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Submitted by Inis Faye Bloomster
Here's the photo again. Since I sent it to you, I talked to Mom to try to pin down the location. She told me that the Phelix Andrew Cantwell family moved from Bowie, Texas to the Pauls Valley area about the time the picture was taken. Isn't there a river near Pauls Valley? If not, the picture was probably taken in Texas. She also told me that the young man at the rear of the mule is my Grandpaw's nephew, Ruben Allen Cantwell, Jr. (Bud).Here's the rest of the info:
While looking through some old boxes of things Grannie kept, I came upon a picture of some young men hamming it up. They are on the bank of a river and the handwriting on the back of the picture says 1913 or 1914. My Grandfather, Andrew Perry Cantwell is third from the left. He's holding a stick appearing to be trying to get the mule to move. He would be 24 years old and had just met my Grandmother, Myrtle Jane Calton. The location could be Texas or Oklahoma. My Grandfather broke mules for his father and was considered the best at it so I guess that's why the silly picture. This photo was taken about the time his family moved from Texas to Oklahoma near Stratford.
The most intriguing thing in this photo, aside from my Grandpaw's good looks, is what is in the background. It looks like motor homes without the motor! There are three homes on wagons! At first, I thought it was a railroad with rail cars. When I had the picture enlarged, I found that they were mobile homes. The horses parked by them have saddles and the buggy on the left appears to be parked. I'm sure they must've been pulled by a team of mules or oxen instead of horses. The homes have stovepipes protruding from the roof and there is at least two styles of homes to choose from. My husband said prefab homes must have been around longer than we thought. I've never seen anything like this in any history book and believe me, I've seen plenty. When history refers to "circling the wagons", I always think of cloth covered wagons and so does the majority of the population because that's what's been photographed and painted for us to see. Of course, since I never knew this type of wagon existed, I never investigated it. I wonder when these mobile homes came into existence and if there are any around today? Any thoughts?
Mom told me that Gypsies and medicine peddlers had small wagons that they went from town to town in but these are certainly different from the ones I've seen. These have windows and stoves! Let me know what you think.
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