‘Heirloom hunter’ uncovers devastating WWII love story after being sent a photo album from 1900s
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A woman known for revealing shocking stories behind antiques has uncovered a tragic World War II love story in which a young couple met an early death – after an anonymous person mailed her a photo album from the 1900s.
Chelsey Brown, 28, of New York, often explores antique shops, thrift stores and online marketplaces in an effort to find old photos, diaries, letters and documents – then tries to figure out who they belonged to and reunite them with their descendants.
Most recently, the “heirloom hunter” received a decades-old photo album in the mail, and after some detective work, she was stunned to discover that the people in the photos both died young in a shocking turn of events.
Tragic: A woman known for revealing shocking stories behind antiques has uncovered a devastating WWII love story in which a young couple met an early death
Special Delivery: Chelsey Brown, 28, of New York, made the discovery after receiving a photo album (pictured) from the 1900s in the mail from an anonymous person
Sad ending: After doing some digging, she was stunned to discover that the people in the photos both died at a young age in a shocking turn of events
The frugal 28-year-old often shares her finds online, where she has amassed nearly 100,000 followers Instagram and more than 213,000 on TikTokand her most recent discovery has shocked many people on the web.
Going viral: The frugal 28-year-old often shares her finds on TikTok, where she has amassed more than 213,000 followers, and her most recent discovery has shocked many people on the web
“An anonymous sender emailed me a box of mysterious 1930s photo albums,” she says in her video, which has been viewed 57,000 times.
‘The albums contain photos, newspaper clippings and postcards. The photo albums actually tell a pretty sad story.’
According to Chelsey, who said she used MyHeritage.com for research, the album is believed to belong to a woman who was born in Germany but grew up in the Midwest.
The woman, who was not mentioned by name, married her lover, also from Germany, when she was 22 years old, but he was soon called up to fight in World War II.
However, after fighting in the war, he became very ill with tuberculosis and died tragically at the young age of 35.
Chelsey explained that he was suffering from the disease five years before his death, and he was also battling heart failure for 10 years.
“His death certificate states that he died of acute decompensated heart failure and pulmonary tuberculosis,” she continued in the TikTok.
“An anonymous sender emailed me a box of mysterious photo albums from the 1930s,” she says in her video. ‘The albums contain photos, newspaper clippings and postcards’
According to Chelsey, who said she used MyHeritage.com for research, the album is believed to have belonged to a woman who was born in Germany but grew up in the Midwest.
The woman, who was not mentioned by name, married her lover, also from Germany, when she was 22 years old, but he was soon called up to fight in World War II
Sad ending: However, after fighting in the war, Chelsey became very ill with tuberculosis and died tragically at the young age of 35
The heartbroken woman eventually remarried, but unfortunately she didn’t have a happy ending – because she herself died years later.
The heartbroken woman eventually remarried, but unfortunately she didn’t get her happy ending – because she herself died years later
“After more research, I discovered through MyHeritage.com that she remarried at age 40 and died just before that birthday,” Chelsey, who also runs a podcast called Time TravelHER, told NeedToKnow.online.
“She had no children, but she was survived by a niece and nephews and was close to them.
“I’ve tried to get in touch with them over the phone, but I still haven’t been able to.
“I hope I can eventually get in touch with the family, because I believe there are images of them as little children.”
The influencer explained to the outlet that families often think she’s “framing” them and are hesitant to respond, but she’s still hopeful she’ll be able to reunite them with the album.
The album featured several photos of the couple and their relatives. One image showed three people laughing as they sat on an old vintage car.
In another photo, a woman looked solemn resting on some rocks, while a third photo shows a woman playing the accordion.
“After more research, I discovered through MyHeritage.com that she remarried at age 40 and died just before that birthday,” Chelsey told NeedToKnow.online
She said the woman didn’t end up having any children, but she survived a nice one and a few nephews, who were in the photo album as small children.
Another photo showed a man lying on a cot, while another featured the same man with a cigarette in his mouth.
“I’ve tried to get in touch with them over the phone, but still haven’t been able to get in touch with them,” Chelsey, who often explores antique and thrift stores in an effort to find old photos, diaries, letters, and documents and then tries to reunite them with the people they belonged to, the descendants, said
Chelsey also revealed in the TikTok video that she is still trying to figure out who sent her the album, while promising to “keep her viewers informed.”
The influencer urged NeedToKnow.online not to try to get anything out of her hobby.
“I never make families pay for the heirlooms or shipping — I’m doing this pro bono,” she said.
She previously spoke out about the joys of heirloom hunting, gushing back in June: “I love finding artifacts with exciting stories behind them. That’s the beauty of hunting heirlooms.
“It’s all about solving mysteries. It just proves that the simplest objects, like a photograph, can have the most incredible story.’
Many people got involved with the couple in the photo album’s devastating past, and they flooded the comment section of Chelsey’s video with their thoughts.
‘Holy cow! Mysteries everywhere,” one person wrote, while another added, “Wow, that’s super interesting.”
“This is so cool,” someone else said. A fourth comment was: ‘I live for a good mystery. Sounds like some good stories.”
Another user commented, “I love finding out stuff like this, this should be a show.”