Time Not Wasted

I’m still contemplating my finds from the American population censuses I looked at last week.

Among other things I found out in whose household my great-aunt Gerda was working in Chicago back in 1910: a physician by name of Otto L. Schmidt.

I tried googling Otto, and was further rewarded. It seems he was a very prominent man in Chicago, and not least in the German-American community (he was born in Chicago but of German descent). His name is engraved (among others) on the Illinois State Archives building, and 17 boxes of his papers are kept at the Chicago History Museum. He was the first physician in Chicago to use X-rays. (He was also sued by one patient for the side-effects,  in the early days…) He was also trustee or chairman in several historical societies. In 1933, he was vice president of the German Group at the Chicago World’s Fair, and seems to have taken a stand against nazism in the way he dealt with some issues in that context (the landing of the German airship Graf Zeppelin, and the use of the Nazi flag/symbol.)

Not quite coincidentally, I’m also currently reading a biography of the Swedish diplomat Folke Bernadotte. He and his American wife Estelle, born Manville, were Gerda’s employers in the 1930’s and onwards. (That she worked for them I’ve long known from family sources; what I still don’t know is exactly when, where and how she came to do so.)

Folke Bernadotte is known for his negotiation of the release of many thousands of prisoners from German concentration camps towards the end of the 2nd World War; and after the war as the United Nations Security Council mediator in the Arab–Israeli conflict of 1947–1948. He was assassinated in Jerusalem in 1948.

Reading the biography I also learned that one of his early important public appearances was to give a public speech on behalf of  the king of Sweden (his uncle, Gustav V) at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933. (An event I didn’t know much about until combined with what I found written about Otto Schmidt.)

And old photo of Gerda with a note on the back tells me that in the summer of 1933, she visited Pleasantville (New York); which is where the Manville family lived (Estelle’s parents).

There is another photo, without any notes attached, which seems to be from the same time and place. In that one, Gerda appears together with two little boys; which I now conclude to be Folke’s and Estelle’s sons born in 1930 and 1931, in which case both photos were probably taken at the Manville family estate.

Knowing that Folke Bernadotte had an official role to play at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933, makes it all the more plausible that he and Estelle also took the opportunity to take the boys to see their grandparents. My theory is that they left the boys in Pleasantville (with Gerda), while Folke (and probably Estelle too) visited Chicago.

See the photos and more in recent posts over at my blog Greetings from the Past.

 

 

 

Presenting Her Royal Highness Princess Estelle

This is the only picture of her made pucblic so far:
Princess Estelle Silvia Ewa Mary, Duchess of Östergötland.
With her parents Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel.
Photo from the Royal Family’s Facebook page.

As soon as the birth was announced (see my news post from yesterday: A Princess Is Born), name speculations started. Today when I got home from my morning grocery shopping, I turned the TV on. The name had just been officially announced, and the TV hosts were obviously a bit surprised and bewildered at first about the choice. It took them a while to get their bearings and find the background for it. I wonder if I was the only one reacting with an “Of course!”  and wishing I’d actually thought of making a serious guess of it…

If you look back to a post of mine from two weeks ago, Postcards from the Past, I think that’s where I first mentioned the fact that my p.grandmother’s half-sister Gerda was employed as chamber maid or similar to Estelle Manville-Bernadotte, American wife of the well-known Swedish diplomat Folke Bernadotte, related to/member of our royal family.

Folke Bernadotte (2 January 1895 – 17 September 1948) was grandson to King Oscar II of Sweden, who was King of Sweden 1872-1907 (and of Norway 1872-1905).

Folke Bernadotte also earned his own place in history as a Swedish diplomat noted for among other things his negotiation of the release of about 31,000 prisoners from German concentration camps during World War II. After the war, Bernadotte was unanimously chosen to be the United Nations Security Council mediator in the Arab–Israeli conflict of 1947–1948. He was assassinated on Friday 17 September 1948 by members of the Jewish nationalist Zionist group Lehi (commonly known as the Stern Gang or Stern Group).

On 1 December 1928 in New York City, Folke Bernadotte married Estelle Romaine Manville (born in Pleasantville, New York, 26 September 1904; died in Stockholm, 28 May 1984), whose family had founded part of the Johns-Manville Corporation. They had four sons, two of whom died in childhood, and seven grandchildren, all born after Bernadotte's death.

I have not yet found out at what point in history my great-aunt Gerda came to work for them. I’m hoping to maybe find some clue among the old postcards as I continue to examine these. If I don’t, I may try and think of some other way to find out, because I’m really getting very curious!

Anyway, my immediate reaction to the royal announcement today was that the name could hardly have been more perfectly chosen. It’s a stylish old name not worn out by recent popularity but not sounding too odd either. It’s got a French ring to it that goes well with the name Bernadotte. It’s got royal connection as pointed out above, but at the same time Estelle Manville was not born royal - just as the new little princess Estelle’s father Daniel was not! And it indirectly commemorates a member of the royal family whose life’s work really deserves to be honoured.

I’m sure my grandmother Sally would have loved it. She was a big fan of the royal family – partly, I suspect, because of her sister working for them! When I was visiting my grandparents in childhood, I used to go through old weekly magazines from the 1940’s and early 50’s that my grandmother had saved. They had lots of articles and photos of the royal family then living at Haga Palace (which Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel have now taken over as their residence).

Haga Palace, 2008 (from Wikipedia)

Our present King Carl XVI Gustaf (in the middle), with his four older sisters, at Haga in 1948 (from Wikipedia). Back then, the Swedish constitution did not allow girls to inherit the throne – so the nation kept waiting and waiting for that little prince…!

Flashbacks, flashbacks… They had the royal princesses as paper dolls in those old magazines and I cut them out and played with them, when visiting my grandmother. I think the magazines may still be upstairs beneath a lot of other rubbish in a closet. If I had not cut out the princesses (and other things) back then in the early 60’s, the old magazines might have been valuable today. But I did. So they’re probably not!!!

So the fanatic royalists are deliriously happy now about a new little princess at Haga; while some fanatic anti-royalists grumble and would rather have the family turned out on the street; and one or two feel sorry for the poor little princess who will grow up with no control over her own life as she is Destined to be Queen and will never know what it is to have a Normal life.

As for myself, I can’t say I’m a fanatic royalist – in some ways monarchy does seem a bit outdated – but on the other hand I’m very far from convinced that as a nation we’d really be better off with another system, at least for the near future. So I wish them well. I think as queens go, Victoria seems well qualified to do a good job of it. As for Estelle, she’ll get a better start in life than most, but no doubt her own share of troubles as well.