Sunday, October 4

Miss Maime





Lately, I have been really loving and looking for big hats with a lot of feathers, statement hats if you will. Granted I am not looking for ones as commanding as the ones seen above, I am searching for more of the 1930s variety, but still, it is timely that I decided to do this post as Maime is sporting some serious feathers on some serious hats in some of these photos! This is a guest blog post of sorts. Maime is the great grandmother of my amazing, lovely and sweet friend Emily (Duff) and while at her house I was looking at her old photos and we both agreed that Maime needed a dedicated blog post...so, from Duff:

Mamie Barbara Grass (my great grandmother)

Mamie was born in Wisconsin in 1882, the youngest of ten children. Her mother was from Czechoslovakia and her father from Germany.

When she was 20, she married Frederick Duffelmeyer. The wedding was in Chicago. This is the announcement that was printed in the paper:

"Fred Duffelmeyer, Jr, will be leaving sometime next week for Chicago, where he will be married on January 14th to Miss Mayme Grass, a popular Galena girl, who is now visiting in Chicago. Mr. Duffelmeyer is highly esteemed and well known here, having lived in Joplin all his life. He at present holds an important position with the Illinois Zinc company. The bride is a pretty brunette, popular in Galena society and is a sister of Mrs. George Immel, of Galena. After spending a few days in Chicago and Kansas City, they will return to make their home in Joplin, where they will be welcomed by a large circle of friends." They had one son, my grandpa (also Fred).

When my grandpa was 5 (1911), Mamie took him on “a pleasure journey to Europe.” I can’t imagine what this entailed – buying 1st class tickets on a steamer, arranging transportation and lodging, etc. At the time, Mamie had a sister living in Paris. She and my grandpa made a stop there, which is where the fancy photos were taken (the studio no longer exists – I looked for it when I was in Paris a couple years ago. It is a “Diesel” store now!) In addition to visiting France, Mamie and Fred visited Germany, Finland and Russia.

I would give anything to meet Mamie and talk to her – I have so many questions. I would also give anything to see her closet, circa 1920. She obviously loved dressing up.


6 comments:

AlicePleasance said...

I so love to look at old photos and more than this I adore to hear the stories of the amazing people pictured in them. Fantastic!!

Unknown said...

she was so pretty, too! so sweet of you to share those photos.

my grandmother was born in Czechoslovakia.

nicole mountz said...

this is a lovely post! i wish i knew that much information about my great grandmothers history. she was actually alive until i was 10 years old but i never had the chance to swap stories like that. oh and mayme is so beautiful by the way!

Unknown said...

You look so much like her! I love their hairstyles...I can't wait 'til mine grows back!

sarah said...

What a fascinating post! She was such a striking woman. I LOVE those hats and frilly Edwardian dresses.

Barbara Duffelmeyer Verhulst said...

Maime is my grandmother. She had three grandchildren--Fred (1943), Barbara (1945) and David (1948). I loved to sit at Maime's dressing table which was adorned with a beautiful mirror and assorted perfume bottles. Maime died in 1968 and is buried alongside her husband, Fred, in Ozark Memorial Cemetary (Joplin).

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