A Visit from the Hart Children

One of the pictures that I’ll share today shows Ferris and Clara playing with their cousin, Mary Sly, and with the children of a friend of Aunt Kate’s, Mary Louise Hart. It got me thinking about why we take pictures. What do we consider camera-worthy?

I used to take pictures to document anything special or out-of-the-ordinary. If I went on a hike with a friend, I would take a picture. If I was travelling or dressed up to go somewhere, that’s when the camera would come out.

With children and cell phones, I’ve lost my grip a little on what’s worth documenting. Or maybe everyone else has…I can’t decide. What’s decidedly funny is that my phone currently holds as many black-and-white photos images from 1912 as it does recent shots of the kids.

So back to the pictures. We’ve seen both Grandma Sly and Mary Sly before, in a picture from three years back. The new faces are Doris and Marie Louise Hart, daughters of Marie Louise Hart (née Little) and Thomas Riego Hart.

A friend and contemporary of Aunt Kate’s, Mary Louise (Lou) was born on May 26, 1872 in Middletown, NY. Her father (Theron) was a lawyer and Special County Judge in Orange County. I found a nice bio about Lou from the announcement of her marriage:

Miss Marie Louise Little has long been recognized as one of Middletown’s brightest, most to be admired young women. She graduated from Wallkill Academy four years ago with honor, and read an essay at the commencement exercises which won her high praise from the critics present. She followed her educational course at Vassar.

Miss Little is a sweet-dispositioned young lady, with a grace and dignity which are remarked whenever she appears. Her presence was always desired by the young society people of this city, who found her in a vivacious, sparkling companion.

March 26, 1894

Within five years of her marriage to Thomas, the couple had three children:

• Thomas Riego Hart Jr.: born October 09, 1895
• Marie Louise Hart: born October 4, 1897
• Doris Hart – born June 28, 1899.

At the time this picture was taken, Thomas would have been 17 years old. He will later serve as a lieutenant in the Sixth Division in France during WWI. Upon his safe return, he will practice law and marry Miss Ruth Mowen. Together they’ll raise two children, Barbara Hart and Thomas M. Hart, in West Orange, New Jersey.

Marie Louise would have been 15 years old in the picture. She may not have felt much like entertaining preschoolers but there she is. She’ll eventually marry Frederick W. Landers of Upper Montclair, New Jersey, teach music, and raise John Quincy Landers and Frederick W. Landers jr., there.

Doris, 13 years old in the picture, will have a teaching career too. She’ll settle in Hewlett, Long Island and care for her mother in her old age. The admirable Lou Hart, in short, produced a line of equally bright descendants.

Oh! And I realized that we have actually seen Lou Hart before. She was at the party at Julia Lawrence’s house (the lively-looking one in the hat). I’m so pleased that I could identify a woman at that gathering, after all.

As for my doubts about whether I’m taking enough pictures of my children, I’ll say this: yes, I may “lose” some moments. Everything will be lost, though, if *someone* doesn’t start printing things out and labeling them.

If it wasn’t for my grandmother’s meticulous record-keeping I wouldn’t have any idea who spent the day with Ferris and Clara. Putting a name to a picture truly means attaching a life to it. Now if you’ll excuse me I’ve got a couple of empty baby books I should attend to…