The word prompt for the 19th Edition of Smile For The Camera is “Gift.” It is the holiday season and a time for giving. So give Smile readers the gift of sharing, sharing a family photograph. It can be a gift given or received, it can be the gift of talent, it can be the gift of having the photograph itself. The interpretation of gift is yours. Admission is free with every photograph!
Frank Zalewski & Family - 1909
I think of this photo as a gift. This photo was the first family history photo that I saw. I see it as a gift of the genealogy bug (it’s not always a bad thing, right?) To this day, I am still working on Frank’s family history trading emails with his possible great-nephew.
LINDNER first shows up in my ancestry from my great-great-grandmother, Anna LINDNER. She was born 27 Nov 1865 in Prussia, but I’m not sure which area of Prussia. She married my great-great-grandfather, Frank J ZALEWSKI, in Jan 1885. They’re noted to have been married in the Poznan Province of South Prussia, which would be modern day Poland. Frank, Anna, and 3 of their daughters emigrated to America in November 1889 and finally settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Anna passed away on 8 Aug 1941 in Milwaukee and is buried there at Holy Cross Cemetery.
There is confusion as to what part of Prussia Frank and Anna were from. The name LINDNER to me sounds more German than Russian, so my guess is they were from the German side of Prussia. ZALEWSKI could be either Russian or German (or straight Polish), but Russian names usually ended in SKY rather than SKI.
I have no proven information on Anna’s parents. A previous researcher whom I talked with had listed her parents as John LINDNER and Eva ZEMFELD. He also noted that he thought ZEMFELD was Jewish, so that’s interesting. I have found no evidence for either of these names myself.
Anna’s obituary did mention that she had a brother named John LINDNER and a sister named Elizabeth KOZLOWSKI. I’m assuming they also lived in the Milwaukee area since the obituary didn’t mention a location, but that’s only speculation. There are a lot of John LINDNERs out there when searching, so I haven’t had much luck. I can only guess his birth year since I have no more information than his name. Elizabeth has been hard to find, also.
I’m hoping there are some other local LINDNER researchers out there that I can connect with. I recently contacted a local ZALEWSKI researcher who is related through Frank’s possible brother, so that’s big news for me.
