I have a couple old puffy Victorian-era family photo albums, both tracing back to my Mom's relatives. Some of the photos are tintypes, and I know a few were taken during the Civil War. They are pretty interesting as artifacts, and in many cases I have no idea who the subject is, or otherwise have little information.
The first of the two albums apparently belonged to my great-grandmother, Jennie Melissa Reeves, who married Theodore Jacob Hoss. I'm going to try and spare all of you any lengthy genealogical narratives, but I will supply some brief facts with each photo as we go.
This particular album was handed down to Jennie's oldest child, my grandmother. After she died in 1978 my Mom picked it up as the surviving heirs divided up the estate. It was given to me quite some ago when I was still interested in family history. The advent of Internet sort of spoiled the hunt for me, I must say. At least I got to talk to all those oldtimers in the 1970s and 1980s before their entire generation passed on. My grandparents and their siblings were born mostly in the 1880s or 1890s.
When I hauled this monster into the living room Hettie had to come and check it out.
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