The Mystery of Family Photos

This post is for my cousin François, who has been visiting the blog to see what photos of our families are appearing -- and happily identifying those I don't know. I love these three photos for how the people are grouped, smiling, and staring back at the photographer. I am not sure who everyone is, but I know I am related to them all, making them seem even more mysterious. I can't help but search their faces for a sign of myself, a gesture, a smile. So here is what I know of the photos, and I am hoping, François, that you can identify the others in the pictures.

 

 

The sepia photo above is of my grandfather Frederick Snyder, standing there rakishly among those women. I am unsure if any of them is my grandmother Madeleine -- their hats are pulled so low that it is hard to be sure. But if not her...then perhaps they are three of her six sisters? Maybe it is Madeleine who took the photo? And they look like they are having so much fun, leaning against Madeleine's big American boyfriend. I wonder if they knew that Madeleine was already pregnant by someone else when he married her. 

 

 

This is a later photograph -- Fredrick now poses like a doting father, with my father Emile and his sister Rosine perched on Frederick's knees. And the children behind? I love their postures --especially the oldest one, leaning against the wall with all the humor and panache of an adolescent.  I have some guesses...but I'll see if François can enlighten me.

 

Here is the last one, which is still later. Some of the adults here are the children from the photo above. For some reason, the image must have been taken before the war. People seem so relaxed and playful -- the younger one's mug in the back. (Even as I look at it now, the two young men holding up the girl are the identical two older boys from the photo above. And the women! How much like an older version of the two girls!) But judging from the clothes, it also seems late enough that the war is hovering not far away.