Our House - 3 - Hannke Farm

As itinerent house photographers go, the guy who shot this one left a lot of quality to be desired. Typically such photographers would operate out of a crude, portable darkroom, but at least most took relatively clear photos and took the time to cut the paper straight before mounting it to the backing board.

Curiously, only one man appears in this photo, and he's stepped back from the line of the five women.

Someone has written "Hannke Farm" on the lower portion of the board. FindAGrave.com only contains three listings for the surname "Hannke", all of whom are buried in the town of Cataract, Monroe County, Wisconsin. John H. Hannke was born in 1849 and died in 1927, which would be about the right age to appear in a photo of this era. He married Anna Merow Hannke (1860 to 1930). They had a daughter Theresa A. Hannke Boisen (1882-1969) and a son Otto (who died young of pneumonia, 1880-1904). It appears that a lot of Boisen descendents are alive and well, so if any stumble on this page while doing genealogy research, drop a comment below!