I love the mother’s elaboborate 1870s dress and the daughter’s bloomers peaking out from underneath her skirt and her tiny purse. They look pretty well-off. Lucky for us the photo is identified – these were Emma Foltz and her daughter Emma.
The photo does not give us a direct clue for location, but I’m happy to tell you that I found them in the records!
Mum Emma Christiana Sophia née Huber married Emma’s father, Friedrich Nicolaus Foltz, on October 17, 1872 in Annweiler in Germany. She was 26 and he was 34. I wish the record would show us his profession, but unfortunately not.
I don’t have the exact date, but little Emma Friederike Philippine Foltz was born in 1874. I couldn’t find any other siblings for her. Her whole family lived in Annweiler, her grandparents Christian and Philippina (Barz) Folz, and Heinrich August and Eleanora Huber, were members of the protestant church of Asselheim.
And then I discovered a tragic turn of events: Emma’s father Friedrich Nicolaus Flotz died on April 22, 1874! It is probable that he died before little Emma was even born and he never even got to hold his baby girl in his arms! I don’t know why he passed away at such a young age. But I look at the photo through a different lense after I discovered that fact. It was just the two of them, not just in the photo, but in life.
Mum Emma ever re-married. Daughter Emma stayed in Annweiler with her until she she turned 22 and married Ludwig Ernst Kiefer on August 30, 1897 in Annweiler. Ludwig was 15 years older than Emma.
In 1913/14, I find mum Emma, as a widowed retired "woman of independent means" (Privatier), living at 3 Glacisstrasse in Landau in the Pfalz (14 km from Annweiler). Interestingly, one Elise Huber (music teacher) and one Anna Huber (also a woman of independent means) were living together with Emma in the same house. And yes, they shared Emma’s maiden name Huber, I assume they were related.
A few houses further, at 12 Glacisstrasse we find one Ludwig Kiefer, a bank official and proxy holder of the Bank of Pfalz (Pfälzische Bank). He had been living in Landau at least since 1892.
Could he have been the Ludwig Kiefer our Emma married in 1897? Perhaps after her matrimony, Emma moved to Landau to her husband and by 1913, her mother Emma joined her in Landau practically next door?
I wish there was more I could tell you about these two. Perhaps there are photos in someone’s family photo album of young Emma with her own babies? Take a closer look at these faces – perhaps you are related?
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