A photograph from the Levilly studio at 515 Main Street in Buffalo, N.Y. It depicts a man with a goatee, slicked back hair, wearing a double-breasted suit jacket and a polka-dotted tie.


On the back in pencil is written :This photo was taken at age 52"  Mrs. G. Kenyon Geusolle[?] N-1.

Below in ink is "George Haussaner." Some other studio numbers are below that.

Back of photo.

Who is George Haussaner?

On Ancestry I searched in the all records area for a George Haussaner, setting the location at New York. Two entries came up. The second noted that George was appointed the postmaster for Getzville, Erie County, New York on 27 June 1889. This cleared up the difficult-to-read word on the back of the photo. George held the position until July 1893.

The first entry was for the 1 June 1875 New York census that listed the Haussaner family as living in Amherst, Erie County.

George 37 head

Elizabeth 31 wife

Norma A. 10 son

Jacob 4 son

Henry 2 son

Amanda 1 daughter

If George was 37 in 1875 he would have been born in either 1837 or 1838. If the photo was taken when he was 52, then it was taken in either 1889 or 1890. Perhaps the occasion for the photo was because he had been appointed postmaster.
 

I had difficulty after locating these two records, searching for a George Haussaner in census records or on Findagrave. I eventually turned to the 1880 census and searched for a George with a wife Elizabeth and child Amanda living in New York. Two entries came up, one for George W. Cook and the other for George Hausauer. Again, the cursive writing on the back had caused me to mistake a U for an N.

The 1880 census lists George living in Amherst, Erie County, the surname spelled Hausauer:

George 43 self (head)

Elizabeth 36 wife

Norman 15 son

Jacob 9 son

Henry 7 son

Amanda 6 daughter

Meranda 4 daughter

Laura 2 daughter

Helen 6/12 daughter

Other records reveal George Hausauer was born in France and died on 26 November 1905 in Amherst. In 1900 he was working as an appraiser for a fire insurance company. I could not find an obituary for George or a Findagrave memorial.

Going through my stack of photos I discovered I also had a photo of son Henry Grant Hausauer (1873-1963). The photo was taken by the Allenburg studio at 85 Genesee Street in Buffalo.

Henry Haussauer.


Henry has a Findagrave memorial (192095764). Apparently he spelled his last name Haussauer instead of Hausauer.

Update. Months later at the same antique store I came across another photo. It is by the Weasner studio at 244 Genesee St., corner Michigan, Buffalo, New York. On the back in ink is "Anna, Amanda, Laura Haussauer."

Anna, Amanda, and Laura Hausauer.

The two on the right are the daughters of George and Elizabeth Hausauer. The woman on the left is as yet unidentified. I could not find out what happened to Amanda. Laura was born in 1877 and was married Thomas J. Minchen and died in 1941. She is buried in the Elmlawn Cemetery in Tonawanda, Erie County, New York.



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