Nine Aged Survivors

In July of 1896, all nine Simmon siblings sat together for a family portrait at a photo studio and gallery in Rock Island. The occasion was noteworthy enough to warrant an item in the newspaper. 

Peter and Catherine Simmon had nine children, seven of whom were born in Germany and made the transatlantic journey with their parents in 1833. The other two were born after the family had settled in the U.S. 

Of these nine Simmon children, seven had children of their own (Christian and Maria never married or had children).

The photo and accompanying news article are interesting for a few reasons:

• It remains the only photo I have ever seen of all nine children together.
• The article incorrectly states that all nine siblings lived in Rock Island County, but Louise (Simmon) Diefenbach remained in Ohio with her family when the rest of the Simmons relocated to western Illinois, and must have been visiting when the photo was taken.
• Maria, the youngest sibling (aged 60 in the photo), would pass away just under a year after this photo was taken. Despite being the youngest child, she was the first to die.
• The article inexplicably states that Henry Peter Simmon was a native of Hamburg, but he was almost certainly born in Meisenheim, some 600 km from Hamburg. I say “almost certainly” because I have not seen an original birth or baptism record for him, but many documents refer to his birthplace as being Meisenheim. 
• The article is guilty of some bad math. It says Peter and Catherine had 11 children and that “three passed away in infancy.” But there are nine in the photo, so one of those numbers must be wrong. I have one other document that claims three children were lost in infancy, so there must have been 12 children in total, not 11. 

The Argus article says the photo was taken at “Hakelier’s gallery.” The Rock Island Public Library website says: “From 1888 until 1903 a Rock Island photographer named Oscar Hakelier worked from his studio in downtown Rock Island. He called it the “Vienna Photographic Studio,” and it was located at 1722 Second Avenue. As he worked he took many photographs of Rock Island, the Arsenal Island, riverboats on the Mississippi River, and other activities that show how life was lived in the 1890s.”