Balaban Family. Grigoriopol, Russia, 1913. See Notes.

Left to right: Yitzchak Labe Balaban, his son Kolman Baellow (who, you can't tell from this black and whit picture, had a bright red beard), granddaughter Esther Baellow Wolfson, grandson Shaya/Shika Balaban standing in the back wearing a Russian military hat, and his daughter in law Fayga Devorah Komar Balaban.

The original photograph showed Libby Baellow Cohn and her brother Abe Baellow on the right. Their brother Dave had already left for America 3 years before this picture was taken. Libby didn’t like way she looked so she cropped herself (and her brother Abe) out.

A traveling photographer came to the shteitl and took their picture. Bubba Fayga decided last minute that the length of Esher Baellow Wolfson's dress was too short and inappropriate. In a rush she had Libby (who was always an expert seamstress) let out the hem but they didn’t have a chance to iron out the place where the old hem was. Esther was not happy about this especially with the way the unironed dress looked as her expression clearly shows.

Note: Fannie said that Esther was 6 and Shaya was 12 years old in this picture which would make it 1909 not 1913.