26
Who
According to the sticky note on the above snapshot, back row, left to right are Leona Brunken, Hilda Brunken, Alvin Brunken, and one unidentified boy. In the first row are Harold Brunken and two unidentified boys.
Second Picture
According to a sticky note attached to this second snapshot, the woman on the right is Grandmother Brunken.
The woman on the left holding a child (apparently a girl) is not identified. Her facial features are very similar to those of Grandmother Brunken – possibly a sister or cousin?
What
How old was Hilda on this birthday? We have two pictures/chances to count the candles on Hilda’s birthday cake.
Be careful not to include the candle shadows in your count.
What is your count? As best as I can count the candles on Hilda’s birthday cake, there are 10 candles. By candle count, this was Hilda’s 10th birthday. As an addition reference for dating this picture, Harold would have been almost three on Hilda’s 10th birthday. In my opinion Harold looks older than an almost three year old. Could one of the candles be missing – the candles do appear to have previously been lit. Possibly a candle dropped off of the cake on the way outside for taking the picture and being dirty was not replaced on the cake. After all, who would have expected that someone was going to try to count the candles in a picture a hundred years later?
For now, I am going to assume that this was Hilda’s eleventh birthday.
Where
Lahoma, Oklahoma at the William Brunken farm house.
When
If this was Hilda’s 11th birthday, these snapshots were probably taken Saturday September 22, 1917.
Notes
- It is interesting that the glass cake stand is round, but the cake is square.
