These four neighborhood friends posed for the camera in 1937 at the Mirota farm in Readington Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Luckily for me, their names were written on the back of the picture. I have also seen Helen’s last name spelled Dichar, and Walter’s last name as Wroble. Eddie’s first name was Nicholas, but he usually went by his middle name of Edward. To further confuse matters, Mary Szurick sometimes went by her step-father’s last name of Stacks! My grandmother, Sophia Mirota, is next to a cow in the pasture, on the right-side of the photo. Sophia and her husband, Joseph, were friends with the parents of these teenagers.

Such pretty smiles! In this picture the three girlfriends are relaxing on the split-rail fence looking towards another pasture, and also the railroad bridge in the far distance. All of these families can be found on the 1930 US Federal Census, living close to one another, on either Mountain Road or Railroad Avenue.

With tulips blooming it must have been springtime. I can remember an old push lawnmower that was used to cut this lawn. This is looking towards the orchard.

This next photo came out double exposed, but I’m glad it was saved. The friends look like they are having a lot of fun!

When organizing a family history, it is always a good idea to make a list of friends and acquaintances of your ancestors, to interview and to show old photographs. Sometimes a photo will trigger more memories than names will.

This last photo below shows Sophia Szczerba Mirota and her daughter, Mary, holding two calves and two cows in the side pasture. Since my grandmother was wearing a corsage maybe it was Mother’s Day. Bapcia looks so happy! This has always been one of my favorite family pictures. By matching up clothes, and numbers and dates on the back of the pictures, I can now see that these were all taken on the same day.

Good luck recording your family history! Happy Saturday!