This photo came to me from a descendant of Reverend John Arthur Lavender (1883-1946), a resident of Renssalauer County, New York. He was a Methodist minister and owner of Lavender Bookstore in Troy, NY. At one time, the parsonage where Rev. Lavender lived was across the Hudson River from the bookstore in New York. His granddaughter shared that he prided himself on saving the fare to cross the bridge and instead walked across the ice when the river froze to get to his bookstore. We do not currently know the connection between the Hunter and Lavender families or how this photo and others came to be in the Lavender family.
The caption on the back of the photo (shown below) says the photo is Frank and Jennie (Hoag) Hunter and their son, Meryle. The family was easy to find on FamilySearch. I sent a message to a contributor, hoping it might be a descendant.
UPDATE: After finding the Hunter family on FamilySearch.org in January 2025, I sent a message to a contributor. With no response, I went back to the drawing board on December 18, 2025 to research if Merle Hunter had children. I found Merle and his wife, Marjorie in the 1940 and 1950 censuses. Children named Robert and Shirley were listed. Public directories found on FamilySearch showed that Robert has lived many years in Salem, NY. This prompted me to do a Google search for Robert Hunter in Salem, New York. That search provided a land line phone number…of course I called it! Usually the landlines are disconnected or no one answers. But I lucked out when Darlene, a caregiver for Robert “Bob” Hunter, answered. She put me on speaker phone and I was able to talk to both of them. Bob is 95 and has lived in the same house for over 60 years. When searching for census records for this family, I noticed that it said Merle Hunter owned a retail hardware shop. According to a Salem NY chamber of commerce post, the Salem Hardware store was started by Marjorie Hunter’s father, Robert Moon, in 1928. As it turns out, that hardware store is still in business and was operated by Merle’s son, Bob, for 50+ years. It’s now owned and operated by Bob’s children. Darlene said its a four-generation business, located in Salem, New York. Population 2,600. What a legacy! I’ll be mailing this old photo to Bob so he and his family can enjoy it. Another happy return getting this old photo back to family!
