When Badgers Gather

“We gather together,” the popular hymn goes, “to ask the Lord’s blessing.” We have photographic evidence of that fact in this week’s candid shot. It comes from the Badger Farm on Portsmouth Avenue in Greenland, now the site of the Portsmouth Country Club.

According to a handwritten notation in the family album on November 1931, “After a wonderful delicious Thanksgiving, We all went out and had our picture taken.” And that’s pretty much all we know about the gathering long years ago. The group appears to be standing by the ruins of an old foundation.

Thankfully, the photo comes with a detailed list of family members courtesy of Edith Lubaczewski, granddaughter of the farm’s owner, Daniel W. Badger. The annotation reads: Back row, left to right: D. W. Badger, S. G. Farrand (my father), Mrs. Edith Badger, Phyllis Badger (daughter of Ralph Badger, son of D. W. Badger). I think that was Florence Badger hiding in the back, daughter of D. W. Badger, Ralph Badger. Second row, left to right: Frances Badger (wife of Philip Badger), Florence Farrand (daughter of D. W. Badger), Netty Badger (wife of Ralph Badger), Robert Shaw (son of Dora Badger, daughter of D.W. Badger), Nancy Badger (daughter of Philip Badger). Front row, left to right: Edith Farrand (daughter of Florence and S.G. Farrand), Mary Jane Badger (daughter of Netty & Ralph Badger), Betty Badger (daughter of Frances and Philip Badger).  What happens o all those Facebook family photos 100 years from now? Makes me wonder what happens 85 years from now to all those “tagged” digital photos on Facebook. Will they still be around and safely archived like this paper picture? (Photo courtesy of the Portsmouth Athenaeum Collection.)