA. The family was based in Philadelphia. I am finishing a book on the history of the Jewish community of DuBois and have yet to find a single photo of any of the Loebs of the time, the patriarch Moses, and sons Harry, Norman and Fred. If you can help in this regard it would be most appreciated. Hope you are well and enjoyed your Thanksgiving.

    Rich Levine ________________________________

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    • I’d be glad to help, but I have no connection to DuBois, as far as I know. I hope you are as fortunate as I was to have something like this almost fall into my lap. One of the great benefits of blogging is that people find me by searching for names that are somewhere on my blog.

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  10. Hi Amy, what a beautiful piece of Art…I’m excited for you too! Can you imagine how much content would be lost forever without the internet?

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  11. Pingback: Friday’s Family History Finds | Empty Branches on the Family Tree

  13. Hi Amy – Do you have a family tree somewhere on your site for Abraham Blumenfeld and Geitel Katz? I’m just curious of their connection to me. I’m a descendant of Breine Blumenfeld through her son Jacob Katz.

    Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe Breine has some (fairly direct?) family connection to Abraham Blumenfeld but I’m thinking Geitel Katz does not have any family connection to Jacob Katz. Is this correct?

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  14. This is so exciting Amy. What a treasure and amazing gift. I’ll be looking for the follow up for this. I hope she didn’t charge you too much for this. I am constantly on the hunt for cabinet photos with names so I can do just that, return them to a family member (but I never charge – its a hobby – a gift – pay it forward thing) (plus it keeps my research skills up to date)

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  15. Pingback: The Legacy of Thekla Blumenfeld Gruenbaum: Family Photos | Brotmanblog: A Family Journey

    • Hi, I do not have any Jacob Cohen in my tree who was married to an Ida. I have many Jacob Cohens—including my great-great-grandfather—but they are not Jacob G nor are they married to an Ida S. Sorry.

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  17. Pingback: The Nusbaum Album: An Introduction | Brotmanblog: A Family Journey

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