History Jackpot

I hit the jackpot searching the online Swedish American Newspapers database of the Minnesota Historical Society. My grandfather’s marriage announcement and a picture of him as a photo studio manager were in the first newspaper of my search results! Plus, I found the following.

  • My first record of grandfather’s home address in Worcester, Massachusetts (1907).
  • Eighty-six ads listing him as managing a photo studio, Worcester (1906 thru ’08).
  • Four newspaper wedding notices, Worcester (1906).
  • Three notices for church concerts in which he performed, Worcester (1906 and ’07))
  • His letter to the editor of a Swedish-language newspaper (1908).

My single query for “Carl Albin Jacobson” led to the knowledge that, four years after his 1902 arrival from Sweden, Albin was settled into his new life in the USA. He appears to have been well-established in both work and personal realms. The newspapers also indicate that, by 1906, he had adopted the ‘American’ spelling of Jacobson, with only one ‘s’.

Working Life

Oscar Messler.

There exists
nothing more
suitable for a
Christmas Present

C. Albin Jacobson.

than a beautiful and well-executed photograph, which also becomes the most economical. However, you should think about it early, to certainly get the number you want in time. Therefore place orders now before the rush begins.
Enlargements from smaller photographs are performed in a short time, both in black chalk as in colored. Nice frames in stock. NOTE! Wedding photography is a specialty.

MESSLER PHOTO STUDIO, 44 Front St, Room 105.

The 86 studio ads, dating from 20 June 1906 to 08 September 1908, reveal that Albin managed the phtography business at 44 Front Street in Worcester, Massachusetts. First it was the Anderson Photo Studio (see header image)1 and then Messler, as seen in the translation above.2 Unfortunately, neither the Worcester Historical Museum nor a professional image curator I contacted could identify any collections with photos from the Anderson/Messler studio or indexes to the studio’s work.

According to a 2024 real estate listing,3 the 7-story building at 44 Front Street, Worcester, Massachusetts, was built in 1886. So it is likely the same building where Albin managed the Anderson, then Messler, photo studio on the 7th floor in Room 105.4

Home Life

Albin and my grandmother, Anna Vitalia Lindquist, were married in Worcester on 08 September 1906. Rev. Pastor F. A. Engstrand officiated at Lutheran Emmanuel Church, according to the various newspaper accounts.5 Soon thereafter they presumably set up housekeeping at 64 Elliot Street in Worcester’s Bell Hill neighborhood, about 1 mile from the photo studio. That address is listed as Albin’s residence seven months later in an article the about a church bazaar.

Seeing my post about the discoveries on Facebook, a friend offered to drive by 64 Elliot Street. The ‘triple decker’ was still there, though appears to have had a makeover. The style of building—with three levels of identical apartments—was a typical residence for early 20th-century immigrants to New England. (photo by Jane Peterson Ellis, 2021).

Several news items suggest that, not surprisingly, Albin was active in the church. On 18 April 1907, Albin was a winner of “guessing contests” held during a bazaar in the basement at Lutheran Gethsemane Assembly. His prize was a pillow.6 He sang in the choir and performed in the church “orchestra” on several occasions (likely playing the flute I have among our family keepsakes).

My aunt relates that her father Albin was “well educated.”7 The fact that he wrote a letter to the editor, found in my first search of Swedish-American newspapers, supports this claim. In the 03 March 1908 edition of Chicago’s Svenska tribunen-nyheter [Swedish Tribune News], Albin declared it “the best Swedish magazine in America.”8 He was, indeed, now settled into a new life.

This work by Bruce E. Jacobson is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Last Updated on 7 May 2024.

  1. “Anderson Studio”advertisement, Scandinavia (Worcester, Massachusetts), 29 August 1906, p. 18, col. 2;, at Minnesota Historical Society: Swedish American Newspapers/Svensk-Amerikanska Tidningar (https://newspapers3.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=b9008baf-b42b-4624-bb30-01481a653b3e%2Fmnhi0011%2F1MCXVN5A%2F06091201 : accessed 27 August 2021), collection: Scandinavia (Worcester, Mass.) 1887-1918; search term: “Carl Albin Jacobson.”
  2. “Den finnes ingenting mera passande för Jul-Present” advertisement, Svea (Worcester, Mass.), 10 July 1907, p. 8, col. 5, at Minnesota Historical Society: Swedish American Newspapers/Svensk-Amerikanska Tidningar (https://newspapers3.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=5f3180f0-172f-45e3-bc96-05ad29fe349a%2Fmnhi0011%2F1I7OTI5A%2F06103101 : accessed 27 August 2021), Collection: Svea (Worcester, Mass.) 1897-1966; search term: “Carl Albin Jacobson.”
  3. Northeast Properties, “44 Front St — Chase Building” at Northeast Properties (https://411rent.com/property/44-front-st-chase-building/ : accessed 27 April 2024); photo by Northeast Properties.
  4. Messler Photo Studio, Worcester, Massachusetts, To Whom It May Concern, letter, November 1906, change of Anderson Studio to Messler Studio, file: ltr0002_19061100_JacobsonCA_Messler-Photo-Studio-announce.pdf; privately held by Bruce Edwin Jacobson, Boston, Massachusetts.
  5. “Worcester,” Scandinavia (Worcester, Mass.), 12 September 1906, p. 18, col. 1, at Minnesota Historical Society Swedish American Newspapers/Svensk-Amerikanska Tidningar (https://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn98021507/1906-09-12/ed-1/seq-18 : accessed 28 August 2021), collection: Scandinavia (Worcester, Mass.) 1887-1918; search term: “Carl Albin Jacobson”.
  6. “Worcester,” Scandinavia (Worcester, Mass.), 24 April 1907, p.10, col. 2, at Minnesota Historical Society Swedish American Newspapers/Svensk-Amerikanska Tidningar (https://newspapers3.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=b9008baf-b42b-4624-bb30-01481a653b3e%2Fmnhi0011%2F1MCXVN5A%2F07042401 : accessed 28 August 2021), collection: Scandinavia (Worcester, Mass.) 1887-1918; search term: “Carl Albin Jacobson”.
  7. Lillian James, “The Journal of Lillian James: Her Writings, Reflections, and Remembrances” scrapbook, 1983, p.1., privately held by Bruce Edwin Jacobson, Boston, Massachusetts.
  8. “Breflåda” [Mailbox], Svenska tribunen-nyheter [Swedish tribune news] (Chicago, Ill.), 03 March 1908, p. 13, col. 4, at Minnesota Historical Society Swedish American Newspapers/Svensk-Amerikanska Tidningar (https://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/lccn/sn83045729/1908-03-03/ed-1/seq-13 : accessed 26 August 2021), collection: Svenska tribunen-nyheter (Chicago, Ill.) 1906-1936; search term: “Carl Albin Jacobson”.