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HENRY JOHN
1848 - July 1934

Sixth son of Robert John and Phoebe Green.
Married, Francis Edwards (1848 - 29 December 1939) in 1880 at All Souls Langham Place, London.

Francis

Four children
Hubert Henry - 21 May 1881 - December 1943
John (Jack) - 1883 - 1941
Charles Melville - 1885 - 1959
Gertrude (Bino) - 1886 - 1960

Henry John Henry started his piano business as H. J. Klitz & Sons, Pianos, Bedford Place, Southampton, in 1877 at the age of 28.

Thanks to cousin, Julia Molden for this additional information about Henry and Francis:
In 1930, the Pianomaker magazine marked their Golden Wedding Anniversary with the following tribute:
"Southampton Dealer’s Golden Wedding:
On August 14th Mr and Mrs H J Klitz celebrated their Golden Wedding. Mr Klitz, who started in Southampton as a piano dealer in 1877, is a grandson of George Phillip Klitz, who founded the Lymington (Hants) business of R Klitz & Son in 1789, which is considered to be one of the oldest music retail businesses in the country.
Trained as a tuner in the Broadwood factory under Mr Hipkins, Mr Klitz has been a craftsman ever since. Today, at the age of 82, he still controls the Southampton business. He is one of the surviving craftsmen of the old days and seven hours at the bench feel as light as when he was in his teens. He is extremely interested in and has a profound knowledge of antique stringed instruments and, as a golden wedding present, we have sent him a copy of "Early Keyboard Instruments" referred to in our last month’s issue. Such is his vitality that an occasional walk of seven or eight miles comes more easy than a round of golf to the young stalwarts!
To Mr and Mrs Klitz we extend our sincere good wishes".

On 11 October 2005, I, (Ann Perrett née Klitz) received the following email:
"I collect photographs and am interested in genealogy, and saw an ambrotype of two little boys called Klitz on ebay. Now the seller has linked to your website, but I wondered if he/she had told you about the picture.
I just thought if you didn't know about it, you might like to see the auction. To see a picture reunited with a family appeals to me. Jennifer Carnell"

Ann, Betty (nee Klitz) and David Green put in some bids for this photgraph, but were outbid in the end. Carol Harding nee Klitz in Canada, discovered the buyer, bidding under the name of 'giddy_uncle', lived in France and sent him an email asking why he wanted our family picture. The reply shown below:

"No I am not a member of your family. I bought this photo to add to my collection of Daguerreo types and Ambrotypes as we hope to open a small museum of photography here. These photographs are mostly monochrome but this one is hand-tinted which makes it a little more special."
Kind regards, giddy_uncle"

The photograph was apparently applied to glass. We were glad to have the opportunity to obtain a copy and after a bit of clever adjustment by Bob Klitz the result is as you see below. The reverse of the photo is also shown with the writing on card - William Lawson on the right and Henry John on the left. The picture might have been taken around 1855/6, making it approximately 150 years old.

  

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Henry John