PEEK INTO THE PAST

A few weeks ago, on September 14th, a 1938 Boise newspaper article introducing Elmer Williams, the freshman senator from Bingham County, was posted. That article stated that Elmer was a former professional wrestler.  I thought his present day posterity might be interested in seeing him in action. This will commence a new feature on the Harward-Williams Family History blog called "Peek into the Past," where short snips from old 8mm movies will be posted. Like looking through a tiny window of time long gone, we can catch a glimpse of our history in motion.

Today's short snip features Elmer wrestling with his eldest son, Marsden. The film segment then moves into the lava rock house at what they called the Home Place in Moreland. Vera, in her Life History, described their living room and office  the new house as "painted with oil paints on the ceiling to resemble the sky, and on the two side walls of the den were murals with mountains, lakes, trees, flowers and a boat."  The film scans the mural she described, and then Elmer at his desk. It must have been filmed the latter end of the year 1937, as the baby on the floor is Merrill Harward, Jr. who was born in May of that year.

Next week's Peek in the Past, probably filmed early in 1942 or before, will feature a tour of the Home Place farmyard and a gathering of the young adult children:  Boyd on horseback, Marsden and Phyllis, Boyd and Darlene, Merrill and Vera Mae, Donna and Rob, and Dean, ending with young Max "tubbing" in the ditch. (Dean and Arva were not married until after World War II, and unfortunately, she is missing from this segment).

Some of the future posts will also share early movies of the Harward ancestors.