On 30 March 2017, a photograph appeared in The Citizen-Standard (Valley View, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania) along with the following caption:
Who are they?
This old photo was recently found after relatives were cleaning out the home of Lorraine [Deitrich] Oldham, former Tri-Valley librarian. According to a relative…, a family by the name of Coleman, had the home before Oldham. Anyone with information about the picture can contact… at….
Lorraine [Deitrich] Oldham (1946-2016) was the youngest grandchild of Edward Dietrich (1874-1948) and Jennie [Keiper] Dietrich (1876-1967). For many years, the large family photograph graced the parlor room of the Dietrich home in Gratz, Dauphin County. When Jennie [Keiper] Dietrich died, her daughter Laura Deitrich inherited what was remaining of the personal possessions of her parents, including the family photograph. When Laura “made sale” prior to going to Millersburg to reside at the Lutheran Village there, Laura’s niece Lorraine obtained the photograph, and brought it to her home in Valley View, where it remained until her death in 2016. Unfortunately, the relatives who cleaned out Lorraine’s home did not know who was in the photograph or its meaning to the Dietrich family. Fortunately, the notice was placed in the local newspaper where it was able to be claimed by the next generation of descendants.
Some background needs to be given here. The above photograph was taken at a birthday party, probably the 90th, for Ellen Jane [Adams] Dietrich (1835-1929). She is seen seated in the center of the photo. Standing in the back row are: Edward Dietrich, son of Ellen; Jennie [Keiper] Dietrich; Helen [Hoffman] Dietrich; and William Dietrich, eldest son of Edward and Jennie. Seated, brown hair, behind the blond-haired boy in the front row, is Kathryn Dietrich, who was the oldest grandchild of Edward and Jennie Dietrich, and was the great-grandchild of Ellen Jane [Adams] Dietrich.
During her later years, Ellen spent time at the homes of her children. The large family photograph is actually of Ellen Jane [Adams] Dietrich and her husband, Emanuel Dietrich (1829-1895) and thirteen children, taken on the occasion of Ellen and Emanuel’s 40th wedding anniversary. Only one large copy of the photograph is known to exist. The children in the photo are believed to have obtained smaller versions of the photo. In the photograph, Edward Dietrich can be seen standing at far left. He was the second youngest child of Ellen and Emanuel. How Edward came into possession of the large copy is not known for certain, but it is believed that Ellen distributed many of her personal items prior to death – and on one occasion, she gave the photograph to her son Edward.
On the occasion of the 50th Wedding Anniversary of Edward Dietrich and Jennie Dietrich, in Gratz in 1946, a four generation photograph was taken. At the time, there was only one great-grandchild (yours truly).
Thus, as the oldest of the next generation of descendants, I had a claim to the large family portrait.
Over the years in visiting my great-grandmother in Gratz, the large family portrait loomed over the parlor room and kitchen where we sat and talked. Although it is not completely clear from the newspaper photograph (above), taken on the occasion of Jennie’s 90th birthday, the picture at left could be the large family portrait.
Around the occasion of Laura Dietrich‘s sale, someone in the family photographed the picture as it stood in a doorway waiting to be claimed. As stated already, the claimant at that time was Lorraine [Deitrich] Oldham.
Laura Dietrich is seen with her great-great niece and nephews, at the Lutheran Home in Millersburg. Peeking out from behind the plant is a smaller version of another 40th Wedding Anniversary photo – of her parents, Edward Dietrich and Jennie Dietrich.
Finally, the above photograph shows the old family portrait in its new home, prior to minor restoration. Thanks to the cooperation of The Citizen-Standard, it has successfully passed to the next generation of Dietrich descendants.
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Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.