By 1920, Jozef and Zofia Mirota had moved to their farm in Readington Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey.  Here they are in 1922 relaxing with their children and their neighbors, possibly the Wroble family.  Jozef is wearing a hat, sitting top right, and his wife, Zofia, is sitting in the middle of the top row, holding their son, Joseph.  Sitting in the front row on the right, is their daughter, Mary, with the short dark hair. Behind Mary is their other daughter, Genevieve.  Maybe their son, Stephen, took the picture, since none of the children resemble him.

Jozef Mirota bought this farm in 1914 from the Kline Realty & Improvement Company of Whitehouse Station, NJ,  “Together with the buildings erected thereon and all the growing crops now on said premises . . .”, with a mortgage of $2200 and $1 down, and by 1920 had paid off the mortgage.  The farm was the former Adrian H. Pickle property, and included the old Pickle family cemetery plot.  The Mirota family moved all of their possessions from Cherry Valley, Washington County, Pennsylvania,  in a wagon pulled by their horse.  What an adventure that must have been with four young children in tow!

Jozef always claimed he didn’t come all the way from Poland to spend the rest of his life working underground in a coal mine.  So he had packed up his family, and started a new life, this time as a farmer and a section gang worker on the Jersey Central Railroad. Once again,  Zofia also left her family, this time her two half-brothers – Jan and Stanislaus Wasik in Cherry Valley, and did the same.

Here’s another picture, from the same day, showing the farm looking toward Pickle’s Mountain.  I love the one bit of color here, where someone added red to the suspenders! Mary Mirota is wearing the barrettes, and her little brother, Joseph, is in front of her.  They loved this farm deeply, and they both put down permanent roots on this land.