This cabinet card of a young man and his dog was found in the Mittlebeeler family photo collection. On the back the image is the inscription “Ben Wiemeier [sic] Aunt Lizzie's Boyfriend.”
Elizabeth “Lizzie” Moorman (1879-1945) was born to a German immigrant family in Louisville. She grew up on East Jackson Street in the Shelby Park neighborhood and later moved to Oak Street. In 1890 Lizzie succumbed to Typhoid Fever. Lizzie supported herself as a seamstress and remained single all her life, but this photograph provides a clue into an early romance.
A Ben Wiemeyer is listed in City Directories from the 1880s and 1900s as living on East Chestnut Street, only a half-mile away from where Lizzie lived. He was also from a German family. Although Lizzie and Ben never married, they must have dated when they were teens. Ben went on to marry and became a machinist.
Learn more about German photographer Paul Günter in this online exhibit: https://filsonhistorical.omeka.net/exhibits/show/gunter-photography/life-of-gunter
A photograph of Johanna Gunter (center) sitting on a chair looking at a book while three of her children look on. From left to right: Hermann, Erna, and Ralph (sitting beside his mother on a stool). The description on the photograph says Garden Street. The 1907 city directory lists the Gunter family as living at 1008 Garden Street.
Example of Paul Gunter's photographers stamp on the verso of one of his cabinet cards. It notes that he was located at 434 E. Market Street between Preston and Jackson.
