In this image employees of the Suess Art Glass Company, dressed for a parade, pose in front of the company building at 764 Virginia Street in downtown Seattle. The company had begun in 1901, a few months after third-generation glazer and founder John Bernard Suess (1875-1930) moved to Seattle from Chicago with his wife, Bertha (Stumpf) Suess (1876-), and daughter Edna Frances (Suess) Webb (1896-1989); his son John Walter Suess (1902-1951) was born in Seattle. John's parents, John B. Suess (1854-1927) and Marianna (Kestner) Suess (1846-1927), also moved to Seattle, along with at least one sibling, brother Frank Suess (1877-1934), who founded American Art Glass about 1925.
The Suess family likely chose Seattle because at the time the city was experiencing high levels of growth and prosperity due to the Klondike Gold Rush, and boosters were promoting the city as a center for business and trade. The parade Suess employees are readying to join in this image is part of Seattle's Golden Potlatch festival, begun in 1911 by civic groups to capitalize on the success of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909. The week-long festival included concerts, parades, aircraft and boat demonstrations. Seattle’s annual Seafair celebrations each July continue the Potlatch tradition.
Although members of the Suess family are likely in this image, the only individual identified in the image is longtime employee Joseph Auman, who is standing fifth from the left, holding the reins of the second team of horses. Joseph Jacob Auman (1885-1952) born in Wisconsin, the oldest of four children of Anton Auman (1859-1890) and Anna (Knorst) Auman Veit (1867-1935). In 1904 Joseph moved with his mother, step-father Karl Jacob Veit (1866-1946), and siblings to Seattle, where he began working for Suess Art Glass Company as a glazier. In 1911 Joseph married Sophia M. Lannon (1885-1953), and together they had two children: Evelyn Teresa (Auman) Hannon (1913-1988) and Fredrick Joseph Auman (1920-1994).
Typed on verso of mat: Potlatch parade. Joe Auman standing by 2nd team. Suess Art Glass Co. Virgina on 8th. Probably last address...There from 1910 on.
Caption information source: The Seattle Sunday Times: July 13, 1919, p. 6; and November 9, 1930, p. 7. Caption information source: The Seattle Daily Times, June 5, 1952, p. 24.
ID Number: 1971.5110.2
Date: Circa 1920
Physical Description: 1 photographic print mounted on cardboard : b&w ; 7.5 x 9.75 in.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
Credit: MOHAI, Photographs of Suess Art Glass Company, 1971.5110.2
