Today I’m posting a series of photographs taken in Readington Township, New Jersey, along Mountain Road in Whitehouse Station, on March 5, 1944. This first one shows Stephen Mirota, age nine, raising his hand in a wave to the photographer. In front is his brother, Victor, and a friend, and all three look to be enjoying an early March day playing in the snow. This picture was taken looking towards the Del Carlo farm. With help from my siblings, we decided it was taken from across the dirt road at the farm that we remembered as the Frechard’s home.

None of us knew the name of the young boy on the left. We knew the Mirota boys would have been visiting their grandparents, Joseph and Zofia Mirota, and that they lived in Brooklyn, New York at the time. Looking at the 1940 Federal Census for Readington Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, it was easy for me to find Mountain Road, with the Mirota and Del Carlo farms. The farm directly across from the Del Carlo’s belonged to Angelo and Letizia Bartolomei, and living with them was their widowed daughter, Rose Rebucci, age 29. Also listed was their grandson, Eugene, age 3. Nearby was the Mirota family, under the spelling, “Mirada” which is very close to the pronunciation. No other children in this neighborhood seem to be the correct age for the young boy in the photo. Most likely the pretty woman in the photo below was Rose Rebucci.

In this photo below, Stephen Mirota is holding a goat, with his brother squinting towards the camera, and most likely Rose and Eugene Rebucci. She looks like she could have been in her middle thirties.

Stephen Mirota (1936-1993) so loved Readington Township from visits to his grandparents farm, that after he was grown and married, he came back to Whitehouse Station to raise his own family. He was very active in the community serving as a long-time council member and mayor. After his death the community honored him by naming a complex after him, the Stephen R. Mirota Senior Residence, near Lake Custetunk.

In this photograph, Stephen and Victor are playing in the snow in the yard of their grandparent’s farm, with the slope of Cushetunk Mountain in the background. In the 1930 Federal Census enumeration for the Mirota farm, Mountain Road was called Cushetunk Road. Here are two more photographs below taken at the Mirota farm. In the first one the boys are with their father, Stephen, and the second one they are with their aunt Mary. Possibly, their mother, Jean, and little brother, Paul, were inside the house visiting and staying warm. It was still common back then for family to come home for a Sunday dinner.

Those Places Thursday is a blogging prompt suggested by Geneabloggers. Thanks to my siblings for their help with memories of where our family used to live. You can click on the photos to enlarge them. Any questions, help, or suggestions are always welcome. Good luck researching!