Kirmse Family
55
There are three known original copies of this photograph. One has the following note on the back of the photograph
A second copy has the words “Okla. Harvest” on the back[1] and the third copy has no notes on the back.
What
A cropped and enhanced version of the original photograph. Elements on the image in addition to the small hay stacks are two teams of horses/mules and their drivers as well as a car with two men sitting on the front fenders.
From the note on the back of the photograph, this is a picture of harvesting on the Joe and Louis Kirmse Shattuck farm. The grain stalks have probably been cut with a binder and bound into sheaves that were manually stacked.
On the left side of the picture is a team of four white horses/mules and a driver.
On the right side of the picture is a team of four dark horses/mules and a driver.
Notice how well the animals stay positioned for the photographer.
In the center, there are two young men with white shirts and ties sitting on the front fenders of an automobile. They are obviously not part of the field crew.
Look as the car radiator – it is a Case car – a luxury car of its day.
Helen (Kirmse) Hacker questions whether Louis Kirmse accompanied his brother, Joseph Kirmse on this trip to view the harvest of their Oklahoma property. To me the facial features of the second man are close to that of Louis Kirmse.
When
Circa 1910 – The accompanying photograph “Joe Kirmse Shattuck Farm” was labeled as being 1907. However, the Case car was not produced until 1910.
Where
Goodwin, Oklahoma – One copy of the photograph has the words “Okla. Harvest” on the back. And, another copy has that this is is Joe and Louis Kirmse’s Shattuck farm. Their properties were about 5 miles east of Goodwin and southwest of Shattuck, Oklahoma.
Notes
- Helen (Kirmse) Hacker shared this photograph October 2003.
- Scanned from photographs shared by Judy (Kirmse) Yordi, April 26, 2015.