8/29/2018 update — At last we have found out who these women are! Clockwise from the upper left: Frances Heidtmann Diedrich (1872-1956); her daughter, Grace Diedrich Rutz (1892-1983); Frances' mother, Sophia Gousloff Heidtmann (1836-1909); and Sophia's mother, Mary Heintz Gousloff (1814-1910). This information comes to us from Diann Van Stright House, who is Grace's granddaughter. We can thus date the photo prior to May 9, 1909, when Sophia died (
Indiana Death Certificates) … and since Grace seems to be in her early to mid-teens, probably no earlier than 1905. The Heidtmann family appears in Hobart in the
1880 Census and the
1900 Census (two households), but the surviving members had moved to Hammond by the time the
1910 Census was taken.
Diann adds: "The mysterious lady in the picture frame I am almost positive is Sophia's daughter and Frances' sister, Mary Heidtmann (1867-1887)."
(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.
… or is it five? Clockwise from upper left, I think we have mother, daughter, grandmother and great-grandmother, but whose portrait is that on the wall? — great-great-grandmother's? … No, probably not. Her sleeves (woman's in the portrait, I mean) look like the early 1890s, but her face is young. Perhaps she is the mother, 20 years earlier.
This photo is identified only as "No. 53."
The photographer took another shot within a few seconds, probably, identified as "No. 54."
