THE FARMERS' WIVES, 1919

Farmers' wives taken at the "Cunningham Sale," June 1919, Gilbert, Idaho

I love to look at this picture, taken at Gilbert, Idaho, in 1919, as the Cunningham family sold their farm -- their homestead -- and their belongings. Yes, they sold out and moved, but I know nothing more about it. But -- someone thought to gather the ladies -- every one a farm wife -- and take this wonderful photograph. Perhaps someone recognized the end of an era. Indeed, I think we're sitting on the brink of change, so to speak, as this picture was taken.

My family is represented in the photo. The lady on the left with black umbrella is my great-aunt Bertha Dickson Dobson, and beside her is her sister-in-law, Ida Chandler Dickson, for whom the Senter house of previous posts was built. The next person in the back row -- shorter than others -- is my grandmother, Ina Dickson Dobson. Seated furthest left is Mrs. Cunningham. The rest were identified by Grandma many years ago and though I recognize the family names, I really don't know these women by face or character.

The first thing I note is their attire -- simple dresses or skirts and blouses except Bertha who is perhaps a bit overdone in a fashion from ten years earlier. (She's clearly more dressed up than the others, and I suspect she didn't come to work, as maybe the others did.) And Mrs. Cunningham's dress looks new. But things are changing and by 1930 -- another ten years -- the hemlines will have risen, making it easier and safer for a woman to do her work in house and yard.

Notice how there are no young faces -- no, not one. Ina, for instance, is 48 (born in 1870) and Bertha 51 or so. In 1919, they had been farming here in the Gilbert country for almost 25 years, and I expect that's true of the others. Ina and Bertha were young wives in their mid-20s when their husbands took on homesteads. Perhaps others were also young wives -- or even in middle age -- when a farm in this place became not only her family's home but its livelihood. Gradually the old families will sell out and fade away, and occasionally a young family will appear on the ridge, but it's not a growing community. In 1920 -- just about the time of this photo -- the post office at Gilbert closed and the official address here became Orofino.

And then I love to look at them and think of what they know. Regardless of her individual standards, each one has learned lessons as she worked with her husband to build a life in this place. Each holds within her a wealth of practical knowledge in the rural home arts, and most would be willing to share, I think. Any one of them could tell you how to make elderberry jelly, how to care for a sick child or a sick cow, the best way to whiten your laundry. Before long technology will replace the horses with tractors, make the wood stove and wash board obsolete, and bring the world to their doors in the form of the radio. The down side is that now they need money to keep up, and the farm was mostly about subsistence living.

Can you add anything to my observations? What do you see in this image? KW

[The original post included incorrect ages for Ina and Bertha, which I subsequently corrected.]