Entry #18

Kurt Lindner and Oswald Kessler in Sweden

This is Uncle Oswald. I deduce that he must have been Oswald Kessler, because the photo is marked “Mom L’s brother.”  The handwriting is R.O. Lindner’s – that of my grandfather – hence, Mom L was Anna Marie Kessler. I remember hearing Uncle Oswald mentioned from time to time, but I guess I was too young to care. Uncle Oswald was probably born in the 1860s. The man on the left is Kurt Lindner.  Kurt was Grandpa’s younger brother who moved to Sweden after WWI.  I don’t know if Uncle Oswald was visiting Sweden, or if he lived there, too.

The problem is that I know almost nothing about this family. I have no idea what the names of Oswald and Marie’s parents were. There is a chance they were from Freiberg, Saxony – another clue from a different photo. I have hundreds of photos and postcards to go through. I hope that with more time and some serious study I will pick up more clues. The postcards need translating, so we will see how that goes. They are all in German and tough to read. Is Uncle Oswald mentioned in any of these missives?

Update:  Uncle Oswald did live in Sweden and I now know that he had a family there.  I also identified the parents of Oswald and Anna Marie as Friedrich Ernst Kessler and Johanne Christiane Kessler born (geb.) Strassburger.