Anyone who knew the story behind this photo died years and decades ago.
They may be my uncles, possibly one is my father (the little guy on the far right), but I can’t verify this. The second one from the left may be my Uncle Sim, who was a fun fellow, a favorite uncle. Why are they on horses? Where are they? When was this photo taken?
It hangs on my wall with other family photos, yet it is a mystery. Though the family has rural origins and lived at various times in Newcastle, Wyoming, and Deadwood, South Dakota, when they were essentially frontier villages, the aunts and uncles mostly lived in cities when I knew them.
My uncles, aunts, and father always told lots of stories when they got together, and that was a lot of the fun when these reunions happened. Yet, I don’t remember any stories about riding horses. If it happened, believe it, I would have heard about it!
I love finding intriguing photographs within the family. It looks as if three are using saddles while the last boy on the right is only using a blanket. Their clothing doesn’t define them positively to one time period over the next. Although the hat on the one boy might suggest 1950’s? When I find these types of photographs I often wish my ancestors had been better at recording familial facts and dates. A few only have a year or names scribbled on the back; however, most of them were blank. I love photographs regardless of their familial affiliation to me. So much is captured in that single moment in time and if we have a discerning eye and a curious mind then we can squeeze every possible tidbit of information from them. Still, it would be nice to access some journals or diaries of days gone by. Thanks for sharing a piece of your family history!
I think it is older than the 1950s, mostly because the same boy with the hat is wearing bib overalls, something I know my father wore when he was a kid. That would put this back in the 1920s, possibly around 1928. Dad was born in 1916. The boy looks 12-ish, maybe a bit younger to me.
Yes, I see that now. I wish we had the technology to go back in time just to visit a family member or friend that is a mystery to us. I love history and seeing how all the pieces fit together to bring us to today. Very cool pictures.
Me too!
It is frustrating when you don’t know who the people are and you have no one left to ask- so sad.
That it is!
It would be nice to turn back the clock and listen to the stories our aunts and uncles could tell or merely be there ourselves and view what happened.
Jean
How true! I always enjoyed listening to their stories because they, being the older siblings of my father, often filled in details about Dad’s early years I was unaware of and, in some case, neither was Dad.
I know very little about my dad. I wish I knew more but my grampa threw my father out of the house when dad was 14 and dad joined the army. He lied about his age. My grandpa was injured during world war 1, had shrapnel lodged in his head, so was not thinking very well. Sad, but dad became a leader of men with a background like this.
Wow! What a history! He must have been one of the youn ger boys to manage to get away with telling a lie about his age. I’ve heard about such things happening, but it seems the authorities eventually figure it out. Of course, durng war time, they probably were more concerned about meeting the quota than little details like the age of the volunteers….!
I don’t even think that was war time. It would be about 1928…I guess they weren’t as stringent back then. I never knew much if anything about my dad’s father as grandpa ended up in the provincial asylum and nobody mentioned him.
Either that or your Dad looked a lot older than his age.
I hope you get some information on this photo. Looks like every one is having a good time.
Anyone whop might know anything about it died years ago, unfortunately.
That is a great family photo, Doug! Glad you have it. The Four Horsemen of the Doug Clan! I’m sure there is a story there!
They look incongruous, though I know my sense of the family as being urban is sort of off.
Looks like a wonderful memory and hop you get some answers.
Not likely, unfortunately.
Coincidence !I have just watched photos from 1930 to 1961 .and I did not find the one which I believed t had . What a nostalgia. A world who has gone !
have a great week end
Michel
They are great conversation starters when family gets toghether, and the older members need to pass on what they know about the photos before they are history. Better yet, write down descriptions and identifyu the people, place, time, reason for the photo, anything that tells the story. It takes a lot of time, but there are things that are lost forever when it isn’t done. For example, the story of the four horsemen!