Not So Wordless Wednesday - New Joseph photos!

Thanks to my cousins Ruth Kyle and Jim Joseph, I now have three new photos of my Joseph relatives - including one that has my great-great-grandfather Sam Joseph in it!

This is Bernhard Joseph, son of my Gottlieb Joseph, my great-great-grandfather's older brother. It's so sad to see the little guy on crutches, and sadder still to know he died when he was just 9 years old.

This is a picture of my 3rd-great-grandparents, Ludwig and Justine (Witt) Joseph, and several of their children, their spouses, and some of their grandchildren. Amanda and Rudy Joseph (back row, far left) are Gottlieb's kids; Ed Joseph (front row) is Henry Joseph's son; Martha Siegel (front row) was Wilhelmine (Joseph) Siegel's daughter; and Edith, Elsie and Walter (front row, far right) are all Gottlieb's kids. Sadly, none of Sam's kids are in the photo.

Oddly enough, the brothers in the back row - Gottlieb, Henry, and Ludwig - are all identified with their spouses, but the woman standing next to Sam is not identified. My first inclination is that it's his first wife, Pauline. She died in January, 1909, and since there isn't a firm date as to when this picture was taken, it could be her. Sam did remarry in November, 1909 to Elizabeth Ackermann, but Elizabeth was 20 or 21 at the time of marriage, and the woman in this photo looks older than 20. She does look a lot like the woman in the top right corner of this photo, though older. My feeling is that the woman in Ruth's photo is Pauline, and the younger woman in my grandpa's photo is her daughter Lydia. Admittedly, I don't know for sure that the woman in this photo is Pauline, but I believe it is.

And lastly, I also received this photo from Ruth and Jim, showing a much bigger group of Josephs.

The cool thing is, this photo apparently had the names of everyone in it written on the back:

I want to go through all these names (both in this picture and the other group shot) and make sure I know how they all connect. I also wonder at what the occasions for the group photos were.

I'm still in disbelief that these photos are real! My favorite thing about them is how Sam and his brothers all look alike. I don't know of too many cases in my family where family resemblances are that strong, and it's awesome to see so many Josephs together. It'd be fun one day to have a Joseph reunion with some of these Joseph's descendants, and see if there are any resemblances left.

Thanks Ruth and Jim!