At the moment, I am once more poking around my family tree in my on-again/off-again attempt to chronicle my family. I am lucky to have a nice collection of photos some of which I’ll share here. I’ve posted some of them in the past. My mother’s side of the family tree has been filling out nicely, while my dad’s side has been elusive. I know there was a printing company co-owned by one of my great-greats on my dad’s side and that it was located in Leipzig, Germany. I cannot help but wonder if some of the descendants in my father’s family may have been enemies we fought against in World II.
Then too, in the back of my mind is a comment my father often made, warning me that digging too deeply into the family history may only turn up a bunch of horse thieves. Low ‘n behold, among the family photos I have in my collection is this one of some of the menfolk on my father’s side. You don’t think? Naaaah…
Having your picture taken a few generations back was a pretty formal occurrence, certainly not the same atmosphere as today as we snap our cell phone cameras indiscriminately. The oldest family photographs I have are those of my great grandparents on my mother’s side, Elias Harris and his wife Rachael DeGroot. She was born in 1844 and died when she was 52. Elias, on the other hand, was seven years older than Rachael and lived until 1911, making him 74 at the time of his death.

Unfortunately, I never met my mother’s parents, Louis DeGroot Harris and Hanna (pictured left). What is sad is that I remember my mother speaking of the various personalities of our family, but I never paid much attention, nor was our history ever written down. You may not have much interest in your past at this stage of your life, but don’t make the same mistake. Gather the info now if you still have some folks alive who have the knowledge. I wish I had.
While there are no photos, the family tree on my mother’s side has been traced as far back as Rachael’ grandparents on both sides of her family. Her mother’s and father’s parents (my great, great, great grandparents) can be traced back to the 1700’s. Whew!
Back over to my father’s branches, here are my parents, Edward William Kuhn, Jr and Lois Harris (pictured right). And, oh yeah, another great shot is this one below of my dapper grandfather (Edward, Sr.) holding up a utility pole in downtown Baltimore.
The family tree on my father’s side can be traced back to my great x3 grandparents but I just have names and nothing else. I am hoping some newly uncovered documents have surfaced since I last searched a few years ago.
In the meantime, I leave you with my most cherished family picture. I have posted it in the past so forgive me for hauling it out once more, but it’s just so perfect I can’t help myself. The lady in the uniform is Aunt May. She was one of eight (!) siblings my great, great grandparents produced in their spare time. Aunt May was a train caller. I can just imagine hearing her rattle off the destinations for the 8:10 from Philly to Boston with all the stops in between and ending with a crescendoing, “all aboard!” I’d buy a ticket just to hear that!
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