photo #9129253

Jack Whinery and his family, homesteaders, living in a cardboard house in Pie Town, New Mexico, September, 1940. The daughters are wearing flour sack dresses. In rural America during the 1930s and 1940s, money was extremely tight, and families had to be resourceful. Flour, sugar, and animal feed were often sold in large cotton sacks. Recognizing that their sacks could be reused, companies began printing the fabric with bright patterns, floral designs, or cheerful colors. Once the contents were emptied, women would carefully wash, bleach, and sew the sack material into dresses, shirts, underwear, quilts, curtains, and even children’s clothes. As for the family, I looked them up in the census and this is what I found: Jack Whinery was born in 1907 and was married to Laura Edith Evans who was born in 1909. So they were 33 and 31 years old in this photo. They got married on September 4, 1927. Wanda is in white (1929-2002) and Velva Mae (1931-2007) is in pink. The eldest boy is A.J (1933-2012) and the baby boy’s name is Lawrence (1939-1944). The oldest daughter is Laura Lou (1928-2019) who was the last surviving member of this family. Jack passed away in 1994 at the age of 87 and Laura Edith passed away in 2003 at the age of 94. 📸: Russell Lee