The Brant family, 1907, Iowa City, Iowa.
The young man in the center of the steps is Marc Gaede's maternal grandfather, Irving Brant, a 10th generation American. Brant would later become the principal biographer of President James Madison, eventually writing six volumes on Madison. Because James Madison is the father of the United States Constitution, Brant's scholarly work would become a basis for interpreting the Constitution. The Irving Brant Papers are held in the Special Collections of the University of Iowa, National Library of Congress, and Princeton University Library.