Pioneer forebears: The middle-aged cousins' great-grandfather and his second wife

This no-nonsense pair is Frederick Sprick, father of Claus, with his second wife, Margaret, who helped raise Claus after his biological mother died. Fred and his first wife, Adelheid Ehlers, emigrated to the United States from Hanover, Germany, with several small children, among them Claus, arriving in New York harbor on July 4, 1876. Adelheid died two years later and Fred married Margaret, with whom he had 13 more children. (Not all of the children lived to adulthood, or even very far into childhood. Adelheid's children were Fred, Minnie, Metta, Lydia and Claus. Margaret gave birth to Christopher, Sophia, Margaret, John, Henry, Anna, Lillian, Raymond, Amanda, Emma, Alfred, Harry and Elda.) Frederick Sprick died in 1920.