William and Belle Klinger's life story is one we are familiar with from American mythology - child of European immigrants meets an American girl and settles down. Starts at the bottom and works his way up to (relative) prosperity.
They aren't famous for any particular accomplishments, or well-remembered today (except perhaps by their descendants). I came to know them through a particular quirk - sometime around 1900, they sat for portraits, which wound up as photo-engravings, complete with their own signatures, mounted for letterpress printing. These, in turn, found their way into my shop.
There's no way to know why these folks were having their image printed, but it sure is fun to speculate. Here's what we do know, thanks to some geneology research on Ancestry.com: William was born in 1856, Belle in 1861. They married in 1881, though it wasn't Belle's first marriage, which happened when she was 17. In the 1900 US census, they were living in San Joaquin County, California and William listed his occupation as "farm laborer". By 1930, he owned his own farm. They had several children.

Judging by their ages, as well as the clothing, I'm guessing these portraits were taken around the turn of the century. The engravings are large - about 3" x 5".

The engravings are copper mounted on wood. Here is what they look like printed:

I was inspired by the Klingers to create a poster based on victorian circus broadsides for a public art exhibition I'm participating in here in Minneapolis. While there's no evidence I can find that William and Belle were performers, it's just as good a guess as any why these plates were made.

I hope I can find more photo engravings with identities to explore. This is what I love about the history of letterpress and keeping these artifacts alive!