This photo and the one from yesterday’s post were taken during the same camping trip, according to a typed notation on the back of the print, which reads: “In camp at [lost] creek oregon july the 26 1928 Grand Mama & Mr. Mrs. Hall”.

Sarah Hammell is on the left. “Mr. Mrs. Hall” are on the right. Likely John Hammell took the photo. It is interesting to get a glimpse of what camping and campgrounds were like in 1928.

Who were “Mr. Mrs. Hall?” you may ask. There doesn’t seem to be any other information about them. It seems likely that they were friends of the Hammells, since they were mentioned by name in the notation on the print—a notation that was evidently intended for the Hammell’s grandchildren (or at least children), since Sarah is referred to as “Grand Mama.”

Join me as I go out on a speculative limb. If we assume the Halls…

• were also from Albany
• were about the same age as the Hammells (as seems likely from the photo)
• no longer had non-adult children at home in 1928 (since there seems to be no provision for such visible in the photo)
• had lived in Albany for at least ten years (to allow for meeting and forming a friendship)

…that seems to narrow the field down to just one couple in the census data: Beech and Laura Hall. They lived on the east side of Albany near the high school. Beech was working in a sawmill in 1920, but as a janitor in 1930. Their union produced five children, one of whom died as a child. The other four were living on their own by 1928. At the time of the pictured camping trip, Beech would have been 61 and Laura, 60.

Here is an interesting tidbit that has nothing to do with camping or the Hammells: Beech Hall’s father and mother, George and Ellen, must have had a thing about trees and plants. You’re going to think I made this up, but I promise you it is true. Their children’s names are:

• Lily Dell
• Oak Dale
• Beech Glen
• Spruce Vale
• Elm Wood
• Ivy Vine

Definitely unique names!

George and Ellen Hall lived in Connecticut and had most of their children there, but moved to Scio, Oregon between 1870 and 1874.

Laura (Stewart) Hall’s parents, John and Susan Stewart, moved from Missouri to Scio about the same time—in the early 1870s.

All that to say Beech and Laura were both long-time Oregon residents.

I guess we’ll never know for sure whether this is really the couple pictured above with Sarah Hammell. If not, well, I guess you learned some interesting facts about some random people. ;–)