Heinrich Cornies (1870-1944) Collected Photographs

Heinrich Cornies, grandson of David Cornies (1794-1853), arrived in Canada with memories of Molotschna in the form of photographs. There are six photographs of men shown below. The photograph in the bottom right corner was marked "Cousin D Cornies" on the back.  We are trying to identify these individuals.  Perhaps there are others who have old photographs passed down from previous generations who can identify these men.

Other photographs in Heinrich's possession were those shown below.  Again, any assistance in identifying these people would be greatly appreciated.

Thankfully submitted by Rose Sirman, granddaughter of Heinrich Cornies.


Jerry Dick adds the following analysis of the image above...

"In the absence of definitive information, I have concluded that the young woman in the middle of the top row in the middle group of above pictures is Helena Cornies (1850-1882) (GRANDMA #352851).  My rationale is as follows:

1. It seems highly likely that a "Cornies" picture collection containing a photograph of Anna (Töws) Hübert (1875-1944) (GRANDMA #473749) and her family would also include a picture of her mother, Helena Cornies (1850-1882).

2. The photographer's Logo at the bottom of the photograph of Anna (Töws) Hübert and her family is the same as that for the young woman I believe to be Helena Cornies (1850-1882).  It seems reasonable that Anna would have chosen a photographer that her family was familiar with and had used before.

3. The photographer for both pictures would have been an "Ohrloff" photographer as his Logo is also found on pictures of other known Ohrloff residents.  As indicated by the birth/death records in the GRANDMA database, Helena's parents and grandparents, Helena's family, and Helena's children's families all lived in Ohrloff too.

4. The young woman that I believe to be Helena Cornies (1850-1882) has an unusually strong chin, and that physical characteristic is clearly visible in her daughter Anna as a teen-ager, and in her granddaughters Anna (GRANDMA #463693) and Margaretha (GRANDMA #465236) as young women, see attached photographs. None of the other women in the Cornies picture collection seem to have this characteristic.

Jerry D."