Ida Limonova's uncle Ekhil Gelbartovich

My mother's older brother, Ekhil Gelbartovich, when he was 27 years old. The photo was taken at the Cabinet-Portrait photoshop in Kharkov in 1905. He had this photo taken to mail it to his fiancee. My mother's sisters and brothers were all born in Kharkov except for Ekhil, who was born in Poland. In the late 1880s my grandparents and their first-born son, Ekhil moved to Kharkov due to growing anti-Semitism in Poland and the polonization of industry and commerce. Ekhil studied at cheder and lived in Kharkov for some time. During the Russian-Japanese war [1904-1905] he was at the front. He returned from the war as a grown-up man. He had a beautiful uniform: a dark jacket with shining buttons, a buckle on his belt with a double eagle, a cap with a cockade and shoulder straps. Later Ekhil worked as a locksmith. His wife's name was Liya. They had a son called Abram. During World War II he was in evacuation in Saratov. His son Abram and his family live in Chicago, USA, now.