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Family Portrait?

P

pucchini

WindyCityMama
I am so glad that I have found this forum! I am very interested to get your thoughts on this...

A couple of years ago, my mother -in-law's neighbor was cleaning out his garage. He does handyman work for seniors. A woman had given him a beautifully framed family portrait. He asked if I wanted it (RANDOM!) and I immediately said yes without thinking twice about it.

This family portrait hangs in my current home and has come along with us through our marriage, first baby and 4 moves.

The portrait is a family of four. The father is standing, mother is in a chair and on each side is a child, a boy on the left and a girl in the right.

One day I asked my baby who was around 12 months at the time, "what did you do before this life?" Just chatting with her and dancing her around the apartment. She pointed to the portrait. Every time I asked her the question she pointed to the portrait.

fast forward to this past week. She is now 19 months and when i take the portrait down she goes crazy with giving it kisses and waving to it. I asked her who she was and she points to the little boy. Note: the little boy is the only one in the family with blue eyes and that is the same as my daughter!

She also identifies the man as "dada" and the mother as "mama." also, the little girl she keeps waving to and gives more kisses.

I really believe this is a portrait of us. Am I just being silly?

Thoughts?
 
Give us some more details about the history of the portrait and the family in it. It was a little hard to follow this. When was it painted? Who is the family? Are the kids or the parents in the portrait still alive?
 
Very interesting Pucchini. And welcome to the forum.


I noted you asked your child what she did "before this life." What prompted you to ask this? I'm curious, what are your beliefs in reincarnation?


Thanks for sharing, I look forward to more of your story.


Tinkerman
 
I think the portrait (a photo not a painting) was done in the late 20's...not sure and the neighbor who gave us the portrait has no idea who they are...no name, just a picture...hmmmm maybe i should put up a pic of it.


The only info the neighbor had was that he thought they were Italian. The owner lived in a far southwest suburb of chicago. I was very disappointed when I got the news today that he had no other info about the portrait.


I am a believer in reincarnation. I started believing about 15 years ago, in my early 20's....it was the only thing that made sense to me! I had always heard that children had excellent recall so I had always looked forward to having children and letting them tell me their stories. After all, she is my teacher <3


Any suggestions as to how I could find out more? A date or even just a time period would be helpful. I feel so grateful to at least have the portrait. What a wonderful token from the past!
 
Just a thought: You could try carefully removing the old photo from its frame. There may be information inside, like old newspaper or something written on the back of the old photo.
 
Any way you could get an image of it and post it? Some of the folks here are quite knowledgeable about identifying clothing, etc. from various time periods. Maybe take a photo (of a photo!) and share it?
 
I did not realize that this was not common knowledge until I got your PM, so I will share it here. The 1920s + Italian + Southside = Gangster era. This may be urban legend, but everyone who lives in the area "knows" that Al Capone's house was in Chicago Heights. Cicero, Flossmoor, Oak Park, and the city of Chicago itself, are all known for their mobster history.


This is not to say that the family in the portrait were connected with the mob. But, then again, they did have large extended families . . .
 
I may be totally off on the year. Any insight is appreciated! Thanks!

portrait.jpg

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Well, the little girl's page-boy haircut definitely smacks of the 20's. Maybe early 20's, as does her dress. I'm saying this is early to mid 20's.
 
Just out of curiosity, how do you know the little girl in the portrait has blue eyes if it's in black and white? I mean, they might be green or gray. But I do suppose blue is more likely.
 
i guess they could be green or gray. my daughters eyes are green, blue or gray and change day to day with her clothes -- so i should rephrase -- the little boy has light colored eyes and the rest appear dark?


people ALWAYS comment on her eyes. No one else has eyes like them in our family.
 
The gangster thing crossed my mind but i dismissed it because the family that i ended up getting the portrait from live much further out than the city and surrounding oak park and cicero. I am interested though because it didn't dawn on me that it could be extended family of someone involved...very interesting and a good place to start digging around.


Also, i think i finallly have my husband convinced that reincarnation is very real.
 
Maybe some Chicago area historians could tell if it was a famous or infamous family. You could post the photo online somewhere. Or maybe search on the internet yourself for gangster history. And you say your daughter pointed at it and said she was the boy? Who knows? Truth is stranger than fiction.
 
yes, my daughter points to the little boy and says it is her! my husband is a reference librarian so he is already looking into the local history :)
 
I think that over the next 4 or 5 years you will be able to get more information from your daughter. When the time is right ask her what "his" name was, family members names, etc., etc.


12 - 18 months is a very early age to start talking about past life memories. Most children don't start until at least age 2 or 3. Keep a journal and write down everything she says. Otherwise you will forget and she won't remember. Now you know why that photo ended up in your house. There is no such thing as coincidence.
 
I saved the photo so I could enlarge it. If the photo was taken in the early 20's the boy was probably born around 1910. Which means he could have lived to be 90 or even 100. Also most people would not have been able to afford a large portrait and large fancy frame like that. Working class people were lucky to have a simple Kodak "Brownie" box camera. So this family had big bucks. It will be interesting to see if you are able to identify them. Try searching on genealogy websites. Some have photos. Or post this and see if anyone recognizes them. When your daughter is a little older she may give you some names.
 
This is such an interesting story! I don't think you obtained that portrait by accident. Thanks for posting the picture of it too!

argonne1918 said:
most people would not have been able to afford a large portrait and large fancy frame like that. Working class people were lucky to have a simple Kodak "Brownie" box camera. So this family had big bucks.
Click to expand...
I was just about to post the same thing - not just any family would have been able to afford a portrait like this one. I would say they were upper middle class. Is there any way you could know what location the picture may have originated from? What state, or town? To bad there's not any writing on the back anywhere.


Keep us posted! :thumbsup:
 
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