Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Wedding Wednesday - William & Lizzie Lemke - 1880's Couple

1880's Bride and Groom
This cabinet card featuring a newly wedded couple comes with identification of the couple for a change (see the back), but without a photographer's mark or location coming up with a date depended on other clues.  My best guesstimate as to the timeline of this photograph is around 1885 give or take a few years either way.  I found several William Lemke's on Ancestry.com, however there was one that best seemed to fit the scenario - born 1860 in Germany, married Elizabeth (Lizy) Roggen (also born in Germany) in March of 1888 in Nebraska.  He was 27 years of age, she was 33.

The bride is wearing a very serviceable and typical 1880's style bustled dress with a tight fitted bodice and many small buttons from neck to waistline.  It would be hard to tell that this is a wedding photo if not for the headdress and veil and small boutonniere the groom is wearing.  If you look closely you will see that both are wearing a wedding ring.


Back of Photo - Uncle William & Aunt Lizzie Lemke

2 comments:

  1. Great wedding photo..I was going to guess 1885 because of the top button on his suit coat..:) She is older than him:)

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  2. She is one stern-looking bride while he looks like he misbehaved. Gotta love the mutton-chops though.

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