When my mother passed away, all of her family photos and documents were handed down to me. I decided to create a book for my cousins and their kids who didn’t have access to these family heirlooms. I’d been deeply interested in my family’ tree’s history for years and Ancestry allowed me to build an extensive family tree. In combination with the family archives, I was able to profile five generations of family members, with the family tree stretching back 22 generations into the 1300s.
Some of the research was new to our family — no one had heard that my great-grandfather Pratt Kuhn was a musician who performed for prime ministers or that he met Helen Keller while tuning Alexander Graham Bell’s piano in Halifax. Amazingly, I was able to date a photo of my great-great-grandfather, dated from 1866 that originated in a Frankfurt, Germany photo studio.
published: 2021 / pages: 100 / size: 8” x 10.25”
Below is a selection of images and layouts from the book
opening spread
a sealed envelope of flowers from my grandparents wedding, 1938
above: My grandmothers Depression-era wedding ring
1895 family photo
above: What some might call a love letter, from my grandfather to grandmother
above & My great-grandfather’s junior high school graduation certificate, 1894.
below: My great-grandfather and great-grandmother, 1904, Ottawa; Hamilton, 1970.
above & below: My great-great-grandfather Frederick was a noted piano-tuner in London, England and later in Ottawa and Brockville. But he was born in Germany and moved to Enlgand in the 1860s. This is a photograph of him, dated from 1866, that originated in the Alexander Liebener photo studio Frankfurt, Germany. When I did a DNA test, I was surprised to discover that I was 25% Jewish, which was linked through this branch of the family. But no one in our family had ever known this piece of information and I suspect it was my g-g-grandfather who was the first to hide it — this rise of Bismark in Germany in the 1860s led to the oppression of Jews and it was around this time he and his family moved to London and began work in the music business. In his later years, he seems to have transitioned into some kind of pious life (photo below).
His business card from his time in Brockville is epic: “It is my earnest desire to merit the confidence already kindly shown me by all my patrons; therefore in case anything seems wrong with your piano, at any time, I will esteem it a favor to be informed promptly, giving particulars, if possible, in the space provided below and oblige. Yours respectfully.”
