"Alice Heir nee VanDusen
Mother's Sister
in New York City
Clarence Nichols
Aunt"
Alice Mary VanDusen was born in New York in 1859 to Ezra and Lydia VanDusen. Ezra was a farm laborer from Canada who married Lydia after the death of his first wife Lorrinda in 1854. From her father's first marriage Alice had two half-brothers, Charles and Adelbert. Ezra and Lydia went on to have a total of 8 children, including Alice's older sister, Josephine, and her younger siblings William, Amelia, Frederick, James, Hobert, and Ida. (Ida would eventually marry Clemon Nichols and I believe she may be the "mother" referred to in the inscription.) The family lived together in Pittsfield, New York.
Alice married William Haehr, a lithographer and the son of German immigrants, in Chicago on June 30th, 1894. (I wonder what brought Alice to Chicago?) From there the couple settled in Providence, Rhode Island. Their only child, Margaret, was born in 1901. William continued to work as a lithographer in Providence and judging by this photo, the family lived comfortably. Sadly, Alice died in 1912 at age 53 and William was left to raise their young daughter on his own. In the 1915 Rhode Island state census, William and 14-year-old Margaret are living with a housekeeper, Lillian Perry, and her son Robert. In 1925 Margaret married John S. Barry and William, now in his 60's, moved in with his daughter and son-in-law. He finally retired from his life-long work as a lithographer in his 70's.
William Haehr passed away in 1944 at age 82. He was buried with Alice in Cranston, Rhode Island.
If you know who this family may be, let us know in the comments!
