Last week, I went back to Scales Mound Illinois to visit my grandmother.  My grandma has my great-grandmother’s, Viola Bausman Davis,  photo collection.  I thought I’d seen all the photos, but I was wrong!

I discovered beneath several boxes of photos this gem.  And when I say beneath several boxes, I mean that literally.  It was the only item in a brown paper sack with about 10 boxes of photos sitting on top of it.  No wonder I missed it when I looked at those photos over the past 15 years.

Isn’t it lovely?  On the back is written “think this is Lawrence Bausman’s family”.  Lawrence Bausman is the brother of my great-great grandfather Nicholas Bausman Jr, who was Viola’s father.  There are no other pictures of Lawrence or his family in Viola’s collection, so I’m not 100% positive that this photograph is identified correctly. However, there is definitely a Bausman family resemblance.

Minnie Buitz is Lawrence’s wife.  They had 12 children, so I’m not sure which six are pictured.  Lawrence grew up in Guilford Township in Jo Daviess County in Illinois.  As an adult, he moved to Pleasant Valley Iowa and raised his family.

This is also the largest picture in my great-grandmother’s collection.  Mounted, it’s about 17″ wide and 14″ height.  Someday I hope to connect with a descendant of Lawrence and Minnie Bausman and able to positively identify those photographed.