A Picture Mystery

by Donna Swagerty Shreve

 

Due to termites attacking a prize photo, I was forced to reevaluate my large collections of ancestors’ photos on the wall in my living area. I have collected a variety of family photos over the years and carefully had them framed and displayed for my everyday enjoyment. Now it was time to repair my termite ridden photo and add to and rearrange the photos I have. The left side of the wall is a display of my husband’s side of the family. My side is to the right and it has challenged me to try to keep the collections even.

I decided to give my photos my full attention. Realizing many photos were not properly labeled, I revisited several family pictures. Last year I made quite a breakthrough with a family photo on my father’s side. I realize with a start that I had a photo of two relatives that until then I thought were not in any pictures. The identification of Cousin Joe took me down the rabbit hole of finding out much more about what happened to him. My great grandmother Ida Palmer Aldrich hosted her father for several months during the years after he retired from farming. There he was in the same picture with my dear grandmother who was just a little girl. I had such satisfaction finally being able to identify everyone in the group.

There are three other family photos that still are not labeled. The photo I chose next had four questions I wanted to answer:1. When was it taken? 2. How could my dirt poor family able to live in such a grand house? 3. Who were each of the fourteen people shown? 4. Whatever happened to that house? I am guessing the photo of the Swagerty family was 1910ish photo of the Sampson and Emma Swagerty family standing in front of a large home in Oregon. After checking census and finding all of the children, I received a better idea of the possible people in the photo. I also noticed this time when I read through the census that the family was renting this house. My grandfather Elmer Swagerty is always easy to identify. He has a look that did not change much from when he was a child to when he was an adult. Judging by age I could make a good guess that the young man next to him was his brother Wilbur. I also can identify their parents Sampson and Emma Swagerty based on comparing them by approximate age and previous pictures. There are 14 individuals in the pose and I can only identify four of them. I need help.

The Elmer Swagerty family had 16 grandchildren and only 14 remain. Elmer was one of nine surviving children and I have many second cousins. Thanks to FaceBook I was able to reach out to any cousin who could help. 

Nancy is the granddaughter of Helen Swagerty Hunter who is my grandfather Elmer’s youngest sibling. Helen was bon in Oregon and was great about sharing family stories. When I reached out to second cousins, Nancy responded. She has several pictures of the Oregon house with various family members throughout the years in front of it. She shared a picture from the early 1980s of Helen visiting the home when her younger son Jack and his wife Lois Ann took her on a trip north. On their way home they stopped in Jacksonville to find the house. 

The next photo shared is a picture of Nancy, granddaughter of Helen standing in front of the same house in 2017. I plan to visit the house this May and will take another picture. The house is now a fancy Bed and Breakfast with its own web site. https://mccullyhouseinn.com The house has survived and is doing well.

Now I wanted to answer my last question by identifying the people in the photo. My grandfather, Elmer Swagerty, was easy to find. In 1910 he was 20 years old and still living with the family. He has a certain appearance that has not changed much from when he was a toddler. Next to him is his brother Wilbur who would be 17 or 18. Also identifiable is Sampson and Emma Swagerty who are with their sons in the back row. Based on the 1910 census and family lore I think I have made good guesses on the rest of the group. Family stories tell of the Swagerty family deciding to move back to California and one of the reasons was to separate one of their daughters from her boyfriend. The parents did not approve. However, that boyfriend followed the family to California and married that daughter. By searching for the three older Swagerty siblings I found all of them in Oregon or Washington. Yet they all ended up back in the San Joaquin Valley until the end of their lives. I think I have a good guess at nine of  the people. Some of the little children in the front row might be grandchildren of Sampson and Emma but I need more research and help from my cousins.

My first fascination with family history began with pictures my grandfather Elmer shared with me when I visited him weekly in 1972-1973 when I taught in Escalon where he lived in town with his second wife Lillie. I am now finding I discover many more stories when I revisit many of the same pictures he shared with me all of those years ago.

922 words

2/15/2025

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