(16/229) 1912c-ernest-minnie-ruhbusch-family.jpg

The Ernest & Minnie Ruhbusch family, about 1912. Ernest was the uncle of our grandmother Irmgard Ruhbusch Schmidt, so the kids in this photo were her first cousins. Marie, second from right in the back row, was Irmgard's age. The ancestry.com family tree I got the photo from lists the family members as: back, Ernest Jr., Amanda, Helena, Arlo, Marie, Ella; front Minnie (Wilhelmina Schenk), Clara, Minnie, and Ernest.

17: Alfred Schmidt, confirmation photo, age 14, 1916.
18: Alfred Schmidt plays with nephews, about 1918.
19: Alfred L. Schmidt in World War I Army uniform.
20: Brothers Eldor (about 15), Alfred (26), and Ed (24) Schmidt in front of what was later called the "car barn" on the family farmstead.
21: Irmgard Ruhbusch Schmidt when she worked for the family of Jane Bradley Pettit (born Sullivan and adopted by her mother's second husband) in Milwaukee in 1918, the year before she married.
22: Fred W. and Anna Fredericka Schmidt family, about 1918. Back, left to right, Laura Schmidt Otto (about 29), Edmund (24), Adeline (20), Otto (31), Elsie (32), Eldor (15). Front, Alvina Schmidt Wruck (22), "Rika" (52), Alfred (26), Fred (55), and Hildegard (17).
23: Alfred L. Schmidt, second son of Fred & Rika Schmidt, in his World War I sergeant's uniform circa 1918. Alfred was drafted and served as a mess sergeant at Camp Zachary Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky. The war ended before he could be sent to Europe.
24: 1918-00-00_Alfred_L_Schmidt_ca.jpg
25: Alfred Schmidt built brick silos with this signature pattern in 1919-1920, before and just after he and Irmgard were married.
26: Circa 1919 - anaother brick silo Alfred Schmidt built. He made $75 a week -- more than many laborers earned in a month -- and saved enough money to buy his father's farm.