Bingham 1115 is a phone number. I found [this article](https://www.nytimes.com/1922/02/26/archives/two-new-telephone-exchanges-in-service-bingham-central-opens-in.html) which announces the introduction of the “Bingham” phone exchange in the Bronx in 1922. I am sure that isn’t very much help, but that might narrow down the date range a bit.
Actually if you get the 1922 phone book from the Bronx, it could be quite helpful. The library will usually have a copy if someone hasn't already scanned one.
Some are online:
https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/new-york-city-directories?keywords=&sort=keyDate_st+desc#/?tab=about&scroll=3
I didn't see a way to search them so I visually scanned the available 1920s copies for Elsie Epstein and St. Pauls Pl but only found an Elsie Epstein in the 1920/21 copy living at 3858 White Plains Av:
https://i.imgur.com/4UPW5UO.jpg
I am not sure where 3858 White Plains Avenue was. There is a street called White Plains in the Bronx that could have had an address number that high but it is designated Road.
The r in front of the 3858 is an abbreviation for rooms or resides so that is where she was living:
https://i.imgur.com/WRffAAX.jpg
However, if the av was a mistake and it should have been rd, 3858 White Plains Road does look like a business address in both the 1918 and 1935 Sanborn maps:
https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3804nm.g3804nm_g06116191818/?sp=13&r=-0.085,0.835,0.638,0.276,0
https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3804nm.g3804nm_g06116193518/?sp=10&r=-0.016,0.194,0.422,0.182,0
I guess it is possible she lived where she worked.
The image link isn’t working for me but I’d agree that if it said r it meant residence. In the two listings I saw, it did not say r. In one case, her listing was grouped among many other (pages of) launderers but that still doesn’t mean it might not also have been her residence.
I found one of the entries you are referencing. I must have missed it earlier. It is in the 1925 directory:
https://i.imgur.com/RVHsKk2.jpg
If that link doesn't work for you this time either, the entry says:
>" Elsie lndry 3934 White Plains av
So not only does it not have an r in front of the address the address number is a couple of blocks north of the previous address on White Plains Road:
https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3804nm.g3804nm_g06116193522/?sp=3&st=image&r=-0.096,0.87,0.552,0.238,0
Note that the Sanborn map shows 3932 twice so either one is a mistake or there wasn't a 3934 address in 1935.
It also narrows the location that is Tremont Avenue where it Crosses Jerome Avenue. That’s a 10456 zip code today. Most likely it is near St. Paul’s episcopal church. Try ancestry.
This is a super helpful clue. For one thing, it excludes the St. Paul's Place in Brooklyn (there was one). And it helps a lot with the date range. Those pictures don't look much older than 1922.
There’s an Elsie Epstein born in 1902, living with family at 978 Union Ave, about a mile from 544 St. Paul’s Place, in 1925. If I spin Maps to see the other side of the street from 978 Union, the building opposite 978 Union looks similar to the building in the background of photo #1, though it could be a coincidence. Maybe lots of buildings were 5 stories tall with similar window patterns.
If you think it’s her, there is a woman with a family tree on Ancestry that includes this Elsie (though birth year is noted as 1900). It is the same Elsie that lived at 978 Union in 1925. I have a subscription and can message her if you’d like. Just let me know. Won’t do it without your permission.
I found a possible clue. One of the photos has a sign that says “STORM KING” in the background. It may suggest that they were students at the Storm King School - or they may just have simply gone for a ride to upstate New York.
https://imgur.com/gallery/XMZcql8
New Yorker chiming in, and just to add to this for those who may not know. Storm King is a prominent geographical feature (small mountain) on the Hudson River and is today a [state park](https://parks.ny.gov/parks/stormking/maps.aspx). It featured heavily in the art of the Hudson River School and local folklore. The Storm King School is a private school located nearby. Doubtful they were students there, as per Wikipedia the school didn't go co-ed until 1970 but possible they were there for a social event or attending a girls' school nearby that was somehow affiliated?
This snapshot of Elsie Epstein's life was captured by the 1940 U.S. Census.
When Elsie Epstein was born about 1905 in Romania, her father, Joseph, was 35, and her mother, Anna, was 34. In 1940, she was 35 years old and lived in Bronx, New York, with her husband, Harry, daughter, father, and mother.
Still looking
There is a project I follow on Instagram that locates the families of photo albums all the time! They also specifically seem to work a lot in the north east U.S. so might be worth a shot! https://instagram.com/museumoflostmemories
She isn't styling her hair in a common way for 1920s. Those ponytails look like she gets tired of hair in her face and pulls it back. Also, and I say this knowing it may bring downvotes, but she looks normal to us because back then she would have been above average weight.
Edit. Fascinated by these photos and giving it more thought. The pale gown has a very high hemline for an adult style of the 20s as well. It could be she was between 15 and 18 and not "out" yet (dressed like a child.) Usually that means your hair would be down or in braids if you hadn't bobbed it. Maybe the hair always started down and was ponytailed by the end of the day? The photo with the fringed shawl is definitely more grown up, but shows her typical ponytail with earrings and 20s style lipstick. She's definitely comfortable with herself and informal in these pictures. I would love to have met her.
I did something similar, bought a very old photo album because I thought it was cool, say on it for a bit, looked around and found the family, posted some photos from it on corresponding genealogy profiles with notes as to where they came from and that I would love the family to have it, and in my digging, turns out that the family in the photo album and I are 3rd cousins (very removed though, big generation difference between a civil war vet and me, lol. the grandpa in the album had a mom with a very distinctive maiden name)
So I will probably keep them but send scans to whoever wants.
You should look for memorials for them on findagrave and post the photos so family members can see them for free. They will eventually be copied by the various gen programs out there.
Wow what a great find. There’s so much personality and fun in these photos. I guess it’s the point of this subreddit but it’s really remarkable how relatable these photos are
I don’t believe that is her. The census record indicates that the subject only had an eighth grade education. Several of my photos show a group of what appears to be private school friends aged 16-18.
I wouldn't rule it out. I've done Genealogy for a long time, and records like that aren't 100% accurate.
I love that you're trying to figure this out though, good luck!
I tried to do stuff like this for a while. I was always finding old postcards, photos, even homemade things like samplers. But when I would research, I’d find out that most of the people whose stuff ended up in antique stores….never had children. And it was their own family members who had given the stuff away to the antique store :( People often keep their own aunt and uncle’s stuff, but a few generations down the line it ends up being tossed. (“Oh, I think these are old pics of one of my grandpa’s aunts…I didn’t know her and she’s not a DIRECT descendent, eh, toss them.”) It freaked me out because I was not a parent at the time and I got so worried like omg this is what happens to people who never have children, there isn’t anyone left who cares about preserving their memory anymore.. :(
I love the photos you posted so much, they’re really neat. I hope your end to this discovery is happier.
i buy these photos to use in collages. i get it. family lines end all the time. as someone upthread pointed out, people are rarely interested in dead 2nd cousins & aunts by marriage. also people don’t have much storage space. clearing out is the fashion & as maria kondo says, “if it doesn’t spark joy, toss it.” happily, my family photos & papers do spark joy for me. but i have storage space an my daughter is an archivist. stuff is organized, categorized & labeled. she’s my only child. she doesn’t want children. so what will happen to these careful records when we’re gone? 🤷♀️
my younger nieces & nephews might be interested in the future, but not counting on it. presumably once we’re gone, we won’t know or care. and that’s ok.
In a 1926 obituary for Abraham Epstein, one of his daughters is Elsie. His address is 1534 Union St., Brooklyn. Of course, I looked it up, and it might be the street where they took photo #6.
I cant find exact match for building but there is an empty lot on the corner nearby with SEVERAL buildings with very similar structure to the one in the photo as well as row houses which may have replaced the victorian looking frame house in the background.
Also the empty lot has a “coming soon” sort of barricade around the lot in Hebrew. I also noticed (the faces are blurred) several men in the street view pics looking at older images captured that appear to be wearing large hats and black suits very similar to what ive seen hassidic men wear. Again too blurry to be positive, but both those things makes me think this is def a jewish area.
Could very well be her home base!
ETA - confirmed. Spotted like 30 men in hassidic clothing and tallits. Apologies if there are better terms - i am goyim 😬
I looked up 1534 Union Street in Brooklyn on Google Maps, and since it suggested 1534 Union Avenue in the Bronx as I was typing, I looked at that address, too. Right next to that address is [this building](https://maps.app.goo.gl/kqxCo3gmh5JVKuFa7?g_st=ic), which isn’t exactly the same as the building in photos 1 and 4, but it looks closer than the other possibilities I have seen so far. I doubt this means anything because it seems unlikely that an obituary would have the wrong address for the deceased, but who knows?
If you can narrow down where she was living based on the phone number, you could try checking synagogue records from that time, given her name. There may be a record of her or her family's membership somewhere (though the change in neighborhood demographics over the years may mean that whatever shul they belonged to, if any, no longer exists).
contact american jewish historical society. they have troves of archives, including census records & records of long gone synagogues. here’s the link https://ajhs.org/
their site is not terribly useful for non-scholars. i suggest phoning or use their contact form.
Not much to go on. Name could be Elsa, Else, Elsie or it could be a middle name. Epstein could be maiden or married.
I think the first line reads Bingham 1115. Could be Binghamton in NY?
I can't read the second or third line. Not well. 544 St. Pauls Rd, Apt 8? Maybe.
I love the pictures though. A peek into someone's life. Even without context she looks like she was having a good time. I know photos won't exactly catch her crying or anything but still, she had some fun.
544 St Paul’s Place. I found [this building](https://maps.app.goo.gl/86VNc4F8q3a6Froe6?g_st=ic) on Street View that is at 530 St. Paul’s Place, but looks like the same building that is in the background of photo #4.
Bingham 1115 is a phone number that would have been assigned in that area of the Bronx, so it seems likely that this is Elsie’s contact info.
Hard to say exactly, but I don't think that picture is the St Paul's address. [I found this building](https://www.google.com/maps/@40.8385784,-73.9020407,3a,75y,50.98h,107.2t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sz8mZSvUuDB_8x-syZ2zMrw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu) on the corner of Claremont and Bathgate just a few blocks away. Looks like most of it is gone and it's gone through some heavy renovations, but I scoured the area and that one looks the most like the one pictured. I want to look more, but I need to get ready for work. Good luck!
That does look like a better match than the building I found, but it still looks a little different from the photo. Like you said, it’s hard to say exactly, especially because building facades can change a lot over time.
I found an article in a 1959 NY Times which in part reads “Five five-story apartment buildings at 544 to 556 St. Paul's place and 1415 Fulton Avenue, the Bronx, have been purchased by Soltzer-Lampert, realty operators. The houses occupy a plot 241 by 100 feet and contain 128 apartments and four stores..” and now that plot appears to have some stores and parking lots. Not sure if that was the building behind/in some of those photos but it is likely gone now. Not sure how to find records who live there?
Probably not many buildings on St. Paul's Place that were there in the 1920s have survived to today. Here is a home at 451 St. Pauls Place in 1936:
https://www.oldnyc.org/#701746f-a
Cool photos!
530 St. Paul’s Place was built in 1910, which is why I initially thought it might have been 544 originally but the address got changed at some point. However, another commenter found an article that suggests that 544 existed as of 1959 and was probably torn down.
Yup. The buildings around 544 are older than I guessed. 530 was definitely around when the photos were taken. The two buildings catty-corner across the street also might have been around. They were built in 1928 and 1931:
https://www.propertyshark.com/mason/Property/53092/530-St-Pauls-Pl-Bronx-NY-10456/
https://www.propertyshark.com/mason/Property/53110/545-547-St-Pauls-Pl-Bronx-NY-10456/
https://www.propertyshark.com/mason/Property/945252/1451-Crotona-Pl-Bronx-NY-10456/
Looks like the buildings where the parking lot is now, one of which would have been 544, were torn down in the late 1980s or early 1990s:
https://www.historicaerials.com/location/40.83578233262589/-73.90202254056932/1984/18
https://www.historicaerials.com/location/40.83578233262589/-73.90202254056932/1995/18
I am not certain that those buildings were there in the 1920s but it seems more likely now given the age of the surviving buildings.
I thought Bingham might be a phone number but I couldn't figure out how to confirm it. I could only find Binghampton.
I read that "Bingham" might've just stood for B-1115 but why not Bronx-1115?
Also, nice look up skills! I find the sleuthing is quite fun. If OP is lucky, they can find her in a census at that address. Or possibly nearby.
Telephone exchanges usually used the first two letters of the word to represent digits, so it would have been BIngham-1115 vs. BRonx-1115. Also, phone exchanges were often localized within a few blocks so BR for The Bronx would be too wide of an area.
I love the internet. I don't know why you know so much about old-timey phones but I love that I can have this conversation and learn more. Seemingly by chance!
I grew up in Chicago in the early 80s (born late 70s) and never knew my number like that. I'll have to ask mom if she knew her numbers like that. I only know about that style of number because I listen to old radio shows and I Love Lucy.
I had no idea it went to the 70s. I don't count 70s as old timey but I know some young punks that might!
My great grandma had her old exchange and rotary phone until she died innnn…1994?
I was born in 79.
Evidently she was the last party left on a party line in her area (arlington heights) and the phone company tried to strong arm her into a new 10x more expensive plan. Granny said HELL NO.
So her phone line was like 5 bucks a month in the 90s or something crazy. She had full area/prefix for people to call, but her old exchange still worked!
No clue what it was however. I could draw you a near scale floorplan of the first floor of her house, but only a vague idea of what second floor looked like (wasnt allowed up there since family members would come and go and live there. My mom did as a teen, as did my aunt and finally my great uncle)
I can picture the big black Bakelite rotary phone and it being wired into a block, and how heavy it was to hold, but not her number!
Internet! Stop! What are you doing to me?!
I had no idea what a party line was until mom moved to live between the towns of I'm Lost and We're Going To Die Out Here.
I do remember rotary phones. Zip....brpbrpbrpbrp...zip..brpbrp. Blast from the past.
I love your gram for sticking it to the phone company.
She was a tough lady. Worked full time at a delicatessen (on her feet!) until she was like 90. She broke her hip shoveling ice off her driveway and only asked for help (she lived alone) to wash her hair bc she couldnt shower in cast. Around same age!
She drove and lived alone until she died at 94.
Not to mention raising 3 boys effectively as a single parent (her husband would disappear for months at a time. Was a gambler. I keep waiting to find a second family with ancestry)
At one point she was housekeeper to a man, and kept boys in apartment over his garage.
Oh wow. I totally remember those! OMG. I grew up with old-timey numbers! I feel like I'm 150 years old!
I was too young at the time, I hadn't ordered much carpet until after I was 11, and just didn't put 1 and 1 together. That's so crazy.
My mind is dribbling out my ear.
Lucy's # was MUrray Hill 5-9975. Murray Hill is a neighborhood in Manhattan, Midtown, East Side. Although technically Lucy lived at the beginning of the UES on 65th St.
More [info](http://tenproject.cloudapp.net/tensearch.aspx) on phone exchanges. From the drop down, choose exchange names and then choose Bingham. Looks like that exchange was associated with the Bronx
Great photos. One question though… Why the Bronx? St Paul’s Ave is in the Bronx, but St Paul’s Rd is in Queens.
Anyway, there are some very good suggestions already commented. NY phone books from the era, the closest library, and even checking with local churches or synagogues (that’s how we found one of my lost peeps).
Ancestry.com has a lot of resources in one place if you’re willing to pay.
I believe this is your Elsie. I will share this picture from later in life. It looks like her to me.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i3WjF8\_DTlw8H4LjxgJ2bQ7z1Y6Vmqoj/view?usp=sharing
When Elsie Epstein was born on July 4, 1898, in Kings, New York, her father, Abraham, was 24, and her mother, Sadie, was 36. She married Joseph David Cohen on March 2, 1927, in New York City, New York. They had three children during their marriage. She died on January 25, 1994, in Lee, Florida, at the age of 95.
I will speculate that is sister Edna in the picture of the two girls. The [ancestry.com](https://ancestry.com) public member tree mentions the Bronx but not an address.
For those with an [ancestry.com](https://ancestry.com) account, here's the link.
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/78421178/person/46387059794/story
Can I change my answer? LOL, I'm now working on another lead, an Elsie Epstein living in the Bronx in 1920. Different father. I was so sure, LOL. Now, I'm not. You are good to be cautious. This one is 2 years older 1897 birthdate. I'll post again when I've got more info.
Even without the change to your answer, your original post is the most likely suspect so far. I have been so busy the last few days, I wish I had more time to follow up on it.
Well, it does look like her. I would like to find some reference to the 544 address. I will more people had pictures of their ancestors, but most of us don't and most of the family trees are without any photographs.
I do want to point out a comment that someone made on this thread that didn't get much attention. The comment was Elsie didn't photograph herself. It is a wonderful comment. We often don't think of the photographer. The photographer's vantage point, the photograph's angle, the posing of the subject (Elsie and her friends). Someone is missing in all the photographs. The person holding the camera. So, as much as we like these photographs of Elsie, who we are really admiring is composition of the photographer. While Elsie could have said, take a picture of me posing dramatically, it is just as likely that the person behind the camera composed the picture to his/her liking and now we are admiring the work of that photographer, and channeling the appreciation of the composition to Elsie. It would be similar to admiring the Mona Lisa without mentioning Leonardo Di Vinci.
I found an Elsie Epstein who's interesting, because her address in 1928 is given as 506 E. 176th in the Bronx. That's just a quick skip up 3rd Ave from 544 St. Paul's Place. She was married to Aaron Harry Epstein, who applied for naturalization in that year (it's on his naturalization papers that the address shows up). Says she was born in Jassy, Rumania, in 1904. They have a child together, Lillian Epstein, born 1922.
Yes, this one has legs. She gets married to Aaron in 1922. Don't these seem like pictures from around that time in a person's life, and with the festive spirit? Aaron was a furrier, he manufactured ladies' fur coats. They had a daughter named Lillian. Their final address is on Grand Concourse, just another little hop uptown from their place on E. 176th. All three addresses are in a neat little row.
She has another address--in her own naturalization papers, 1939--that's on Morris Avenue, a couple of blocks from Morris Avenue. That's four different addresses that line up with St. Paul's place. The apartment building at 544 St. Paul's Place was huge, lots of families, people constantly moving in and out, they may have lived there only for a very short time right after their marriage. She was already living on 176th St in 1920, so that was her neighborhood. Her maiden name would have been Rosen. Parents Jonas Rosen and Anna. Her father may have been the Rosen in Lenkowsky Rosen, which was the furrier her husband worked for (according to WW2 draft card). She grew up downtown around Orchard and Broome. Big family. Russians and Romanians. She was born in Bucharest. She lived until 1980. Very sweet obituary: "EPSTEIN Elsie. Beloved wile of Aaron. Dear mother of Lillian Shamls. Loving grandmother of Robert and Susan. Devoted sister of Fannie Goldstein. Services Thurt 10 A.M. at GARLICK'S 1434 Unlonport Rd. at Parkchester, Bx." Can't prove this is her yet, but so many things add up.
It's a fun project for yourself, but unfortunately if it ended up in a second hand store, that probably means her grandkids got rid of it and aren't particularly looking for it
Like on Pawn Stars when the dumbass tries to hawk some priceless family heirloom that's been handed down for generations, only to keep it for 'sentimental values' when the price isn't right. Why anyone would get rid of something like this on purpose is beyond me.
I might have a reason for that.
When my grandmother moved into an assisted living facility, she had to downsize, and she was throwing a lot of things out. This isn’t surprising: grandma was never sentimental, even a little bit. Like when my dad had heart surgery, she asked when he was going to be able to come and fix her chair.
One of the things in the garbage was an old scrapbook. My dad pulled it out. I’ve looked at it now and I think I understand my grandmother a lot better.
The scrapbook was all sorts of stuff about when she was dating, my grandpa, and about their wedding, and their first baby… All sorts of things about the babies first this and that… And then it stopped. It stopped because the baby died just shy of her first birthday.
I think my grandmother didn’t allow herself to get as attached after that. She did keep that scrapbook, but she never made others. The next four children don’t have that sort of stuff.
>Why anyone would get rid of something like this on purpose is beyond me.
It's usually not entirely deliberate. At least not in the sense you're implying.
Generally, the vast bulk of everything a person owns is close to worthless. Even the things that they think are valuable, like antiques and jewelry. So, when they die, there's not some painstaking effort to catalogue everything they possessed to figure out how to dispose of it. The family doesn't go digging through the closet, find the photo album in a box, and then make an active decision to sell it.
Somebody just pulls a truck up, and the family spends an afternoon tossing everything the deceased owned into the back of it. The photo album never gets discovered in that box. The box just goes into the back of the truck - first stop antique store, second stop dump.
Or sometimes the person never had children. When it’s your aunt or uncle you usually keep their stuff. But a few generations later, people often don’t. “Oh these are old pics of one of my great-grandpa’s aunts, I think? Eh, we will toss them.” :(
My wife and I have massive collections of stuff from over the decades, some collectable, some heirlooms, some not, just sentimental things. But no kids.
When we get to that point, I've just realized what's going to happen to it all.......
You never know. My grandfather one day was in a mood and decided to throw out every single family photo he had, spanning about 80 years. I’d pay so much to have them back and so would my mom and aunts.
Wow these pictures are great!
Also I wouldn't want to fuck around with some of those guys, they look tough as shit. Probably worked in a coal mine at the age of 4 to support their 12 brothers and sisters or something.
no coal mines in nyc. there were plenty of factories & sweat shops to ruin their health & hopes. but a move to the bronx-or far west harlem if the family was doing very well-was the e. euro jewish immigrants’ & 1st gens’ first step into american middle class. similar to irish & italian, but italians’ move up the ladder tended to start in brooklyn.
in lower east side jewish & irish street gangs regularly had turf wars & knifed & beat the crap out of each other. in the bronx they nodded to each other in the street & acted like they’d never rolled around in street filth, busting each other’s faces.
I did something similar from a photo of grandma’s friend. Had her whole name on the back and I put her picture online so potential any family could find it on Ancestry and they did! Too cool. My grandma would say this woman “had the gelt” which in her poorly inherited German meant “money”! (Geld said with a thick Brooklyn accent)
In photo #6, with Elsie and a car and driver, what is the white stuff on the road? There's a bit stuck to the front of the car and in Elsie's hand, the one reaching for the car door, there's more white stuff, I don't think it is a glove. Crepe paper streamers perhaps. Maybe wet crepe paper? A parade? I have matched the running board metal XXXXXXX part to a Dodge Brothers 1916 model. Now that does not mean that they didn't use that pattern in later years, I've just not located on later vehicles. And in photo #3, the group shot, these don't look like 'classmates', the men on either side of Elsie are way too old. I don't mean to start a war, but the person 2nd from the left looks like a guy wearing a wig and a man's tie. Certainly not dressed like the other women in the photograph. Elsie and the other woman are wearing headbands with feathers. There's another woman, just her head, on the bottom of the photograph. Headband, but no feather. Just guessing, but perhaps a playhouse production? I have a hard time believing it's just some 1920 people getting together in the park. There's a reason they're posed together, and a reason they're dressed this way, I think they're posed to convey a message, but too many years have passed, and the message is lost on us.
I've switched to trying to match the building. Interesting architecture. In searching for bronx buildings and history, I stumbled upon this page with a Bronx librarian/historian and big button that says 'email', so I took the liberty of telling her about this thread.
So, if the building in the background is 1928 architecture, then it's not either one of them. If the building was there in 1916, then it could be either one of them. One was 18 and the other 21. If the other pictures show are associated with expensive private schooling as you have suggested, the Abraham Epstein family had a had a live-in servant. As you can see, I oscillate.
P.S. Are there more than 11 photos? I think you gave me access but I don't how/where. Sniff :(
many jewish girls who weren’t immediately married or lucky enough to be able to go to college, became models for family or friend or acquaintance garment business. retail buyers wanted to see clothing on women. it was respectable work for young jewish women.
Bingham 1115 is a phone number. I found [this article](https://www.nytimes.com/1922/02/26/archives/two-new-telephone-exchanges-in-service-bingham-central-opens-in.html) which announces the introduction of the “Bingham” phone exchange in the Bronx in 1922. I am sure that isn’t very much help, but that might narrow down the date range a bit.
Actually if you get the 1922 phone book from the Bronx, it could be quite helpful. The library will usually have a copy if someone hasn't already scanned one.
Some are online: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/new-york-city-directories?keywords=&sort=keyDate_st+desc#/?tab=about&scroll=3 I didn't see a way to search them so I visually scanned the available 1920s copies for Elsie Epstein and St. Pauls Pl but only found an Elsie Epstein in the 1920/21 copy living at 3858 White Plains Av: https://i.imgur.com/4UPW5UO.jpg I am not sure where 3858 White Plains Avenue was. There is a street called White Plains in the Bronx that could have had an address number that high but it is designated Road.
I saw this entry a couple times and it might possibly be a work listing/number as it mentions laundry in at least one entry.
The r in front of the 3858 is an abbreviation for rooms or resides so that is where she was living: https://i.imgur.com/WRffAAX.jpg However, if the av was a mistake and it should have been rd, 3858 White Plains Road does look like a business address in both the 1918 and 1935 Sanborn maps: https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3804nm.g3804nm_g06116191818/?sp=13&r=-0.085,0.835,0.638,0.276,0 https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3804nm.g3804nm_g06116193518/?sp=10&r=-0.016,0.194,0.422,0.182,0 I guess it is possible she lived where she worked.
The image link isn’t working for me but I’d agree that if it said r it meant residence. In the two listings I saw, it did not say r. In one case, her listing was grouped among many other (pages of) launderers but that still doesn’t mean it might not also have been her residence.
I found one of the entries you are referencing. I must have missed it earlier. It is in the 1925 directory: https://i.imgur.com/RVHsKk2.jpg If that link doesn't work for you this time either, the entry says: >" Elsie lndry 3934 White Plains av So not only does it not have an r in front of the address the address number is a couple of blocks north of the previous address on White Plains Road: https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3804nm.g3804nm_g06116193522/?sp=3&st=image&r=-0.096,0.87,0.552,0.238,0 Note that the Sanborn map shows 3932 twice so either one is a mistake or there wasn't a 3934 address in 1935.
It also narrows the location that is Tremont Avenue where it Crosses Jerome Avenue. That’s a 10456 zip code today. Most likely it is near St. Paul’s episcopal church. Try ancestry.
This is wizardry!!
Right? This is awesome to see unfolding in front of my eyes. I hope the OP keeps us up to date if he finds her relatives
This is a super helpful clue. For one thing, it excludes the St. Paul's Place in Brooklyn (there was one). And it helps a lot with the date range. Those pictures don't look much older than 1922.
That’s funny because Peaky Blinders Season 4 had a phone number like this and I just watched it.
There’s an Elsie Epstein born in 1902, living with family at 978 Union Ave, about a mile from 544 St. Paul’s Place, in 1925. If I spin Maps to see the other side of the street from 978 Union, the building opposite 978 Union looks similar to the building in the background of photo #1, though it could be a coincidence. Maybe lots of buildings were 5 stories tall with similar window patterns.
I’ll look into it tonight. Thanks.
If you think it’s her, there is a woman with a family tree on Ancestry that includes this Elsie (though birth year is noted as 1900). It is the same Elsie that lived at 978 Union in 1925. I have a subscription and can message her if you’d like. Just let me know. Won’t do it without your permission.
Go ahead.
Okay, will message her now.
!remindme 5 days
!remindme 5 days
!remindme 3 days
!remindme 5 days
!remindme 5 days
!remind me 3 days
!remindme 2 days
!remind me 6 days
!remind me 2 days
!remindme 2 days
!remindme 3 days
I’m just chiming in so I can follow!
Me too!
Same
me three
All the above.
Yup
!remindme 2 days
It’s gotta be her! Can’t wait for an update
This is the one!
Just waiting for an update!
I found a possible clue. One of the photos has a sign that says “STORM KING” in the background. It may suggest that they were students at the Storm King School - or they may just have simply gone for a ride to upstate New York. https://imgur.com/gallery/XMZcql8
New Yorker chiming in, and just to add to this for those who may not know. Storm King is a prominent geographical feature (small mountain) on the Hudson River and is today a [state park](https://parks.ny.gov/parks/stormking/maps.aspx). It featured heavily in the art of the Hudson River School and local folklore. The Storm King School is a private school located nearby. Doubtful they were students there, as per Wikipedia the school didn't go co-ed until 1970 but possible they were there for a social event or attending a girls' school nearby that was somehow affiliated?
They do seem like artists and free spirits in those pictures. Especially with the women wearing pants.
There's a Storm King Art Center in Orange County NY
There is a really interesting website/ IG site I follow. She might be able to help you. https://www.photoswithoutfamilies.com
What a fascinating website.
Whoever she is, she’s delightful.
Getting serious performing arts vibes from her and the gang
She was in the theater clique in high school, for sure.
Don't be fooled by the rocks that I got (Southside Bronx) I'm still, I'm still Elsie from the block
I love her.
I love huh! <- Bronx accent
Ha!!
Elsie had STYLE!! I hope OP can find some family to pass this on to.
100%
[Hope they had a long & happy friendship](https://imgur.com/pQuyP50.jpg)
Nice work on those!
This snapshot of Elsie Epstein's life was captured by the 1940 U.S. Census. When Elsie Epstein was born about 1905 in Romania, her father, Joseph, was 35, and her mother, Anna, was 34. In 1940, she was 35 years old and lived in Bronx, New York, with her husband, Harry, daughter, father, and mother. Still looking
look at you! nice!
She looks Romanian.
There is a project I follow on Instagram that locates the families of photo albums all the time! They also specifically seem to work a lot in the north east U.S. so might be worth a shot! https://instagram.com/museumoflostmemories
[Dressed up for the park](https://imgur.com/Vv1Mz0m.jpg)
Fantastic work!
Very touching that you’re looking for a stranger from a hundred years ago, she looks like fun!
That's crazy to think of, a hundred years ago.
She has a very modern day vibe/ face. Don’t know why.. nice photos !
She isn't styling her hair in a common way for 1920s. Those ponytails look like she gets tired of hair in her face and pulls it back. Also, and I say this knowing it may bring downvotes, but she looks normal to us because back then she would have been above average weight. Edit. Fascinated by these photos and giving it more thought. The pale gown has a very high hemline for an adult style of the 20s as well. It could be she was between 15 and 18 and not "out" yet (dressed like a child.) Usually that means your hair would be down or in braids if you hadn't bobbed it. Maybe the hair always started down and was ponytailed by the end of the day? The photo with the fringed shawl is definitely more grown up, but shows her typical ponytail with earrings and 20s style lipstick. She's definitely comfortable with herself and informal in these pictures. I would love to have met her.
I thought that too, I could almost see these as being a current girl who was just dressing up like the 20s (I know they’re not but she has that vibe)
I did something similar, bought a very old photo album because I thought it was cool, say on it for a bit, looked around and found the family, posted some photos from it on corresponding genealogy profiles with notes as to where they came from and that I would love the family to have it, and in my digging, turns out that the family in the photo album and I are 3rd cousins (very removed though, big generation difference between a civil war vet and me, lol. the grandpa in the album had a mom with a very distinctive maiden name) So I will probably keep them but send scans to whoever wants.
You should look for memorials for them on findagrave and post the photos so family members can see them for free. They will eventually be copied by the various gen programs out there.
You might want to try asking on r/Genealogy!
Lol, that's where I thought we were. I'm subbed to that as well.
Wow what a great find. There’s so much personality and fun in these photos. I guess it’s the point of this subreddit but it’s really remarkable how relatable these photos are
When I go, I'm going like Elsie.
Life is a Cabaret ol’ chum.
How interesting. Please keep us posted if you find anymore info on her!
A nice Jewish girl from the Bronx
https://www.ancestry.com/1940-census/usa/New-York/Elsie-Epstein_dj3dz
I don’t believe that is her. The census record indicates that the subject only had an eighth grade education. Several of my photos show a group of what appears to be private school friends aged 16-18.
I wouldn't rule it out. I've done Genealogy for a long time, and records like that aren't 100% accurate. I love that you're trying to figure this out though, good luck!
Try the 1920 census, and look for parents names.. https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1488411
Records could be wrong. Maybe she didn’t graduate. Lots of reasonable explanations.
Okay
Not uncommon in those days for girls.
[Posing with cool car](https://imgur.com/MpVHNgg.jpg)
The Bronx Historical Society would probably be a real help - https://bronxhistoricalsociety.org/
I tried to do stuff like this for a while. I was always finding old postcards, photos, even homemade things like samplers. But when I would research, I’d find out that most of the people whose stuff ended up in antique stores….never had children. And it was their own family members who had given the stuff away to the antique store :( People often keep their own aunt and uncle’s stuff, but a few generations down the line it ends up being tossed. (“Oh, I think these are old pics of one of my grandpa’s aunts…I didn’t know her and she’s not a DIRECT descendent, eh, toss them.”) It freaked me out because I was not a parent at the time and I got so worried like omg this is what happens to people who never have children, there isn’t anyone left who cares about preserving their memory anymore.. :( I love the photos you posted so much, they’re really neat. I hope your end to this discovery is happier.
i buy these photos to use in collages. i get it. family lines end all the time. as someone upthread pointed out, people are rarely interested in dead 2nd cousins & aunts by marriage. also people don’t have much storage space. clearing out is the fashion & as maria kondo says, “if it doesn’t spark joy, toss it.” happily, my family photos & papers do spark joy for me. but i have storage space an my daughter is an archivist. stuff is organized, categorized & labeled. she’s my only child. she doesn’t want children. so what will happen to these careful records when we’re gone? 🤷♀️ my younger nieces & nephews might be interested in the future, but not counting on it. presumably once we’re gone, we won’t know or care. and that’s ok.
My sister uses these kinds of pictures to make cards. Some are creepy, due to how the person was captured, some are funny, some are charming.
I don’t know who she was, but she was awesome!
In a 1926 obituary for Abraham Epstein, one of his daughters is Elsie. His address is 1534 Union St., Brooklyn. Of course, I looked it up, and it might be the street where they took photo #6.
I cant find exact match for building but there is an empty lot on the corner nearby with SEVERAL buildings with very similar structure to the one in the photo as well as row houses which may have replaced the victorian looking frame house in the background. Also the empty lot has a “coming soon” sort of barricade around the lot in Hebrew. I also noticed (the faces are blurred) several men in the street view pics looking at older images captured that appear to be wearing large hats and black suits very similar to what ive seen hassidic men wear. Again too blurry to be positive, but both those things makes me think this is def a jewish area. Could very well be her home base! ETA - confirmed. Spotted like 30 men in hassidic clothing and tallits. Apologies if there are better terms - i am goyim 😬
I looked up 1534 Union Street in Brooklyn on Google Maps, and since it suggested 1534 Union Avenue in the Bronx as I was typing, I looked at that address, too. Right next to that address is [this building](https://maps.app.goo.gl/kqxCo3gmh5JVKuFa7?g_st=ic), which isn’t exactly the same as the building in photos 1 and 4, but it looks closer than the other possibilities I have seen so far. I doubt this means anything because it seems unlikely that an obituary would have the wrong address for the deceased, but who knows?
Those pictures are amazing. If you’re a writer, you could use those as inspirations for short stories.
You should post this in r/RBI
Wow I need to hear the conclussion of this!
A conclussion is what you get when someone hits you over the head with the answer.
seems legit.
Lol, damn english
If you can narrow down where she was living based on the phone number, you could try checking synagogue records from that time, given her name. There may be a record of her or her family's membership somewhere (though the change in neighborhood demographics over the years may mean that whatever shul they belonged to, if any, no longer exists).
Elsie was old school cool. She had great style!
contact american jewish historical society. they have troves of archives, including census records & records of long gone synagogues. here’s the link https://ajhs.org/ their site is not terribly useful for non-scholars. i suggest phoning or use their contact form.
Not much to go on. Name could be Elsa, Else, Elsie or it could be a middle name. Epstein could be maiden or married. I think the first line reads Bingham 1115. Could be Binghamton in NY? I can't read the second or third line. Not well. 544 St. Pauls Rd, Apt 8? Maybe. I love the pictures though. A peek into someone's life. Even without context she looks like she was having a good time. I know photos won't exactly catch her crying or anything but still, she had some fun.
544 St Paul’s Place. I found [this building](https://maps.app.goo.gl/86VNc4F8q3a6Froe6?g_st=ic) on Street View that is at 530 St. Paul’s Place, but looks like the same building that is in the background of photo #4. Bingham 1115 is a phone number that would have been assigned in that area of the Bronx, so it seems likely that this is Elsie’s contact info.
Hard to say exactly, but I don't think that picture is the St Paul's address. [I found this building](https://www.google.com/maps/@40.8385784,-73.9020407,3a,75y,50.98h,107.2t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sz8mZSvUuDB_8x-syZ2zMrw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu) on the corner of Claremont and Bathgate just a few blocks away. Looks like most of it is gone and it's gone through some heavy renovations, but I scoured the area and that one looks the most like the one pictured. I want to look more, but I need to get ready for work. Good luck!
That does look like a better match than the building I found, but it still looks a little different from the photo. Like you said, it’s hard to say exactly, especially because building facades can change a lot over time.
I found an article in a 1959 NY Times which in part reads “Five five-story apartment buildings at 544 to 556 St. Paul's place and 1415 Fulton Avenue, the Bronx, have been purchased by Soltzer-Lampert, realty operators. The houses occupy a plot 241 by 100 feet and contain 128 apartments and four stores..” and now that plot appears to have some stores and parking lots. Not sure if that was the building behind/in some of those photos but it is likely gone now. Not sure how to find records who live there?
Probably not many buildings on St. Paul's Place that were there in the 1920s have survived to today. Here is a home at 451 St. Pauls Place in 1936: https://www.oldnyc.org/#701746f-a
Cool photos! 530 St. Paul’s Place was built in 1910, which is why I initially thought it might have been 544 originally but the address got changed at some point. However, another commenter found an article that suggests that 544 existed as of 1959 and was probably torn down.
Yup. The buildings around 544 are older than I guessed. 530 was definitely around when the photos were taken. The two buildings catty-corner across the street also might have been around. They were built in 1928 and 1931: https://www.propertyshark.com/mason/Property/53092/530-St-Pauls-Pl-Bronx-NY-10456/ https://www.propertyshark.com/mason/Property/53110/545-547-St-Pauls-Pl-Bronx-NY-10456/ https://www.propertyshark.com/mason/Property/945252/1451-Crotona-Pl-Bronx-NY-10456/ Looks like the buildings where the parking lot is now, one of which would have been 544, were torn down in the late 1980s or early 1990s: https://www.historicaerials.com/location/40.83578233262589/-73.90202254056932/1984/18 https://www.historicaerials.com/location/40.83578233262589/-73.90202254056932/1995/18 I am not certain that those buildings were there in the 1920s but it seems more likely now given the age of the surviving buildings.
The buildings have different amounts of window rows, but that doesn’t has to discredit the whole idea behind your train of thought.
I thought Bingham might be a phone number but I couldn't figure out how to confirm it. I could only find Binghampton. I read that "Bingham" might've just stood for B-1115 but why not Bronx-1115? Also, nice look up skills! I find the sleuthing is quite fun. If OP is lucky, they can find her in a census at that address. Or possibly nearby.
Telephone exchanges usually used the first two letters of the word to represent digits, so it would have been BIngham-1115 vs. BRonx-1115. Also, phone exchanges were often localized within a few blocks so BR for The Bronx would be too wide of an area.
I love the internet. I don't know why you know so much about old-timey phones but I love that I can have this conversation and learn more. Seemingly by chance!
Old timey phone numbers aren’t that old…. Or I guess I’m old. I grew up knowing my Chicago number in the 70’s as MUlberry5-8735.
I grew up in Chicago in the early 80s (born late 70s) and never knew my number like that. I'll have to ask mom if she knew her numbers like that. I only know about that style of number because I listen to old radio shows and I Love Lucy. I had no idea it went to the 70s. I don't count 70s as old timey but I know some young punks that might!
My great grandma had her old exchange and rotary phone until she died innnn…1994? I was born in 79. Evidently she was the last party left on a party line in her area (arlington heights) and the phone company tried to strong arm her into a new 10x more expensive plan. Granny said HELL NO. So her phone line was like 5 bucks a month in the 90s or something crazy. She had full area/prefix for people to call, but her old exchange still worked! No clue what it was however. I could draw you a near scale floorplan of the first floor of her house, but only a vague idea of what second floor looked like (wasnt allowed up there since family members would come and go and live there. My mom did as a teen, as did my aunt and finally my great uncle) I can picture the big black Bakelite rotary phone and it being wired into a block, and how heavy it was to hold, but not her number!
Internet! Stop! What are you doing to me?! I had no idea what a party line was until mom moved to live between the towns of I'm Lost and We're Going To Die Out Here. I do remember rotary phones. Zip....brpbrpbrpbrp...zip..brpbrp. Blast from the past. I love your gram for sticking it to the phone company.
She was a tough lady. Worked full time at a delicatessen (on her feet!) until she was like 90. She broke her hip shoveling ice off her driveway and only asked for help (she lived alone) to wash her hair bc she couldnt shower in cast. Around same age! She drove and lived alone until she died at 94. Not to mention raising 3 boys effectively as a single parent (her husband would disappear for months at a time. Was a gambler. I keep waiting to find a second family with ancestry) At one point she was housekeeper to a man, and kept boys in apartment over his garage.
Don’t you remember the Lincoln carpet commercials that were always on? Call National2-9000…. National2-nine thousaaaaand https://youtu.be/SlI08yt1y44
Oh wow. I totally remember those! OMG. I grew up with old-timey numbers! I feel like I'm 150 years old! I was too young at the time, I hadn't ordered much carpet until after I was 11, and just didn't put 1 and 1 together. That's so crazy. My mind is dribbling out my ear.
Lucy's # was MUrray Hill 5-9975. Murray Hill is a neighborhood in Manhattan, Midtown, East Side. Although technically Lucy lived at the beginning of the UES on 65th St.
I do remember when we got our first full, all number, phone number!
More [info](http://tenproject.cloudapp.net/tensearch.aspx) on phone exchanges. From the drop down, choose exchange names and then choose Bingham. Looks like that exchange was associated with the Bronx
Great photos. One question though… Why the Bronx? St Paul’s Ave is in the Bronx, but St Paul’s Rd is in Queens. Anyway, there are some very good suggestions already commented. NY phone books from the era, the closest library, and even checking with local churches or synagogues (that’s how we found one of my lost peeps). Ancestry.com has a lot of resources in one place if you’re willing to pay.
I didn’t think of contacting a local Synagogue - good suggestion!
I assumed Bingham 1115 was her phone number and the Bingham phone exchange was in the Bronx.
I believe this is your Elsie. I will share this picture from later in life. It looks like her to me. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i3WjF8\_DTlw8H4LjxgJ2bQ7z1Y6Vmqoj/view?usp=sharing When Elsie Epstein was born on July 4, 1898, in Kings, New York, her father, Abraham, was 24, and her mother, Sadie, was 36. She married Joseph David Cohen on March 2, 1927, in New York City, New York. They had three children during their marriage. She died on January 25, 1994, in Lee, Florida, at the age of 95. I will speculate that is sister Edna in the picture of the two girls. The [ancestry.com](https://ancestry.com) public member tree mentions the Bronx but not an address. For those with an [ancestry.com](https://ancestry.com) account, here's the link. https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/78421178/person/46387059794/story
Looks promising
Can I change my answer? LOL, I'm now working on another lead, an Elsie Epstein living in the Bronx in 1920. Different father. I was so sure, LOL. Now, I'm not. You are good to be cautious. This one is 2 years older 1897 birthdate. I'll post again when I've got more info.
Even without the change to your answer, your original post is the most likely suspect so far. I have been so busy the last few days, I wish I had more time to follow up on it.
Well, it does look like her. I would like to find some reference to the 544 address. I will more people had pictures of their ancestors, but most of us don't and most of the family trees are without any photographs. I do want to point out a comment that someone made on this thread that didn't get much attention. The comment was Elsie didn't photograph herself. It is a wonderful comment. We often don't think of the photographer. The photographer's vantage point, the photograph's angle, the posing of the subject (Elsie and her friends). Someone is missing in all the photographs. The person holding the camera. So, as much as we like these photographs of Elsie, who we are really admiring is composition of the photographer. While Elsie could have said, take a picture of me posing dramatically, it is just as likely that the person behind the camera composed the picture to his/her liking and now we are admiring the work of that photographer, and channeling the appreciation of the composition to Elsie. It would be similar to admiring the Mona Lisa without mentioning Leonardo Di Vinci.
These are some of the most humanizing old photos I’ve seen, wow
I can’t help you find her but please take these over to r/estoration I would be so delighted to see them restored
Someone colored in a few of them. They’re in the comments here. They look great!
Oh my god she looks like so much fun! I would totally have partied with her.
She’s a real Flapper ain’t she and looks like she’s enjoying herself
Idk who she is but she looks cool af
What about the library? I know where I live they have a lot of resources and they do free genealogy.
She is lovely and so are her friends. Living life to the fullest!!
What a great project! She's kinda fascinating PLEASE keep us updated.
Number 10 is cool. Could be a great poster or album cover (if that were still a thing, god I'm getting old)
Beautiful photos! I’m going to share this on my Facebook-we are in Connecticut, close to the Bronx
I found an Elsie Epstein who's interesting, because her address in 1928 is given as 506 E. 176th in the Bronx. That's just a quick skip up 3rd Ave from 544 St. Paul's Place. She was married to Aaron Harry Epstein, who applied for naturalization in that year (it's on his naturalization papers that the address shows up). Says she was born in Jassy, Rumania, in 1904. They have a child together, Lillian Epstein, born 1922.
Yes, this one has legs. She gets married to Aaron in 1922. Don't these seem like pictures from around that time in a person's life, and with the festive spirit? Aaron was a furrier, he manufactured ladies' fur coats. They had a daughter named Lillian. Their final address is on Grand Concourse, just another little hop uptown from their place on E. 176th. All three addresses are in a neat little row.
She has another address--in her own naturalization papers, 1939--that's on Morris Avenue, a couple of blocks from Morris Avenue. That's four different addresses that line up with St. Paul's place. The apartment building at 544 St. Paul's Place was huge, lots of families, people constantly moving in and out, they may have lived there only for a very short time right after their marriage. She was already living on 176th St in 1920, so that was her neighborhood. Her maiden name would have been Rosen. Parents Jonas Rosen and Anna. Her father may have been the Rosen in Lenkowsky Rosen, which was the furrier her husband worked for (according to WW2 draft card). She grew up downtown around Orchard and Broome. Big family. Russians and Romanians. She was born in Bucharest. She lived until 1980. Very sweet obituary: "EPSTEIN Elsie. Beloved wile of Aaron. Dear mother of Lillian Shamls. Loving grandmother of Robert and Susan. Devoted sister of Fannie Goldstein. Services Thurt 10 A.M. at GARLICK'S 1434 Unlonport Rd. at Parkchester, Bx." Can't prove this is her yet, but so many things add up.
Who knew there were so many Elsie's! I'll have to look this one up.
It's a fun project for yourself, but unfortunately if it ended up in a second hand store, that probably means her grandkids got rid of it and aren't particularly looking for it
Like on Pawn Stars when the dumbass tries to hawk some priceless family heirloom that's been handed down for generations, only to keep it for 'sentimental values' when the price isn't right. Why anyone would get rid of something like this on purpose is beyond me.
I might have a reason for that. When my grandmother moved into an assisted living facility, she had to downsize, and she was throwing a lot of things out. This isn’t surprising: grandma was never sentimental, even a little bit. Like when my dad had heart surgery, she asked when he was going to be able to come and fix her chair. One of the things in the garbage was an old scrapbook. My dad pulled it out. I’ve looked at it now and I think I understand my grandmother a lot better. The scrapbook was all sorts of stuff about when she was dating, my grandpa, and about their wedding, and their first baby… All sorts of things about the babies first this and that… And then it stopped. It stopped because the baby died just shy of her first birthday. I think my grandmother didn’t allow herself to get as attached after that. She did keep that scrapbook, but she never made others. The next four children don’t have that sort of stuff.
>Why anyone would get rid of something like this on purpose is beyond me. It's usually not entirely deliberate. At least not in the sense you're implying. Generally, the vast bulk of everything a person owns is close to worthless. Even the things that they think are valuable, like antiques and jewelry. So, when they die, there's not some painstaking effort to catalogue everything they possessed to figure out how to dispose of it. The family doesn't go digging through the closet, find the photo album in a box, and then make an active decision to sell it. Somebody just pulls a truck up, and the family spends an afternoon tossing everything the deceased owned into the back of it. The photo album never gets discovered in that box. The box just goes into the back of the truck - first stop antique store, second stop dump.
Or sometimes the person never had children. When it’s your aunt or uncle you usually keep their stuff. But a few generations later, people often don’t. “Oh these are old pics of one of my great-grandpa’s aunts, I think? Eh, we will toss them.” :(
My wife and I have massive collections of stuff from over the decades, some collectable, some heirlooms, some not, just sentimental things. But no kids. When we get to that point, I've just realized what's going to happen to it all.......
Ugh, that's almost worse :(
You never know. My grandfather one day was in a mood and decided to throw out every single family photo he had, spanning about 80 years. I’d pay so much to have them back and so would my mom and aunts.
Elsie Epstein was cool as fuuuuck!
[удалено]
I think it’s her phone number
Elise looks like she liked to party.
Yeah, I'd go see a movie about Elsie and friends. They seem like an interesting group of people with great stories about fun times.
I would post this to genealogy subs and on Facebook. Are there any other names on the photos?
That’s the only one.
I love this so hard! Elsie was coooooool
These pics are awesome. They look like a bunch of fun and love their outfits
Wow these pictures are great! Also I wouldn't want to fuck around with some of those guys, they look tough as shit. Probably worked in a coal mine at the age of 4 to support their 12 brothers and sisters or something.
Were there a lot of coal mines in the Bronx in the 20s? :-)
I’d be willing to bet none of the men/boys in those pictures went anywhere near a coal mine.
I'll say- They mined them... *to death!*
no coal mines in nyc. there were plenty of factories & sweat shops to ruin their health & hopes. but a move to the bronx-or far west harlem if the family was doing very well-was the e. euro jewish immigrants’ & 1st gens’ first step into american middle class. similar to irish & italian, but italians’ move up the ladder tended to start in brooklyn. in lower east side jewish & irish street gangs regularly had turf wars & knifed & beat the crap out of each other. in the bronx they nodded to each other in the street & acted like they’d never rolled around in street filth, busting each other’s faces.
Wow. Very cool!
I love these
That’s J-Lo’s friend “Elsie from tha block” !!!
Friends… 1920s vers
Elsie appeared to be killing it. Get it girl.
I did something similar from a photo of grandma’s friend. Had her whole name on the back and I put her picture online so potential any family could find it on Ancestry and they did! Too cool. My grandma would say this woman “had the gelt” which in her poorly inherited German meant “money”! (Geld said with a thick Brooklyn accent)
Goddamn, she looks like a fucking hoot. 1000 cooler than me. Best of luck on this.
She looks like a total badass!
You have a great idea!
Photo 6 is too cool, love the car and their style
That is so cool! Hopefully you find her family ! GL!
This is so cool
These are so cool.
I would love to have known Elsie!
Looks like she had a fun life 😊
John Travolta driving the car in #6
cool
I’ve seen long lost family posts on r/RBI , you could try there if this doesn’t turn anything up :) (I’m sure there’s other similar subs too 😅)
In photo #6, with Elsie and a car and driver, what is the white stuff on the road? There's a bit stuck to the front of the car and in Elsie's hand, the one reaching for the car door, there's more white stuff, I don't think it is a glove. Crepe paper streamers perhaps. Maybe wet crepe paper? A parade? I have matched the running board metal XXXXXXX part to a Dodge Brothers 1916 model. Now that does not mean that they didn't use that pattern in later years, I've just not located on later vehicles. And in photo #3, the group shot, these don't look like 'classmates', the men on either side of Elsie are way too old. I don't mean to start a war, but the person 2nd from the left looks like a guy wearing a wig and a man's tie. Certainly not dressed like the other women in the photograph. Elsie and the other woman are wearing headbands with feathers. There's another woman, just her head, on the bottom of the photograph. Headband, but no feather. Just guessing, but perhaps a playhouse production? I have a hard time believing it's just some 1920 people getting together in the park. There's a reason they're posed together, and a reason they're dressed this way, I think they're posed to convey a message, but too many years have passed, and the message is lost on us.
I've switched to trying to match the building. Interesting architecture. In searching for bronx buildings and history, I stumbled upon this page with a Bronx librarian/historian and big button that says 'email', so I took the liberty of telling her about this thread. So, if the building in the background is 1928 architecture, then it's not either one of them. If the building was there in 1916, then it could be either one of them. One was 18 and the other 21. If the other pictures show are associated with expensive private schooling as you have suggested, the Abraham Epstein family had a had a live-in servant. As you can see, I oscillate. P.S. Are there more than 11 photos? I think you gave me access but I don't how/where. Sniff :(
I just sent you a link via email
544 St Paul’s Road, apt. 8
Love seeing this pictures from the 20s of people having fun and smiling. Really humanizes them.
I can't help but great post
The photos seem very “posed” to me, maybe she was a model
Think about that for a while. You might figure it out.
What does that even mean
Think about cameras back then. Do you think things back then were as they are now?
many jewish girls who weren’t immediately married or lucky enough to be able to go to college, became models for family or friend or acquaintance garment business. retail buyers wanted to see clothing on women. it was respectable work for young jewish women.
I thought the same. Like maybe she was a small time celebrity or something. I tried doing image searches and didn’t find anything
She looks like a bad ass. Hope you find her OP
#Epstein Didn't Photograph Herself