Mr. and Mrs. Jose Shambeau pose in front of an elaborate backdrop, with Joe's arm resting on a large fake rock.

Mr. and Mrs. Joe Shambeau.

The back of the photograph has the studio mark of John Braun of Two Rovers, Wisconsin. At the top is written "Mrs. Shambeau was Mothers best friend."

Who were the Shambeaus?

Two Rivers is a city in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. On Ancestry in the census search I looked for Shambeaus living in Manitowoc County. The exact search had 30 entries.

The 1910 census lists a Joseph and Cristena Shambeau living with their son Edward Shambeau and his wife Mary in Two Rivers. Joseph was 82-years-old and had been born in French Canada. Christena was his second wife, 60 years-old and born in Germany. She had been the mother of eight children, all living. 

Ten years earlier the 1900 census for Two Rivers again lists Joseph and Christine living with Edward and Mary. Joseph was born in December 1830 and Christine in October 1847.

The 1880 census lists the couple in Two Rivers with nine children- Emma, Ellis, William, Elisa, Luis, Peter, Robert, Edward, and John. 

Turning to the public family trees on Ancestry I discovered that Joseph Shambeau was born in 1828 in Quebec in 1828 and died in 1915 in Two Rivers. Christina (Kau) Shambeau was born in 1848 in Prussia and died in 1910 in Two Rivers. A photograph posted on one of the family trees shows a slighter younger couple than the one I found.

Joseph and Christiana (Kau) Shambeau.