Ratz Family

House of Edward John Ratz, Sr.
Plainview, Hilyard Township
circa 1925

A handwritten note by my uncle (Edward John Ratz, Jr., born 1914) is on the back of the picture of the house where my grandparents lived. He wrote, "After selling our house we moved into this house across street. Here my brother Roland was born 1924. My father died here 1925."

Roland was my dad. I don't know how much longer after my grandfather's death that my grandma with her 2 sons lived in this house. But, they did eventually move to Shipman, Illinois, before moving to St. Louis, Missouri, where my grandma's family all was. That is where my dad was raised and where my siblings and I were all born. So we can say for sure that this picture is from at least the mid-late 1920s.

Contributed 2012 by Cheryl Ratz Gross. All copyrights reserved.