I have in front of me another photo album with the same design as Addie Hammel’s photo album, with slots designed for the insertion of photos (typically studio portraits) mounted on thick cards. There is no indication who it belonged to originally. Unlike Addie Hammel’s album, this one is not at all in its original state, but has been used, reused and abused over the years, apparently. There are notations for photos of a much later era that are no longer present. There are places where photo corners were stuck onto the pages to hold newer-style photos (also no longer present). What remains is a random collection of portraits, mostly of Arthur McClain and his siblings.

This first one, though, is Addie Hammel’s baby picture.

According to the studio imprint on the card, this photo was taken at the Waltermire studio, 938 P Street, Lincoln, Nebraska.

P Street still exists in Lincoln, including the 900 block. But, no surprise, there is nothing at that specific address anymore, and nothing around it that looks like it was standing in 1886.

As has been covered in a previous post, John Hammell and Sarah Rine grew up in neighboring counties (Knox and Coshocton) in Ohio. Soon after they were married in July 1883, they moved to the vicinity of Lincoln, Nebraska, where their three oldest children were born. Almost all, if not entirely all of John’s and Sarah’s siblings remained in Ohio. I have the impression that John and Sarah wanted to get far away from their families there. But maybe I’m reading too much into the bare details in front of me.

In any event, they weren’t in Nebraska long. In 1890, soon after their third child and first son Floyd (Uncle Jack) was born in February, they packed up their things and the children and got on a train to Albany, Oregon. They stepped off the train into what must have seemed like the frontier compared to Lincoln. Albany had been an incorporated city for only 26 years at that point. The population was just over 3,000. It would be interesting to know what brought about the choice of Albany as their new home.

It was a good choice for John’s profession, though. Albany was growing and over the next three decades or more John was kept busy building brick and stone buildings in what is now the downtown core of Albany, and in the surrounding area.

Albany was evidently a good choice as a place to live, too. John and Sarah have had descendants in Albany or the surrounding area for most of the 130 years since they arrived. It’s up to five generations of descendants now who have lived in Albany at one time or another, if I’m counting correctly. Grandma Addie, whose baby picture is above, was the first of the first generation of those descendants.