Brenda [Grove] Vergauwen visited the history center recently with an interest in the history of her small barn, which dates to around 1900 and must have served as a carriage house when the northwest side of Bremen was sparsely populated. She later brought in a beautiful family album of tintype photographs dating from the late 1800s.

Most of the photos give no clue as to the identity of the subjects. But the album probably belonged originally to Caroline [Kelm] Schlemmer, who married Jacob Schlemmer in 1888. Some of the subjects resemble other known photos of Jacob and Caroline. And one photo added later is of a woman in 1900s clothing with twin babies. Caroline gave birth to Lydia and Ida in February of 1900. (Ida did not live, but Lydia married Irvin Jay Bollman and lived until 1974.) Additionally, there are calling cards signed by Caroline and (in a woman’s hand-writing) her grandson Theodore Grove (Brenda’s grandfather).

If you have more information or photos of the Schlemmer and Grove families, we would be happy to learn about it at the Bremen History Center. We’re always happy to add to our digital collection of local family photos and family trees.

We thank Brenda and her family for preserving this beautiful collection and allowing us to scan the images for our collection. You can browse the collection using the back and next buttons below or click an image to go to its Flickr page in our digital archives.

1870s - Grove 08