Folks,
A few weeks ago, I sent out a picture of
Uncle Nephi Gunderson and Aunt Maria and their family in the Mt. Pleasant July
24th Pioneer Day Parade held in 1905.
I got it from the Mt.
Pleasant BLOG.
I quickly got several important
responses.
- My sharp eyed cousin Betty Woodbury pointed out that
in 1905 Uncle Nephi and his wife were to young to have such a large family. She
was right,. Uncle Nephi and Aunt Maria were not even married until Sept. 1905,
and their first child (a girl) was born in 1907. They did have four sons , but
one died in infancy. The result of this study is that these must have been
"barrowed " children - nephews and a niece or maybe neighborhood children.
Children love to join in parades, etc.
- Several people pointed that Uncle Nephi and the
oldest "son" were wearing wooden shoes. I think that there is good reason to
think Aunt Maria was wearing wooden shoes also. They looked very similar to
Erick Gunderson's wooden shoes. The Relic Home in Mt. Pleasant has several
examples of this kind of wooden soled shoes with fabric or leather tops.
- As a result, I changed the title on the picture and
photographically enhanced the wooden shoes so that they are slightly more
visible. In addition, I noticed that one of the "sons" seemed to be wearing
"rags" on his feet. Pioneer records often reported that immigrants wore rags on
their feet while crossing the plains. The other “sons” seem to be wearing boots
and the “daughter” may be wearing wooden shoes like Aunt Maria but it there is
no sure evidence.
- One of my "friends" thought that the tough looking
kid on the far right looked just like me. What do you think?
I have also sharpened the picture and
attached the new version for your use.
More comments are welcome.
Thanks
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