While I don’t have an exact date on the photo for this post, I can make a pretty good guess of early  to mid 1930’s based on the folks who are present in the picture.

The picture was almost certainly taken at the farm of my mother’s great-uncle Jeff McClelland, as his farm in Newlin township in Chester county had a large pond and was a favorite spot for family gatherings. It’s pretty safe to say that this may not have been the most stylish bathing attire around but it was very much typical of the era.

Left to right, the back row is T. Jeff McClelland , his wife Elizabeth “Lily” [McCune], John B. “Jack” Bratton, Gregg D. Reynolds, Sr.,  andMcCune “Mac” Bratton. In the middle are the wives, left to right: Edith [Wootten] wife of Mac Bratton, Dorothy [Wakeman] wife of Jack Bratton, and Elizabeth Boyd [Bratton] wife of Gregg Reynolds. The children in front are, left to right, Lavinia “Vinnie” Bratton (daughter of Mac and Edith), Gregg D. Reynolds, Jr. (my uncle) and Caroline Nevin Reynolds (my mother).

If I ever actually met Jack and Dorothy when I was a kid, I don’t remember, but they lived in California and both died about 1970. Uncle Mac died in 1972 and his widow Edith eventually lived with their daughter Vinnie and her family in the Baltimore area. Gregg and Elizabeth, my grandparents, lived outside of Reading, enjoying more than fifty years together before they both passed on in the 1980’s.