Blast From the Past, Part 2

You might remember, about this time last year I posted some old family pictures I found on the farm. Well, today I'm back with another batch I pulled from my mom's house. Enjoy!

We'll start with the 12th annual Steinke family reunion from 1940. Look at all those people, and not one smartphone amongst them to snap a pic. Sad. They had to hire Hetzler Studio in Benton Harbor to come and capture the historic gathering.

Among the other group pictures is this old one. It's not labeled, and I don't recognize anyone in the picture from the other pictures. I can't even say it was on the farm. Farmhands maybe? Or other extended family?

Here's another studio shot. This one is of August and Hulda Steinke's family. (Yeah, that's the August Augie's named after, and I'm named after, and my dad was named after.) At far right is my grandpa, Clarence. He had three sisters: Dorothy, Ada and Anna.

Walking it back just a bit, here are August and Hulda (nee Hafer) on their wedding day in what appears to be the same studio.

This small picture is generally unremarkable, but someone kept the newspaper clipping from the time Clarence was born. They got the last name wrong, but it sure was artfully written. Maybe we should change our birth announcement style at the paper.

Here's Clarence again, a little bit older. I have to find me a pair of those cool wire-rimmed glasses.

This one isn't a picture. It's a legal document. Thomas L. Wilkinson, a St. Joseph attorney and co-founder of Berrien County Abstract Co., loaned $625 to Albert Hafer. It's from 1901 and appears to be a mortgage. A quick internet search shows Wilkinson offered farm loans. It's hard to say for certain without digging into county records, but this could be the loan that bought the family farm. Albert Hafer was Hulda Steinke's father. I found a newspaper clipping in with the photos from Hulda's 83rd birthday (yeah, that was in the paper). It says Albert "died seven years ago on the Hafer fruit and grain farm. Mrs. Hafer has continued to make her home there, with her son-in-law, August Steinke, operating the farm." (UPDATE: I found my great-grandfather's paperwork from when he bought the farm Jan. 5, 1920, so I'm not sure what this document is for. The Hafer farm must also have been on Dutch Lane.)

Speaking of the farm, here's the barn being built. I wish I knew what year it was, but the pictures weren't labeled. It's also interesting to see a small orchard between the barn and what is now the building with the woodworking equipment in it.

Here's the barn as the roof was being added. Three brave people climbed that skinny ladder up to the top for this picture, including a boy who appears to be about 3 years old. One of the names on the back is "Bud," which is how most people knew Clarence. He could be the little tyke on the roof. The faces are too small to say for sure. If it is, that would likely make this the early 1930s.

Here's a fun one of the Ox Bow Band, which was allegedly formed in 1908. August wasn't in the band, at least he wasn't listed in the names on the back of the picture, but his brother Rein was.

Speaking of bands, here is Clarence in his band uniform with August and Hulda.

Here's my dad chilling on a tractor around his first birthday. If I'm looking at it right, it looks like there is an orchard in the background around where my parents house is now.

This looks like one great Christmas morning. That's a pretty sweet truck my dad got.

This is another unmarked picture. I don't know who is in it, or if it's at the farm, I just love the draft horses.

I'll end it with this one of my dad and his sisters. There were a lot of pictures of the kids, especially my dad, on this stoop. There must have been a lot of good memories there. It's fun to see how much my cousin Kimberly looks like her mom, Lois, and how much my cousin Gretchen looks like her mom, Elaine.