BOSSMEIER, Helen (unknown location)

HELEN BOSSMEIER

Identification on photo: "Mother and Helen Bossmeier", "Mrs Thompson"
Photo taken: unknown location and photographer, circa 1907-10
Purchased: 2018 Brandywine River Antique Mall, Chadds Ford PA

The back of this photo contains the words "Mother & Helen Bossmeier" in black ink, then at the bottom in very light pencil "Mrs Thompson".

This brings up a few questions - is the older woman in the photo "Mrs Thompson"? Or was the photo gifted to a Mrs Thompson?

The time-frame of the photo can reasonably be placed at around 1907-1910, based upon the fashions and the style of the embossed mat upon which the photo is mounted.

The only Helen Bossmeier I can find was born around 1899 and lived in Edinburgh, Indiana early in her life. She was the daughter of Anton Bossmeier (a druggist by trade) of Germany, and Caroline Scheuring. She graduated from Edinburgh High School in 1917. In 1918 entered Academy of Immaculate Conception at Oldenburg.

She was the youngest of three children, her other two siblings being:
1880 - Edward S. Bossmeier (d. 1946) m. Anna Wolf
1882 - Eva "Effie" Bossmeier (d. 1963) m. Lloyd Vandegrift

In 1921, she married Emmett Alvin Bruce (1894-1962) and had children:
1922 - Betty Jean Bruce (d. 2003) m. Edward Hatke
1924 - Marjorie Carolyn Bruce (d. 1991) m. Thomas Butler

Helen died at age 39 in Cincinnati OH, of a heart condition, apparently while visiting her sister Eva Vandegrift who lived in Cincinnati. This obituary ran in the Franklin Indiana Franklin Evening Star, 03 Feb 1939.