A Mystery Sort of Solved (Mystery Photo #23) - Mystery Monday

(Digital Image. Photograph Privately Held By Cynthia Shenette; Photograph and Text, Copyright (c) 2013 Cynthia Shenette) Several weeks ago I posted a photo of a group where many of the young ladies (and one gentleman) were wearing bows.  I thought the photo seemed a little funny at the time with everyone wearing similar hair bows.  I decided to go back and take another look at the page in the album in which the original photo appears.  The parade photos in this post appear next to the bow photo in the previous post.  On reflection my guess is all the photos were taken on the same day at the same event.  Apparently the people in the photos were involved in a parade in Worcester, MA. 

The parade route was heading north on Main St. in Worcester.  You can see Worcester City Hall in the background on the left in the top photo along with a long line of ladies carrying parasols.  The photo looks as if it was taken from one of the taller buildings on Main St. along the parade route.  The bottom photo is a close up shot of several of the young ladies in which you can clearly see them holding parasols and wearing neck bows!  My guess is the parade photos were taken earlier in the day, and the photo of them wearing the bows in their hair was taken after the parade, possibly at a post-parade picnic.  Also interesting is the Slater Building in the background of the bottom photo.  If you zoom in you can clearly see "Slater Building" above the arcade sign.
 

One mystery for Mystery Photo #21 is partly solved.  I think I now know why everyone had the same bow in their hair.   Now I want to know what the parade was for or about.  It looks like the same group, so the marchers probably represented St. Mary's Church in the parade.  The parade happened during the warmer months, maybe spring because the ladies are wearing light/white dresses.  The photo was probably taken in either 1916, 1917 or 1918.  My grandfather, Adolf Szerejko, was in the army by spring of 1918, and he is in Mystery Photo #21 .  Some of the business signs along the parade route are clearly identifiable.  It may be possible to narrow down the date further with additional research in city directories.

If you recognize anyone in either Mystery Photo #21 or Mystery Photo #23 or have some information about the parade I'd love to hear from you!

Cute Little Kids (Mystery Photo #22) - Mystery Monday

(Digital Image.  Photograph Privately Held By Cynthia Shenette; Photograph and Text, Copyright (c) 2013 Cynthia Shenette) My mom, Christine (Szerejko) Shenette, is the little girl on the left holding the doll.  I don't know who the other children are.  Friends from Worcester's Vernon Hill neighborhood? Cousins perhaps?  My guess is it's not a school photo, because I doubt my grandmother would let my mom take a doll to school.

Mom was born on 20 July 1921, and clearly the photo was taken in the warmer months.  I wonder if it was a birthday party, and maybe the doll was a present.  I'm just guessing, but my mom looks about six or seven years old in the photo which would date the photograph to about 1927 or 1928.  The building in the background is also interesting.  It doesn't look like a house with those bricks or that type of window.  I know my mom won a doll dress sewing contest at the Quinsigamond branch of the Worcester Public Library, but that doesn't explain all the boys. Maybe the photo was taken in front of the library or perhaps in front of the brick St. Mary's school building.

If your parents or grandparents were kids in the 1920s and grew up on Vernon Hill take a look at my photo, and maybe you will recognize someone you know.  Family names for possible cousin connections include Bulak, Bullock, Szerejko, or Kowalewski.

If you do recognize any of the children in this photo I'd love to hear from you!

Beaux and Bows (Mystery Photo #21) - Mystery Monday

(Digital Image. Photograph Privately Held By Cynthia Shenette; Photograph and Text, Copyright (c) 2013 Cynthia Shenette) Hair bows definitely seem to be the fashion!  I'm not sure if almost all of the ladies are wearing bows for a particular reason or they just happened to wear all those bows by coincidence.  One of the young men in the top row seems to have gotten in on the bow action.

I thought I would post this because it is such fun photo and a nice group shot.  I recognize three people in the photo.  My grandmother, Antonina (Bulak) Szerejko, is the young woman in the middle of the bottom row with her head turned to the side.  My great-aunt Helen Bulak, my grandmother's sister, is the young woman in the second row almost directly behind her.  My grandfather, Adolf Szerejko, is the first young man on the right in the second to top row.  I don't recognize any of the other ladies or gents.  My guess is the photo was taken at one of St. Mary's (Our Lady of Czestochowa) parish picnics sometime between 1916 and 1919.

If you recognize anyone in my photo I'd love to hear from you!

Kick Line! (Mystery Photo #20) - Mystery Monday

(Digital Image. Photograph Privately Held By Cynthia Shenette; Photograph and Text, Copyright (c) 2013 Cynthia Shenette)  My grandmother, Antonina (Bulak) Szerejko, 1896-1990, was a long-time parishioner at St. Mary's Church (Our Lady of Czestochowa) in Worcester.  Apparently back in the early part of the twentieth century St. Mary's had tradition of holding parish picnics on the weekends.  I don't know for certain, but I suspect my grandparents probably met at one of these picnics.  My picnic photos are among the most fun photos in my collection!  They are mostly candids.  The pictures are all small and were likely taken with a Brownie camera. The novelty of the Brownie probably encouraged people to put on a show for the photographer.  I don't know exactly when this photograph was taken, but my best guess is the late 1910s, probably between 1916 and 1919.  I don't recognize any of the young men in this photo.  If you do I would love to hear from you!

Bathing Beauty (Mystery Photo #12) - Mystery Monday

(Digital Image.  Photograph Privately Held By Cynthia Shenette. Photograph and Text, Copyright (c) 2012 Cynthia Shenette) Here is a lovely young lady in her beach costume.  I don't know who she is, but I do know she was a friend or relative of my grandmother, Antonina (Bulak) Szerejko.  She was probably from Worcester, MA and a member of Worcester's Polish immigrant community.  I don't know exactly when the photo was taken, but I suspect about 1918 or 1919 given hints I have from other photos in my collection. Notice the high breakwater in the background.  Does that look familiar to any of my New England Geneablogger friends?

If you recognize this bathing beauty or can place the location of photo please let me know.  I'd love to hear from you!  

I sure bet those stockings were comfortable when wet...

Submitted for the 119th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy.

Welcome!

My Grandparents, Adolf Szerejko and Antonina (Bulak) Szerejko, February 11, 1920

(Digital Image. Photograph Privately Held by Cynthia Shenette; Text Copyright (c) 2012 Cynthia Shenette)

Welcome to my new family history blog, Faces of Worcester Polonia!

In 1990 my grandmother, Antonina "Anna" (Bulak) Szerejko, died and left a treasure trove of photos of people connected to Worcester's early twentieth-century Polish immigrant community. While I have posted a number of photos of my family on my genealogy blog, Heritage Zen, I've come to realize that I have many "mystery photographs" of people I believe may be family, friends, and acquaintances of my grandparents and great-grandparents.  I plan to post my mystery photograph collection here.  The majority of my photos date between 1900 and 1930.  If you are related or recognize anyone in any of my photographs I'd love to hear from you!