I haven’t done a genealogy post in some time. This photograph is a four-generation picture of my paternal grandmother’s family, the Wagners. The picture was taken in 1916. The cute little guy with the sugar bowl haircut is my father—he was about 2 when this picture was taken. And, yes, he did wear sailor suits and Little Lord Fauntleroy outfits when he was a little older.
The picture includes my dad, his mother, his grandfather, and his grandfather’s mother. The one with all the dark eye makeup is my grandmother, Esther Wagner. This was the era of Theda Bara and Esther was not going to be left behind. She was born in 1891. Her father, the chap with the mustache, was born in 1867. The older woman on the left is my great-great-grandmother, Esther Wagner. She was born in 1844 in Illinois, probably in Millstadt. I think she was in pretty good shape for a woman of 72 in 1916.
Esther Wagner’s husband, my great-great-grandfather, was a captain in the Union Army—one of several of my ancestors who fought for the Union.
The Wagners were characters. I’ll tell you more about them in a later post.
