Тhis is the father, Yordan Sava Popov. The photograph was taken in the USA, four years after the birth of his son Sava Popov. On the back of the photo, Yordan informs his parents that he feels good “in distant America.” On the back of another photo, he writes to his wife, “…I know my portraits no longer comfort you, but I’m sending you this card anyway so you can see me again.” He is tormented that he left her alone in the middle of the war to manage the household and the raising of their child. He probably lived with the dreams of prosperity of generations of Bulgarians from the beginning of the 20^th century and sought salvation for his family during the crises of the war years. It is known that he regularly sent money from the state of Ohio to the village of Dere.

Yordan Popov was born in 1988 in the village of Dere, in the Popovo district. His biography in brief: In 1907 he was a clerk in the village of Golyama Nova; in 1908, he passed the test to become an inspector of tobacco and rakiya (brandy); and in 1910, he opened a general store in the village. In 1913, during the First Balkan War, he was at the front. In October of the same year, he married Bozhura, the future mother of his son. After the eruption of the First World War, in 1914, his path led him to America. As far as what his life in Bulgaria was like before he left, what exactly led him beyond the ocean, we can only guess by the few traces that have remained in the archive.

Many Bulgarians working in railroad construction and the mines in America at that time lived in quite primitive conditions. Unlike them, Yordan Popov probably lived more comfortably. In studio photographs, he wears polished shoes and custom-tailored suits. We know he worked in different warehouses and stores as an accountant and buyer. In his recommendation written by Georgi Sotiroff (Alabach Baking Co.), we read that he is an “honest, willing and capable man,” while Nick Todoroff of Akron, Ohio, gives his assurance that Yordan is loyal and honest in his work. We see him in a photograph from 1918, in front of the grocery store at 859 Crossier St.