I am terribly overcommitted this summer, yet my ancestors never leave me alone. I don't know why I decided yesterday to pull out a photo that I had found in my grandmother's papers.
My grandmother’s maiden name was Hornberger. Her father was Frederick Hornberger born c.1865 and died in 1959 Ironton, Ohio. This small town on the Ohio River was full of German and Alsace Lorraine born citizen’s who had moved to the area on the Ohio River from Cinncinnati, Ohio eastward on the Ohio River. Ironton is a short distance from where I live now In Huntington, WV.
My thought was that I should find someone who might want this photo. I believe that the father of Clara Hornberger Sammons (my grandmother) had either received a letter from relatives who still lived in the Alsace Lorraine area of Europe or he had written to a relative. Either way, he seemed to have appealed to his son-in-law to send a gift of money to the family in the photo. What I have that alludes to this story is a photo and a thank you note.
My grandfather, Forest Charles Sammons, was always generous to his own family. He was a self made man and was quite successful and happy to spread his wealth to the people he loved.
You will see the photo above. The thank you note was written in French. The address to which it was sent is one that I recognize as being where Clara and Forest lived while they were raising their children and both died while the home was still their home. There is no date on the Thank you note. But there are several clues about who is in the photo.
The note is signed by Anna Hornberger.
Anna thanks my grandmother profusely for the money that was sent. She makes it clear that she has need of the money. I offer the following theory:
The woman named Anna Hornberger is the young female adult in the photo on the left hand in the photo….and the three children in the photo are her children while the two adults in the middle of the photo are the grandparents of the children. In the letter in one of the last paragraphs Anna Hornberger says: My little boys are growing….Lucian is 10 years, Rene 8 yrs. and Marthe will be 16. It is very hard to raise a family when the father is gone. ….is she old enough to have a 16 year old daughter? Not sure.....but she could have been as young as 35 and still have had a 16 year old daughter.....That seems the most likely scenario to me.
Robert Behra offered the following information:
Arthur Hornberger (b. Lutterbach, Haut-Rhin, 13 May 1893, son of Georges Hornberger and Marie Hurter) married in Belfort 20 Apr 1916
Jeanne Isabelle Tisserand (b. Couthenans, Haute-Saône, 11 Jun 1892, daughter of Marie Tisserand)
No children born to this couple in Belfort 1916-1919 (no birth records available online past 1919 for Belfort).
That Georges Hornberger was born in 11 Jan 1860 in Obersteinbach, Bas-Rhin, and died in Belfort 14 Apr 1908, son of Georges Hornberger and Magdalene Brunner. He and Marie Hurt(h)er were married in Pfastatt 3 Sep 1881.
Magdalene Brunner died in Obersteinbach 21 Jan 1860. She and her husband were married in Niedersteinbach 17 Aug 1858.
So, Georges (b. 1860) and Fréderic (b. 1865) were half-brothers, Arthur (b. 1893) was a first cousin of the Hornberger children in Ironton.
I am trying to follow up on this as well as look at an Ancestry tree that belongs to Wulf Kreumpelmann. Wulf has taken what looks as if it could be my own Hornberger line back to the 1500s.
Here is the information that AI gathered for me about the photo:
This image appears to be an old formal family portrait, likely taken in the early 20th century, possibly between the 1910s and 1930s based on the clothing, hairstyles, and photographic style. Here's what stands out:
🧑🤝🧑 People & Composition
- Six individuals: Three adult women, one adult man, and two children.
- The man is standing in the back with a serious expression, which was common in early portrait photography.
- The central seated woman, likely the mother, has a formal but modest outfit and hairstyle.
- The children (a young boy and girl) are dressed in what looks like sailor-inspired clothing—popular in children’s fashion at the time.
- One of the girls is holding what appears to be a watering can, which is a curious and symbolic prop (possibly hinting at growth or childhood innocence).
- Another girl is holding a book, which may symbolize education or literacy.
👗 Fashion Clues
- The clothing suggests late 1920s to early 1930s:
- The women's fashion features dropped waists, longer hemlines, and conservative tailoring.
- The man’s three-piece suit and mustache are consistent with the era.
- The child’s sailor suit was a fashionable choice for both boys and girls during this time.
- One woman wears a cloche-style hat, very typical of the 1920s.
🏛 Setting
- The backdrop includes draped curtains, columns, and arches—indicative of a studio setting that aimed to suggest wealth or sophistication.
- The props and setting imply this was taken in a professional portrait studio, which was a common family tradition during that era, especially for special occasions or milestones.
📷 Photo Characteristics
- Sepia-toned or early black-and-white style, common before widespread color photography.
- Very posed and formal, with no one smiling (again, typical of the time due to long exposure times and cultural norms).
Are you able to narrow down the time period? and the answer was yes:
Yes — based on the style, fashion, and photographic elements, I can help narrow down the date of this photo more precisely.
🕰 Estimated Date Range: 1926–1932
Here’s a breakdown of the clues that support this:
👗 Fashion & Hairstyling
- Women's Clothing:
- The seated woman on the left wears a cloche-style hat and a tailored coat with Art Deco-inspired seaming — both popular from the mid to late 1920s.
- The central woman wears a longer, more conservative dress with a check pattern and white collar — styles that carried into the early 1930s, especially among older women or for formal settings.
- Girls' Dresses:
- The girl on the far right has a pleated skirt and bow-tied collar, typical of girls’ fashion around 1930.
- Her structured hat with decoration is also very much in line with 1928–1932 trends.
- Boys’ Sailor Suits:
- Popular from the 1880s up to the 1930s, but the specific style of collar and short pants seen here points to the 1925–1932 era.
- Hairstyles:
- The bobbed hair of the young boy and the woman on the left reflects the late 1920s, when shorter hair became widely accepted.
- The clean, waved styles were popularized by the flapper movement and persisted into the 1930s with a more refined look.
🪞 Photographic Studio Context
- The painted backdrop with drapery and classical architecture was typical of the 1920s and early 1930s, before photography studios started modernizing their aesthetics.
- Lighting is very soft and diffused, with carefully arranged posing — a hallmark of professional portrait photography during this time.
📦 Props and Symbols
- The watering can held by the youngest child is unusual but likely symbolic — possibly related to innocence, growth, or education.
- The book held by the girl suggests values like literacy or learning, and could hint this was a commemorative photo (e.g., for school or a special occasion).
📅 Final Estimate
Taking all these clues together, the strongest indicators point to a circa 1928–1931 date. It could be as early as 1926 or as late as 1932, but based on clothing details and styling, 1929 or 1930 is very likely.
If you know any family names or locations associated with this photo, I could potentially help cross-reference those details against census or immigration records for even more precision.
Would you like help with that?
📍 Bonus Clues You Could Use:
- If the photo was taken in Europe (France or Germany, based on names like Marthe and Lucian), focus on:
- Alsace-Lorraine, which had strong German/French overlap.
- Swiss/French-German border areas, where names like Rene, Marthe, and Anna were common.
- If taken in Canada, check the 1931 Canada Census (released recently).
- In France, access to census or état civil records can be found on departmental archives sites (by département, like Bas-Rhin or Moselle).
