Bloggers note:

Years ago I inherited a number of historical family photographs. While I’m not seriously interested in genealogy, I am seriously interested in photography. So I designed this blog with a category for “Stories of Long Ago.” This section has two purposes. First to provide my grandchildren with a visual history of some of their ancestors. Second to provide visual stories of their grandmother – whom they never met – and of Robin’s and my life together in the 1960’s through the 1980’s.

All images are derivatives from scans I have made over the past six months. Each has been partially restored, perhaps enhanced, using Photoshop to resemble my idea of the content of the original picture. In keeping with my library and archival training I have retained both the original photograph or negative and the original unprocessed scan. Megan can decide what to do with those originals!

Let’s start with a partial Wheeler family tree!

Here is my diagram of my family tree on my father’s side. I’ve started with my great-great-grandparents in the upper right because — you guessed it: I have pictures! From 1854 or 1855! For “Grandma Teitzel” in the lower right, I don’t even know her name. Nor her birth date. But I do have pictures with Aunt Mary’s notation on the backs!

Perhaps we will know them better through their pictures than we would through birth, marriage, death citations passed down in genealogy listings.

So here are the Elder Wheelers – follow through this branch of the family tree with me.

My great-great grandparents

The Rev. Eli Wheeler, 1789 – 1861. Episcopal priest, Christ Church, Shrewsbury, New Jersey.

Clarina (Underhill) Wheeler, 1782 – 1855.

These pictures are a delight. I love getting a feeling for real people behind the dry descriptions “The Rev. Eli Wheeler, 1789 – 1861.” “Clarina Underhill Wheeler, 1782 – 1855.” The photographs themselves present a bit of a mystery. They probably were taken in 1854 or 1855 just before Clarina’s death. My prints are in excellent condition yet they were taken over 165 years ago!? My guess is that they were taken using “wet plate negatives” which was still the prevalent photographic method at the time. Given the condition of the prints and the mounts, I wonder if my grandfather, a professional photographer, didn’t have the original glass negatives and perhaps he made new prints from them sometime in the 1890’s. I imagine he studied these prints of his paternal grandfather and grandmother as I do today!

My great grandparents

I have no pictures of Wyant Wheeler, 1818 – 1874 and Caroline (Barclay) Wheeler, 1822 – 1855. I wonder why? I know their son became a professional photographer – but he probably started his professional life after they died. I have found nothing beyond the ancestor citations to help us know them.

My great grandmother

“Grandmother Teitzel” – notation by my Aunt Mary on the back, so her “Grandma Teitzel” (as noted on a different picture) is my great grandmother. I don’t know her maiden name, given name, birth date, nor date of death. From a census notation on her daughter, I know Grandmother Teitzel was born in Prussia. All I know is through the pictures I have of her.

This is the earliest of the pictures I have of her; I believe the picture was taken in 1887 or 1888. The photographer was my grandfather’s business partner in the late 1880’s. I don’t know Grandma Teitzel’s relation to Louis Teitzel – perhaps he was her son or nephew. I think her hair, expression, and clothing tell us a lot about her.

I have a second, very similar, picture that was taken by my grandfather when he had a studio in Taylorville, Illinois sometime in the 1890’s. Similar hair style, expression, and clothing. The neck clasp is different, she is not wearing earrings, she appears several years older. But she is unmistakably the same woman.

“Grandma Teitzel” taken by my grandfather circa 1910.

Now I have a feeling for her strength! I might guess that she was born around 1840 so she is about 70 in this picture!

My grandfather

Clarence McCollum Wheeler, 1851 – 1922. This is the earliest picture I have of my grandfather. The ancestral records say that he was married to Mary Bell Pittinger in 1878. She died in 1887 and I have found no record of any children. I know nothing about his early life and work beyond his military service shown in this picture. I believe that this is a self portrait taken in 1887 in Paducah, Kentucky to promote his new photography portrait studio. This is the first of a rich trove of family portraits that he produced to promote his various studios as he moved from city to city.

The gallery below shows three later photographs. By this time, portraits are printed on heavier paper and don’t need a cardboard backing – so I have no name or studio location. I know that after World War I my grandfather was in Chicago where my father went to high school. I suspect these pictures were taken in Chicago between 1918 and 1924 when grandfather died.

(Click on the first image of the gallery. Once the first picture is up, you can view each image by clicking (tapping) on the arrow that appears on the right edge. Click through the image set. Move forward and backward. Then you can click on the small [X] in the upper right corner to return to the blog.)

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My grandmother

Emma (Teitzel) Wheeler, 1866 – 1942. Isn’t grandmother beautiful? I believe my grandfather shared a studio with Louis Teitzel in 1888, so I assume he met Emma Teitzel through his partner even though I don’t know their family relationship. Grandfather married Emma in 1888 – this could have been her engagement picture.

My grandmother raised a family of seven children – Mack (1890), Helen (1893), Mary (1896), Lillian (1997), Ruth (1901), Francis (1903), and my father Fred (1907). This picture shows my grandmother with Mack, Mary, and Helen. Probably taken in 1896.

Here is grandmother with my father, Fred, taken in 1908 – the family is probably living in Girard, Illinois because that is where my father was born.

And again, grandmother with my dad. I’d guess dad is about three or four in this picture, which is printed on a heavy paper which no longer needs to be mounted on cardboard. This was probably taken about 1910 or 1911 when they lived in Hancock, Illinois.

Perhaps my favorite picture – an outdoor family picture on paper. Grandfather is learning new techniques! Aunt Mary’s notation on the back reads, “Grandma Teitzel, Mother, we five girls and Fred on mothers lap.”

Grandmother was 58 when grandfather died. She lived another 18 years to the age of 76. Did my grandfather take this picture?

My aunts and uncle

I like these pictures both because they show my family, but also because I can see the changes in photographic technology that changed the way and how portraits were posed. They tell me about studio work in grandfather’s time. Here is Uncle Mack in 1891.

Here is Uncle Mack in about 1893 or 1894.

Here are Mack, Helen and Mary in 1896.

Helen and Mary about 1896. I have two copies – one on a cardboard back and one on very thin print paper with no cardboard back.

Aunt Mary (my favorite because we often had holiday dinners at her house) in about 1898.

Here are Mack, Helen, Mary, and Lillian in about 1900. I have a hard time imagining the studio setup and the work needed to get them into this pose. I’m also intrigued by the location – Cherokee, Kansas! Given the cardboard back with his name and location, my grandfather must have moved his studio there for a short time.

Aunt Mary’s notation on the back reads, “We five girls.”

Just for fun – here are the girls in 1942! I’m not going to attempt to name them!

My father

Frederick Barclay Wheeler, Sr. 1907 – 1988.

A fun portrait in a folding cardboard mount that allows it to stand alone without a frame.

No color photography back in about 1912 so photographers hand colored pictures. I think this coloring is less polished than other pictures I’ve seen. Was grandfather – or an assistant – practicing?

Again, for fun here is Uncle Mack, the first born, and my father, the youngest, in 1956.

There is a gap now …

I can’t date the last photographs. I’m not sure my grandfather continued his studio in Chicago or if he was able to retire. My father ran track at the University of Chicago – grandfather had died a few years before. So this snapshot of my father at track practice, probably about 1926, shows the Kodak moment has replaced many studios.

Although this professional studio portrait of my father in about 1941 harks back to grandfather’s glory days.