Shorpy Historic Picture Archive this week shared a great photo of a family from Arkansas seeking better luck elsewhere during the Depression, with this intro below. I appreciate Shorpys for sharing this image. Photographer Dorothea Lange's work is a treasure trove.
Seven children and eldest son's family. Father was a blacksmith in Paris, Arkansas. Son was a tenant farmer. 'We're bound for Kingfisher (Oklahoma wheat) and Lubbock (Texas cotton). We're not trying to but we'll be in California yet. We're not going back to Arkansas; believe I can better myself'." Photo by Dorothea Lange for the Resettlement Admin.
Tenant farmers and America's "Great Depression" were on my mind this week. I had just learned of a friend's death and wondered about his ancestry. Found his parents on a couple of federal censuses during the Depression. Their occupations were given as "orchard pickers." This family had moved from Iowa to Kansas to Texas to New Mexico and on to California--in search of seasonal agricultural work. The parents had about eleven kids--five of whom were taken by "the State" in New Mexico. Reasons unknown. The children were almost all later reunited as adults. But I find that nearly all had died before age 75. Some passed on when in their early 60s. I consider that young, people! Might their early diet and lack of good nutrition have affected their longevity? I found a notation from my friend's sister of how a baby brother had died because the parents hadn't the money to seek medical attention. I can't grasp how difficult a time the Depression was. Cannot.