To Those Who Came and Went Before Me -- a Great Cloud of Witnesses

While working on my memoir I have been looking at family photos. The photo below is probably the oldest one our family possesses. It depicts my paternal great-grandparents, Katharina Dyck (July 20, 1843 - October 16, 1888) and Johann Pauls (April 17, 1840 - November 26, 1917).

For some reason this photo fascinates me and I return to look at it again and again! 

My great-grandmother was born 100 years before me. Mennonites had left West Prussia (now Poland) and settled in Ukraine at the invitation of Catherine the Great in the late 1700s. By the time my great-grandmother was born, they were well established on their farms and in their villages.

"What was she like as a little girl?" I wonder. "What were her dreams and aspirations?"

In contrast to his wife's serious, almost dark expression, my great-grandfather looks relaxed, with a half smile on his face.

Another question comes to mind: "Why is she standing and her husband is sitting?"

I notice how well dressed they are. Katharina is wearing a two-piece outfit: a long billowing skirt and a 3/4-length top with at least a dozen buttons down the front. She has a small scarf around her neck. There is a frilly bonnet on her head. Johann is wearing a three-piece suit and a collared shirt under his vest.

My great-grandparents married in March of 1865. Apparently, it was not customary to take wedding photos, and this picture probably dates from later that year. It appears that my great-grandmother is pregnant, probably with the first of their nine children (six girls and three boys). According to our family's genealogy chart, their first child, Katharina, was born a year after they were married, in March of 1866.

I ask myself: "Why did they have their picture taken at this time?"

A mystery: "The genealogy chart shows that a second child was born to them that same year, in October. Either there is a mistake in the chart, or Katharina got pregnant immediately after their first child was born, and this second child was two months premature. It hardly seems plausible but it could possibly have happened.

In 1871, my great-grandmother gave birth to a set of twins, Abram and Justina. Abram lost his twin sister in May of 1873, at age one and a half. That was a sad year for the family, as they also lost their first-born, Katharina, who died four days before her seventh birthday, in March of 1873. Perhaps there was an epidemic of some kind which took both of these little ones. I wish I knew how they died, but the chart only lists the bare facts -- the dates of birth and marriage and death.

The couple named their seventh child after Katharina, their eldest. This Katharina was born two years after the other two sisters died and was two years older than my grandmother, Margareta, born in 1877, the second youngest in the family. I like to think that Katharina and Margareta might have been close as sisters, especially since they were at such a vulnerable age when they lost their mother. Katharina was 13, barely in her teens when their mother died at age 45; Margareta was eleven. They had two older sisters -- Maria, age 22, and Helena, age 19, at the time of their mother's death. Maria and Helena probably took over their mother's role of raising their younger siblings. Interestingly, my great-grandfather did not marry again. He was 48 when his wife died; he passed away at the age of 77.

Now that I've studied their photo and our family's genealogy chart, I at least have an idea of what life was like for this couple gazing so earnestly into the camera, not having a clue what was in store for them, as none of us do when we set out on life's adventure!

Somewhere, my love, there will be songs to sing

Although the snow covers the hope of spring.

Somewhere a hill blossoms in green and gold

And there are dreams all that the heart can hold. 

Someday we'll meet again, my love,
Someday whenever the spring breaks through;

You'll come to me out of the long ago
Warm as the wind, soft as the kiss of snow.

Till then, my sweet, think of me now and then;
Godspeed, my love, 'til you are mine again.

Maurice Jarre and Paul Francis Webster

(also known as Lara's Theme, from the movie Dr. Zhivago)

https://youtu.be/YrRMQsnSvAE