My Dad's Family

Here is a picture of my father, Charlie, with two of his friends in November of 1913. Dad is the good looking fellow on the right. There are not very many pictures at all of him in his early years. Charlie came from a large family - his parents, Caroline and Felix, were German and met on the boat coming over to America. They were married August 22, 1875, in Peoria, Illinois. According to a family history that a cousin sent my brother--"It has been said that sixteen children were born to Felix and Caroline, but, only ten recorded."

Another picture of my father in 1912. This time he is on the left smoking a cigar.

Dad's siblings were Anna, Felix (birth not recorded - and it is said he died at age 17 while ice skating on the Illinois River), William, Josephine, Emma, Ida, Barbara, Dora, Charlie, Carolyn, and Minnie who died at age 9 of whooping cough as Dad told my brother Bud. My dad's father, Felix, died when dad was 12 years old. I have some memories of my grandmother, Caroline, who died when I was ten years old. She was blind and lived with Aunt Carolyn in her later years.
(Click pictures to enlarge)