Water Babes & Cousins
This is a picture believed to have been taken at a Scotland County Missouri creek near the home of Simeon Phares & Minnie (Rugh) Phares on July 4th 1917. Two of the children have been identified as Laverta Nelson (far left, standing) and Irene Biggs (in the water to the right of the girl with the hat).
Please let us know if you think you can recognize any of the others.
My mother (Laverta) has failing eyesight, but with her giant "magnifying glass" she has made an attempt to see (and thus identify) the faces of the individuals in this photo. The following is who she thinks some of them probably are:
L-R standing at the rear: Herself (Laverta Nelson), Minnie Pearl Jones, Helen Jones, Hollis Rugh, Stanley Rugh, and a little girl she can't identify.
The girl to the far left down in the water she thinks looks like Virgil Phares. She thinks the person to the left of the young girl with the hat must be "Aunt Minnie" (Rugh) Phares, although she says it looks a bit more like "Aunt Cora" (Rugh) Biggs. She can't identify the person with the hat, but recognizes Irene Mabel Biggs as the next person to the right. She feels the person at the far right near Irene may be Merlin Phares. There are two persons in front of "Merlin", one can't be clearly seen but the one in front nearest the camera she thinks may be Emil Rugh.
If anyone feels they know who an individual is, please speak up and let us know. My Mom may well have some of this wrong..