When this photo of baby Elvina Schouten was taken at 3 months old (born on January 22, 1881), her world was still in order. Her mummy Henrietta née Wappich and her daddy Jacob Schouten led a lovely life in Keokuk, Lee, in Iowa, and a year later, in April 1882, her baby sister Helen would be born.
But when her baby sister was the same age as little Elvina in this photo, their mummy died. The sisters went into the care of their grandparents William Wappich and Stephanie née Lörz who also lived in Keokuk. I don’t know if it was an arrangement with their daddy Jacob Schouten or their daddy was overwhelmed with grief, but the girls never lived with their daddy again. Their daddy remarried in 1884 and had lots of babies who all lived in Keokuk. I assume Elvina and Helen knew their daddy and their half-siblings, too.
One thing I can be sure of is that Elvina grew up with the smell of freshly baked bread in her nostrils! Both her father Jacob Schouten and her grandpa William Wappich were master bakers.
Their Schouten grandfather Henry who was originally from Holland, founded the Schouten Bakery in Keokuk in 1870. Jacob, president of the Iowa's Master Bakers' Association, and his brothers took over the business and made it the "largest bakery in Iowa" (as quoted in the Daily Gate City of April 23, 1911, page 8):
Maybe Elvina and her sister got their resilience from their grandpa William Wappich. He was born on New Year’s Eve of 1828 in Baden, Germany. Which could explain why this photo ended up on sale in Germany - perhaps it was sent to relatives in Germany. William Wappich emigrated to the United States in historically pretty interesting circumstances. I found this summary on FindaGrave (Ref: Lee County History, Biographical Sketches, Keokuk, City):
WAPPICH, WILLIAM, residence Johnson, between Fourth and Fifth streets; was born in Baden, Germany, Dec. 31, 1828; in 1848, went to Paris, France, and was there uring the three-days revolution; in 1849, he entered the regiment known as the Paris Legion, which was entirely composed of Germans living in that city, and were enrolled for the purpose of establishing a Republican form of government in Germany; they were however, defeated at the battle of Rastavt, and Mr. Wappich, in consequence, became a refugee; he fled to Switzerland, where he remained six months; then returned to Germany; was there only a short time before he was taken prisoner and kept in durance three moths; was tried and convicted to one year's imprisonment; the sentence was commuted to twenty days' dark imprisonment; at the expiration of the twenty days, he had to enter the army and serve until 1851; in 1852, he came to this country; live in St. Louis until 1853; then went to California; remained there until 1855, in which year he returned to St. Louis, and came to this city in the winter of the same year. He married Miss S. Lorz, of this city; have three children-Henrietta, William and Julia.
Source: newspapers.com
Grandpa Wappich was naturalised in 1857 and his children Henrietta (Elvina’s mum), William Jr. and Julia were first generation Americans. Still, as WWI broke out and Elvina’s uncle William Wappich Jr. applied for a membership with the Iowa Bar Association, his application was denied and his peers were very vocal about his heritage.
Elvina, or “Vina” as she was known to loved ones, married Samuel Ayres Miller, a shoe salesman, on June 6, 1908. They became parents to their only child, Stuart Avery Miller, on March 31, 1911.
Elvina was widowed at Christmas 1943 when her husband of 35 years passed away after a short illness. Elvina lived another 26 years and died on July 29, 1970. She was buried next to her husband, parents, sister Helen and aunt Julia Wappich at the Oakland Cemetery in Keokuk.
Stuart and his wife Catherine gave Elvina three grandchildren: Stuart A. Jr., Stephanie and Diane. Maybe they are still out there, missing this photo of their grandma?
I will add Elvina's photo to FindaGrave.
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