by Donna Swagerty Shreve
1896 – 1966
Pearl played an important part of my childhood. Our family lived in the same town as she did in 1950 to 1954. Even when we moved to near-by Stockton we were close enough where we had many visits. It helped that my mother adored her mother-in-law.
Pearl was the second girl born to Abraham Lincoln Aldrich and Ida Laura Palmer in 1896. The family lived in Arnold, Iowa on 160 acres. Her father successfully farmed right next to his mother’s acreage. Pearl enjoyed walking next door to visit her grandmother and step-grandfather. Pearl shared with me several stories from her childhood and one involved one of these visits.
Pearl’s youngest sister Lucy had just been born and Pearl with probably her younger brother Clarence wandered over to visit the grandparents. William Shove, their step-grandfather, heard them coming over as he worked behind the house. Rather quickly he heard the children retreating. He went around to the front to see why they were leaving so quickly. He inquired and seven year old Pearl replied that they were going back home because “Grandma won’t talk to us.” Lucy Mary Reynolds Aldrich Shove sat on the front porch and had died in her rocking chair. Grandma Lucy had requested of her daughter-in-law, Ida to consider naming the next baby after her if that baby turned out to be a girl. Lucy Mary Aldrich was born three weeks before her grandmother died with hopefully a smile on her face.
The family ended up at five children after the youngest and oldest child died in infancy, both boys. Both of these boys are buried in Humboldt, Iowa. After taking care of his mother’s property by giving the land to her second husband, Abe sold his farm and headed to California with family in tow. His wife Ida had developed a lung condition and the doctor recommended a better climate. Their local Methodist minister had a realtor brother living in the farming community of Hughson, California.
So in 1906 the family got on a train and headed for a new state with all of their livestock in a livestock car. People in town convinced Abe that their beloved dog would not fare well in the hot California summers so he was given to friends and they left without him. Daily Abe and Cousin Joe went to the livestock car and feed and clean out the The train conductor was collecting or punching tickets when he started a conversation with the Aldrich children. At that time any children traveling under the age of five rode for free. When the conductor saw the children, he zeroed in on Ethel the fourth Aldrich sibling. He praised her for looking like such a big girl and she proudly proclaimed that she had just turned five years old October 9th. The conductor now wanted more money, which the family guessed he kept in his pocket.
Lucy, the youngest Aldrich, remembers a summer living in a huge tent while their house was being constructed. Where they lived from October to the summer I don’t know. The family quickly settled in on their new land in the town of Hughson. The family land still is being farmed and is now much more than just farming. There is a year round fruit stand and park on the corner of Geer and Santa Fe.
Pearl attended Hughson schools and was quite the flirt. Their house was near railroad tracks where various town people would walk as a short cut into town. Pearl observed two Swagerty boys, Elmer and younger brother Wilber traveling by. Pearl remarked to her mother the boys had quite a swagger and seemed quite full of them selves. Her mother Ida remarked that Pearl should be careful what she said about other people as she would probably end up marrying one of those boys.
Elmer drove by later in a new car and the car got stuck in a dry riverbed near Pearl’s house. Pearl was out in a horse and wagon when she came upon Elmer and his predicament. Ida kept a tight rein on her girls but Pearl would find a way to do what she wanted if she felt strongly about it. She wanted to go to a dance with Elmer and had been told no by her mother. Elmer put a ladder along the side of the house so Pearl could climb down from her bedroom window. This would have gone undiscovered if Lulu the oldest sister hadn’t told on her.
A dreaded monthly chore for the girls was washing the menstrual rags in a big cast iron caldron in the backyard. Each girl rotated through this chore. If the girl needed punishment, she got an extra turn in the rotation. I am guessing Lulu’s turn was coming up and telling on her sister Pearl stalled her turn.
As was common in this time, Pearl got married before finishing high school. Ida had married young also and had hidden her marriage certificate from her girls so hopefully they would not follow her example. Pearl got married to Elmer in the Aldrich home in November 1913. Her mother helped her make her dress, which Pearl used again in evidence from other pictures. To get a wedding picture they had to drive in an open top car to the photo studio. Pearl’s hair got wind blown and when they arrived Pearl wanted to fix her hair before the picture was taken. Elmer had no patience for that and the official wedding picture always bothered Pearl because of her messy hair.
Years later after Pearl died, I visited Grandpa Elmer in Escalon. We were going through a large collection of old family photos. When we came across the wedding picture Elmer commented that he wondered why Pearl’s hair was is disarray. I channeled Pearl as best as I could and threw up my arms and screamed in alarm. I can still remember the look on Grandpa’s surprised face. I told him I knew why Pearl’s hair was a mess and he might even have physically moved farther away from me.
Pearl attended her high school graduation as a visitor with her first born in her arms. Elsie became her high school diploma. In quick session Pearl gave birth to a total of six children. The first three were home births, which was not unusual for the time. However, after her third and very difficult home birth of my father, she had the rest of the children in a hospital.
Pearl came from a family that was considered well off in their town. The children did not want for much. Elmer came from not quite a successful family. They were worse than dirt poor farmers as they didn’t even own their land. Elmer made a living working on other people’s farms. When the family had grown to four children, Elmer decided to create his own business.
He bought up some old farming equipment and gathered up a crew and moved the family to Tranquility, which is near or in Fresno today. He would help farmers harvest their crops and take a share of the profits. Meanwhile Pearl was left in a shepherd’s trailer with four children starting with Elsie at age 6 down to Darrell, a few months old. Pearl had no electricity or running water. She had a small stove in the trailer and just enough room to bed the family of six. Summers in this area are brutal and I can only imagine the discomfort.
I am not sure how Ida got suspicious of Pearl being in dire straights. I am guessing Pearl could have sent a letter home. On Pearl’s birthday, Ida and Abe arrived with a birthday cake to celebrate Pearl’s birthday August 27th. Very soon after Elmer gave up his scheme of his farming business and the family headed back to Hughson. This time they lived with Elmer’s parents. Now Pearl was pregnant again with Wilma. Wilma was born and brought home into the Sampson Swagerty house. Wilber, Elmer’s younger brother married to Lulu, Pearl’s sister had also moved into the Swagerty household. My father Floyd remembers sleeping on the floor in the living room with all of his cousins and siblings at night. It was in this house that Wilma died at age 9 months. The funeral was held in the house and she is buried in the Burwood cemetery in Escalon.
Wilber became the first son-in-law to go to his father-in-law Abe Aldrich to ask for help. Abe put Wilbur in charge of running his orchards in Hughson. Abe had moved to San Jose to chaperone his two youngest daughters as they attended school. To keep from becoming bored Abe got a job managing the Standish ranch in Milpitas, near San Jose. When Elmer came to him also asking for help, Abe gave Elmer his job as ranch manager. Pearl now had a better roof over her head and more room to raise her children. The children now attended school in San Jose.
Uncle Harry who married Elsie described Pearl’s kitchen stove. He said it was huge wood burning stove with a large griddle. The first time Harry ate dinner with the Swagerty family he felt Pearl had made way too much food. He didn’t realize how much the Swagerty boys could consume. Pearl also made their Sunday suits, knit their socks, used remnants of their worn clothing for quilts, and canned summer crops for the winter. I can remember visiting Grandma during the summer and sometimes hearing the homemade root beer exploding under the house. Homemade ice cream was made in a hand crank ice cream maker from White Mountain Company. I was thrilled when I found this ice cream maker in a catalogue and was able to give it to my father one Christmas.
Elmer expected bread daily and I was convinced her cookie jar always had homemade cookies in it. Pearl hosted Thanksgiving from her tiny house on the Escalon dairy. Thanksgiving included at least forty plus relatives. I didn’t appreciate her efforts until I hosted Thanksgiving years later.
Back in Milpitas, Sundays were spent around the Methodist church in San Jose. Sundays everyone dressed up after their Saturday night bath. After church service and Sunday school, the family went somewhere for a picnic. This meal was shared with other families from the church. After the picnic and relaxing, the families returned for the evening service before heading home.
The family grew up and gradually the children left to head out on their own. At age 50 Elmer had finally saved up enough money to buy his own land. He bought acreage in Escalon and started a dairy farm. The youngest son Jack had moved there first and lived in a small trailer on the property as work was being done. Elmer and Pearl then moved to Escalon and took over the trailer while Jack lived with a friend. It was during this time that Pearl finally had had enough.
Pearl would gather up the laundry each week and drive their car to Hughson to wash the clothing at her mother’s. This week she packed more than just the dirty laundry. She intended to stay at her mother’s and not come back. All plans were a go until the car would not start. Elmer came over to get the car started and in the process badly injured his hand. Pearl played doctor and bandage him up. She now felt some sympathy instead of such anger.
When Elmer was fixed up and the car started, Pearl ventured to Hughson but did come back. Obviously Ida heard her daughter’s tale of woe and said that Pearl was going to get her inheritance early. Now a house was planned and built. This was during World War II so building supplies were limited and the house had to be small. Pearl did move out of that trailer and had a house again.
Some thirty years later, Elmer finally officially retired at age 80. The farm was sold and they moved behind some friends where Elmer worked as an irrigator for another farmer. Then Pearl became sick. Her body had what seemed to be bruises all over her body. It turned out to be a rare blood cancer. Stanford hospital in Palo Alto took her case and Pearl moved in with her daughter Elsie who lived in San Jose. There Pearl got her treatments and Elmer would visit on weekends.
Late one evening our family got a phone call from Elsie. She told Dad that Pearl had died and would he please call Elmer and make arrangements. The family crowded into the small Deegan’s funeral chapel and the grandchildren overflowed out of the family room into the crowded sanctuary. It was an open casket and I remember escorting the younger cousins by her casket and strongly suggesting that they didn’t look as it didn’t really look like Grandma. Try to remember her when she was alive.
Pearl had been loved by her family and community. She was an active member of the church, garden club and Grange Hall. Those are just the ones I remember. She left a legacy of unconditional love.
2211 words
2017
Back to Stories
Back to Aldrich/Palmer Stories
Swagerty-Aldrich Family Web Site 