About those portraits hanging on Grandpa’s Wall

This is my Grandma and Grandpa Lueders sitting in their living room on Walnut Grove Ave. in Rosemead, CA.

Notice the picture on the wall behind Grandma. I believe it is an oil portrait and there was another one of a woman on the other side of the window to the left. They were always there when I was growing up and they are hanging in my brother Keith’s house in Umatilla now.

We were always told that the folks in the pictures were Grandpa’s Great-Grandparents; and they were buried somewhere in Germany. But that was all we knew about them. Until now……

I learned that their son, Paul August Lueders, was born in Mecklenburg Germany and had emigrated to Milwaukee in 1852.

This is his business card. The fine print says “CONFECTIONERY, FRUITS, CIGARS AND TOBACCO.” Apparently he ran an ice cream and cigar store. I know all about his kids and grandkids all the way down to my own kids but nothing about the folks in the portraits that were buried in Germany.

Recently though I re-read P. A.’s Last Will & Testament and took a closer look at his signature. He had a FULL name

“August Theodore Paul Diedrich Lueders”. No wonder he went by “P.A.” But that’s a name I can work with.

As soon as I searched for his full name and date and place of birth I got a hit from Ancestry.com. A Baptismal record from the Lutheran Church in Retgendorf, Mecklenberg, Deutchland with the full name and the right date. His father was Heinrich Lüders. His mother was Caroline Juilane Charlotte Lüders. A little more digging revealed that they were married Oct 13, 1826 in Retgendorf and the had at least four other children. So here there are. One more mystery solved!