Mary's Husband Richard

For a long time, this was thought to be the only picture of her husband Richard (1840-1909) ... taken around the time of his marriage in 1875

However, bit by bit new ones turned up. Below, he is the chap on the right with the blond hair and funny dark beard. Very posed ... holding a cigar. It was obviously taken much ealier than the above, in the 1860s I should think.

Then, a major family photo session around 1908, shortly before Richards death. Standing in the back are Karl & Frieda - my grandparents; Sitting in front of them are Mary and Richard. On the left is Richard's sister Hetwich and on the right is "Auntie" Hilde. Note that two dogs are included in the picture, a tradition in the family dating back to Robert's pictures of Dartmoor.

Finally, the obituary with lots of spelling errors .... He died on November 28th, 1909. Interesting is the reference to Milwaukee, where one of Mary's sons had emigrated to - more about him later.


Then, on my recent visit to my cousin Monika, we came across a painting of Richard as a child and his mum, Maria Johanna, nee Neurath (1808-1870) . The paintings are dated 1845, which means Richard was 5 years old at the time. It is from her we got the double name: In 1835 she married Carl August Lüdde (1804-1872) and they added her maiden name. Family legend has it that this was to avoid confusion between the business of two borthers.