My grandfather was Emanuel Schmidt, who as far as I knew, was born, raised, and lived his entire life in Perry County, Missouri.  However, I ran across this census record for the city of Addison, Illinois which had an Emanuel Schmidt of the right age and born in the correct state.  Meanwhile, Emanuel is not included in any census record for Perry County.

The birth year is one year off, and I never heard any family stories which indicated my grandfather had spent any time in the Chicago area, so I didn’t give much credence to this census record as being my Emanuel.

Then I noticed something special about this photograph of Emanuel.

In the information at the bottom of the photograph you find this:

And then I found that the location of the studio was very close to Addison, Illinois.

Now I have concluded that my grandfather did indeed live in Addison, Illinois in 1900.