Jim Nolan's Blog

MS Kungsholm Postcard

 

A postcard from my mother, Christa Paul, to her grandmother Natalie Paul. Mom and Dad had just returned to America via the MS Kungsholm after their wedding in Stockholm. Natalie had moved from Berlin to Säffle, Sweden. I wonder if she had the bust with her. Her husband Adolf had been dead since 1943 and the money was gone, too. The card reads, "Dear Grandmother and Aunt Hedda, heartfelt greetings after a rather stormy crossing. All is well. Love, Christa." If you look closely after Mom's signature, you'll see a plus sign. She had meant Dad to sign the card as well, but he forgot. 

Photographer Daniel Nyblin & Playwright Adolf Paul

A screenshot of what looks like a newspaper for theater and concerts from Helsinki in 1898. It's a photograph of my great grandfather Adolf, taken by Daniel Nyblin. It's from the Finnish National Library Digital Collection. You can see it better here, and enlarge it. I found out about it from Daniel Nyblin's descendent Marten Mickos. Marten writes:

"BTW, here is a great search engine in Finland:

http://digi.lib.helsinki.fi/sanomalehti/secure/query.html?language=en

 It has most Finnish newspapers from a long time ago digitized.

If you search for "Adolf Paul" you'll get a lot of hits. At that time, most newspapers were in Swedish so you may need somebody to help you translate the texts.

This page from 1898 is great:

http://digi.lib.helsinki.fi/sanomalehti/secure/showPage.html?conversationId=3&action=entryPage&id=853723&pageFrame_currPage=1

 

It shows a portrait of Adolf Paul (taken by Daniel Nyblin) with the caption (in an approximate translation): "We rush to present to the audience the portrait of the author Adolf Paul, whose play King Christan II has had such phenomenal success - success pyramidale."

 Incidentally, the page also shows an ad by Daniel Nyblin."

Thanks again, Martin. The design of these pages is fantastic.

Finland's Annie Leibovitz

I had long wondered about Daniel Nyblin, the photographer mentioned on this cabinet card of my great grandfather, Adolf Paul. Yesterday I received an email (see below) from Marten Mickos which explained everything. Nyblin did lots of celebrity portraits, like this one of Ibsen, and is considered the father of Finnish photography. Thanks for the note, Marten!

Jim,

I was leisurely googling for "Daniel Nyblin" and came on this blog posting of yours:

http://www.jimnolansblog.com/2011/01/finnish-cabinet-card-explained.html

Here is some further info: Daniel Nyblin was a Norwegian photographer in Finland. He was my maternal grandmother's maternal grandfather. He was married to Wera Pautow of Russian ancestry. The family became Swedish-speaking in Helsinki, which at the time was very much a Swedish-speaking city.

The card just lists his name and the city Helsingfors / Helsinki. The Nyblin photo studio was on the Fabianinkatu street, so that must be the word that is covered. The words in Russian is the same address written in cyrillic letters. At that time (i.e. from 1809 to 1917), Finland was a grand duchy in the Russian empire.

Daniel Nyblin was his time's most famous (and productive) photographer in Finland and he has at times been called the father of Finnish photography. There is plenty of information about him and his studio on the web.

He spent some time in the US and some of his brothers and/or cousins emigrated. I believe there are Nyblin ancestors in the Chicago area.

Not sure you needed all that info, but nevertheless hope it is useful or interesting to you.

Happy holidays and with kind regards,

Marten

German Photo, 1905

My grandfather Bengt Paul, with his sisters Hedda and Tali, "the twins." They would both grow up to be painters. Bengt was a journalist. I believe the woman behind them was their mother, Natalie.

Adolf Paul, Stylin'

 
My great-grandfather, as a young man in Finland and later in Germany.

From the Collection of Leo Wiedersheim, Jr.

A fabulous drawing of the 12-member-strong family of Alfred Frederick and Hedvig Charlotta Cecilia (Blix) Wiedersheim-Paul, and a photo of some of them relaxing years later. They were sent to me by my great-grandfather Adolf's brother Leo's great-grandson. Whew. Leo learned about "Cabinet Card #2: Leo and Ellen Wiedersheim-Paul" through Google Alerts, and sent me a note. He has traced the Wiedersheims back nine generations, and done an incredible job putting their story together with photos and commentary. I hope to feature some of it in future posts. It is nice to be back in touch with the Wiedersheims! P.S. I believe the Swedish rhyme in the drawing says, "The family was already big (stor), when he came the little brother (bror). I think it may have been done by Adolf's daughter Natalie ("Tali") Paul, as it's signed "NP" and Alfred and Hedvig are identified as farfar and farmor (father's father, father's mother).

Cabinet Card #2: Leo & Ellen Wiedersheim-Paul

Husband and wife Leo and Ellen Wiedersheim-Paul. Leo was one of Adolf Paul's seven brothers. They lived with Leo's brother Oscar at Stråken, Sweden, where my mother was sent from Berlin in 1943. Mom remembers Leo and Ellen and their daughter Karin fondly. 

Farbror Elis, July 1929

Adolf Paul's brother Elis, with his two twin nieces, Marta and Lisa, outside his brother Oscar's villa, "Stråken." Elis was painted by his sister Hedda, who was also a twin. Her sister Tali was a painter as well. Both studied at the Swedish Academy of Arts. The 1931 Elis portrait is the subject of an audio essay of mine, "Antique Roadshow Rejects," which I include below, along with the painting. Elis moved to Chicago and became a policeman.

Now that I have a photo of Elis, I love this huge painting. He's family.

Click here to hear Antique Roadshow Rejects

Grandfather

Adolf and Natalie's grandkids from their son Bengt (a.k.a. my grandather Benekiki) and daughter-in-law Hildegard Koenig. From left, Birgit Stolt, Heye Paul, Adolf, and Christa Nolan (a.k.a. my mom). Later in life Adolf's eyes became sensitive to the sun; that's why they're closed. I'm guessing this shot is from around 1939. He died in 1943.

Adolf Paul Cabinet Card

This photo has a thick backing, like a bubblegum card. (Update: My friend Emily Bronstein believes it may be a "cabinet card.") Below I've posted the back of it—I can't get the glue off. If anybody can make out what it says, please translate in the comments section below. Thanks.