This picture has appeared on my blog before, but it is so special it deserves another post.

A Schmitt family gathering

Four Schmitt siblings are in this photo.

The gentleman in the center was born Jean Nicolas Schmitt on 16 May 1841 in Hellimer Moselle Lorraine France, the third son of Nicolas Schmitt and his wife Marie-Anne Gury. In America he was called John Nicholas. John’s wife Clara is standing to his furthest left.

John’s sister Anne-Marie (born 04 Sep 1844) is standing to his immediate left. She would be called Anna in America, although apparently she was also known as “Tante” Plum. According to Wiktionary, the word tante is German, taken from the same French word meaning “aunt”.   Another Wiktionary page suggests the word is used “informally, even jocularly”.

Alvina (Schmitt) Mueller, standing second from the left, and one of the young women seated in the photo may have referred to Anna in this manner. Alvina was the daughter of Anna’s brother Emile (not shown), and Alma Mueller (seated center) was the daughter of Anna’s sister Elisabeth.  Anna would have been Tante to both women. I wonder why she the only aunt referred to with the German word; perhaps because her husband was German?

Aunt Tillie, on John’s far right, is John’s youngest sister. Born Mary Mathilda Schmitt on 06 Mar 1858, she was the youngest of the Schmitt siblings and the only sister born in America – Cincinnati Ohio to be exact. Tillie married Joseph Droll and was Alvina and Alma’s aunt.

Pauline stands on John’s immediate right. She was born 24 Mar 1850 in the same town as her siblings John and Anna. She was four years old when the family immigrated to Cincinnati Ohio. Pauline married Joseph Breyer and lived in Cincinnati until her death in 1933.

Also shown in the photo are Clara Hasse (nee Plum) and her daughter Ruth.

Alma Mueller has my attention this weekend. I’m celebrating Sibling Day by exploring records created by this sibling of my great-grandfather Alfred.

What fun it is to have faces for the names in my family tree!