Have you ever had one of those "I know her." moments? Well, I did the moment I saw this lower picture that my Serafin cousins sent to me. They had asked me to help identify the people in it. The Bride was the one that pushed my button. She was in my photo. She was seated in the corner of my "Brzezinski Party Photo". A bottle in her hand instead of flowers but the hair...that hair was the same. So if she was in my photo, was her groom? Yup, seated on the floor. So if he wasn't seated with his bride was the top photo a pre-party or post-party photo? The only way to find out was to find out who got married and when.
The beauty with all the hair acting as a witness was Anna Markiewicz Serafin. Using her hair you can see her in the back row of the Brzezinski photo.
So "Anna Markiewicz" was the only identifiable person in this wedding party. What did I know for sure about Anna? I already had the date of her arrival from what was then considered Russia.
It reads: 18 Yr old unmarried servant girl Anna Markewicz was born in Russia. Her mother Emelia remains and her father is already in the U.S.. Final destination is JACKSON, Michigan. Her Arrival Date: April 30, 1912
So this tells me that both events in the photos occurred after that date. Time to comb through all the marriage licenses in Jackson County starting in April 1912 for a marriage with at least one Russian Pole and Anna Markiewicz as witness. Thank goodness for computers. Seeing the actual written recording of the marriage in the bottom photo was exciting to say the least.
