AND 40 YEARS LATER
Recently I was looking through a box of old photos that my aunt and uncle had shared with me some years ago. Computerizing all the photos I have, many of which were shared with me over the years, is a continual ongoing process. I came across two such photos that inspired a blog post.
One of the photos was of my great-grandmother (who I had known) along with her two daughters (my paternal grandmother and my grandmother's sister). My grandmother was a very proper and elegant person and was always dressed to the hilt with jewelry to match.
I was amused to see this photo again of her and her sister in their bathing suits! This is definitely not an image that I had of my grandmother and especially my very shy and quiet great-aunt. Obviously they were enjoying themselves and the date on the back of the photo said July, 1939. They were probably in Hubbard Lake, Michigan as this was a favorite spot that they visited often during their lives.
This photo, left to right, shows Gertrude Wellhausen Kolberg, Amelia Schluessler Wellhausen and Ella Wellhausen Schulte:
Gertrude and Ella Wellhausen were the daughters of George and Amelia (Schluessler) Wellhausen. Gertrude was born April 10, 1895 in Macomb County, Michigan and Ella was born on November 15, 1896 in Detroit, Michigan where the family was temporarily living. They grew up in Macomb County, Michigan and each moved to Detroit after their marriages.
Gertrude married Hugo Kolberg on September 9, 1919 in Detroit while Ella had married Elmer Schulte on December 24, 1917 in Waco, Texas while Elmer was about to depart for France during WWI.
They were very close sisters, had sons six weeks apart in 1923 and raised their families in close proximity to each other. After the early death of Gertrude's husband, Ella and Elmer lived many years with Gertrude to assist her as her eyesight was failing.
Perhaps their closeness started in childhood as this photo will show when they were dubbed the "Dancing Darlings of 1899" in the local Macomb County, Michigan newspaper where they won a dance contest. This is one of my very favorite photos in my genealogical collection of Gertrude (left) and Ella (right) at the ages of 4 and 3:
Love the outfits!
