422 Madison Street, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA

Gramps ID P0439
Latitude 42.892043
Longitude -78.852932
Street 422 Madison Street
City Buffalo
County Erie
State/ Province New York
Postal Code 14212
Country USA

Media

Narrative

Based on the Buffalo Directory listing Johann Weichmann as living at 422 Madison, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA, the Sanborn maps of Buffalo from that time showing 422 Madison as being a Bowling Alley, the picture of Johann in front of this business with bowling alley written on the window, and the photo of 422 Madison take in 2010, it appears that the old photo of Johann was in fact taken at 422 Madison.

Also, Tim Hunger made a guess at the date:

1) It's warm: Great-Great-Grandma's sleeves are rolled up, and the rest cannot be too warm, else theirs might be too. She’s got many layers on, and rolling her sleeves might have provided just enough relief not to collapse on the nearest fainting couch.
2) Family moved to Madison 1891-ish.
3) Great-Great-Grandma is holding what looks to be a 1+yo, maybe Great Uncle Mathias who was born July 1893. No surviving infants between George (Nov 1888) and Mathias (Jul 1893). George would have been about 3 when they moved to Madison in 1891, and this kid is to too small to be older than 3.
4) The leaves on the tree seem thin, and maybe some have fallen to the ground.
5) About noon, sun is directly overhead, as seen by the shadows.
6) Very likely to be a Sunday. Everyone seems to be dressed, and nobody is working. Not sure if the ‘no drinking until noon-rule’ applied in the late 1890’s, but a heavy-set man seems to be toasting the camera. I bet he left his Sunday suit-jacket on the barstool. (was it acceptable to drink on Sundays?)
7) Great Aunt Sophia Weichmann was born 11/4/1894, Great-Great-Grandma looks very ripe, as if she could have given birth any day, and maybe as late as three weeks later.
8) The date was Sunday 10/14/1894, time was 12:30pm.

Place Map

References

  1. Meier, Elizabeth [I1991]
  2. Weichmann, Johann [I1990]
  3. Weichmann, Sophia Elizabeth [I2001]