Story by Lucy Aldrich Moorhead Rowland
Abe first had a dairy and alfalfa fields before planting the peach trees. He was considered a wealthy farmer in Hughson and had been considered so in Iowa. Their first house was built as they lived in a tent. The Harris family had been renting the farm house and Abe didn’t want to kick them out and also wanted a bigger house. All of the girls were raised as upper class in those days. Clarence had brought a billy goat with him to California. It would chase the Farr girls but not Lucy and Ethel. Then when the family was able to move into the new house , the goat butted the girls. The sisters now wanted Clarence to get rid of his goat but Clarence didn’t think there was really a problem. Then one day as Clarence was bringing a full arm load of wood, the billy goat made the mistake of butting Clarence. Clarence was now ready to get rid of the billy goat.
Abe later built another house and Clarence moved into this house. It had five bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. Clarence was now married and father of his first child. Ruth, his wife, was upstairs taking care of the baby and he went out to start chores in the barn. Before he left the house, he started a fire that became too big in the cook stove. He returned to the house just in time to rescue his wife and daughter from the upstairs portion of the house that came down by a stairway right near the stove. The house burned to the ground.
Swagerty-Aldrich Family Web Site 