This is my grandmother Bessie Brecklin, first married to Art Haeft and after his death in 1939 to William Stauffacher. Clearly it was a special occasion for a formal portrait. This may be a confirmation picture. Unfortunately the original was damaged as can be seen in the lines across her face.
I have no strong memory of my grandmother as she died when I was three years old. I seem to remember going to her house in Browntown, Wisconsin but that's about it. In a previous post I talked about Bessie's mother Anna. She died when Bessie was six years old. Bessie's father, Henry, remarried in 1922 to Margaret Holm and farmed in Wiota Township, Lafayette County, Wisconsin.
At some time in her teenage years Bessie went to work and live on her Aunt Ida (Broege) and Uncle Dewey Haeft's farm in Wayne Township, Lafayette County, Wisconsin. In the 1930 U.S. Census she is listed as a servant. Her uncle Carl Broege and his family were on a neighboring farm and her uncle William Broege's farm was not far away. [1]
[1] Y ear: 1930; Census Place: Wayne, Lafayette, Wisconsin; Roll: 2579; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 0023; Image: 1012.0; FHL microfilm: 2342313 Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930. T626, 2,667 rolls.
