One Happy Group of Kids Sitting on a 1933 or 1934 Ford

Check out this great photo -- from Ed. Story will be inserted shortly. This actually could be a 1933 Ford.

Yes, one 

One happy group of kids.  I confirmed via a cousin that this photo was taken in 1934.  Except for one boy, all the other kids are my late aunts and uncles plus my father at the top left in the ball cap.  The photo was taken near the kid’s grandfather’s general store – this would be my great-grandfather, James Emmett Garten.  

In 1934, and then four years into the Great Depression, that part of southern West Virginia, Summers County, where the Garten General Store was located was desperately poor.   The level of unemployment remained startlingly high, however Federal Relief Administrator Harry Hopkins, shocked at the reports of the needy in West Virginia urged the governor and state legislature to give more attention to relief efforts.  People were going hungry and there were few jobs available.   Federal reports noted that in late 1933 there was slightly more than 45% unemployment in the state and in counties like Summers, which relied mainly on subsistence agriculture, the unemployment rate hovered around 50%.  Think of that when our news today reports that due to the coronavirus pandemic, America may soon see a 20% unemployment rate.  West Virginia became one of the fewer than half-a-dozen states where every able-bodied relief recipient had to earn their relief on a work project rather than as a direct payment.  Even so, because the state failed to pay its share of relief, West Virginia relief payments remained below half of the national average for federal emergency relief.

But what of my relatives here sitting on the fenders and top of a new 1934 (or maybe it’s a 1933) Ford?  They seem happy, playful, and reasonably well dressed.  Their grandfather owned the only general store in the area and while he didn’t get wealthy by any stretch of the imagination, he did have a steady income from area folks spending their relief dollars at his store.  As such, his children and grandchildren never missed a meal, were always well clothed, and yes, could afford a new Ford.  Moreover, my great-grandfather was known for his generosity in giving many down-on-their-luck store patrons free foodstuffs and extended credit on clothing and other necessities.

People did make it through the Great Depression and many emerged with a renewed spirit.  Yet, at the same time many suffered and the scars remained for a generation or more.   For this one family, given the circumstances around them, times were good and even in the worst of circumstances children typically find happiness and are able to smile, laugh, and play.