Gloria and Helen LaPorte

Subjects: (Left to Right): Gloria(age: 6 months) and Helen LaPorte.

Date: 1925.
Occasion: Unknown.
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Photographer: Johannes, Milwaukee.
Relationship to me: Maternal Friends of the Family.

I have very little information regarding this photograph. Once my mother retired, she went through the boxes of photographs and created historical photo albums. She made one for myself and one for my brother.

This picture is of my mother Norma's best friend Gloria LaPorte Strei and her mother Helen. The LaPortes have been close family friends for many years. Helen LaPorte was best friends with Lucy T. Waswo, and Helen's daughter Gloria was Norma's best friend. Gloria married William F. Strei and they have been married 64 years. They reside in Brookfield, Wisconsin. It does not surprise me that the two families shared many photographs.

The Waschers

Subjects: (Left to Right): Elfriede, Ernest and Alma Waswo Wascher.

Date: 1915.

Occasion: Unknown.
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Photographer: Unknown.
Relationship to me: Maternal Grand Aunt.

I have very little information regarding this photograph. Once my mother retired, she went through the boxes of photographs and created historical photo albums. She made one for myself and one for my brother.

Alma Waswo Wascher was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1883. She married Ernest Wascher on June 7, 1905, and they had two children Ernest Jr. born in 1908 and Elfriede born in 1909. Alma passed away on January 14, 1968 and is buried in the Beverly Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois.

Judith's father was Ernest Wascher Jr. She wrote the following about the family:  William Moeller(husband of Minnie Waswo) was the uncle of Ernest Wascher Sr.  William Moeller was the brother of Anna Elizabeth Moeller who married a Wascher.  William and Ernest Sr. were not only uncle and nephew, but also brothers-in-law as they married sisters (Minnie and Alma).  Their children, therefore, were related on both their mothers' side and their fathers' side of the family.

I am in contact with Judith, and perhaps she will be able to provide additional information.


George Daniel Waswo, Jr.

Subject: George Daniel Waswo, Jr., age 1.

Occasion: First Birthday.Date: January 1918.

Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Photographer: A. F. Schultz, Milwaukee, WI.

Relationship to me: Maternal Uncle.

My maternal Grandparents, George Daniel Waswo, Sr. and Lucy Traulsen Waswo were quite proud on the birth of their first born son. As what happens with most parents, the first child gets all the press, especially if it's a boy. We all know how papas like the idea of the family name carried forward.

For George Daniel Waswo, Jr., this was no exception. This is just one photograph of a series that was taken on his first birthday. I am assuming because it was stamped in the lower right corner, that this was an extra photograph, not part of the proofs, that the parents would choose from.

The remainder of this series was framed in a long narrow frame measuring 8 inches by 29 inches and contained 8 photographs of George Jr. Unfortunately, I would have to ruin the finished product if I were to take it apart and try to scan each photograph. All 8 photographs were of George in various poses either on the wooden chair as in this photograph, or on a wooden three wheeled scooter.

I remember as a child this picture hanging in the home of my Grandmother Lucy on Richard and Ring in Milwaukee. In the late 1960's Grandmother moved into the townhouse that my father had built. We lived on one side, and Grandmother on the other. This picture hung in Grandmother's townhouse until she moved into Methodist Manor in the early 1980's. After that, it went into storage. It was once again displayed in my mother's home when she moved to Texas.



Elizabeth Forrai Schelonka

Subject: Elizabeth Forrai Schelonka, age 15.

Occasion: Unknown.

Date: Summer 1926.

Location: Cudahy, Wisconsin.

Photographer: Unknown.

Relationship to me: Paternal Aunt.

I found this photograph in a box after my mother had passed away. On the back of the photograph was written Elizabeth, summer 1926, in my Grandmother Rose's handwriting.

This is one of the few photographs that I have from my father's side of the family, especially during this era. I do remember seeing this photograph as a child. If memory serves correctly, I believe my Aunt was off to work.

It is my hope, after posting this photograph, that one of my relatives may be able to shed additional information.