The Picture Finally Spoke

by Donna Swagerty Shreve

The Picture Finally Spoke

In 1972 I sent many Thursday evenings with my grandfather Elmer Swagerty and his second wife Lillie. We would chat and then have dinner in their Escalon home before I drove home back to Stockton. After I had convinced Grandpa I wanted to hear about the “good ole days” he started sharing stories and then pictures. He had a dresser drawer bureau full of old family photos. His first wife, my grandmother Pearl, had collected so many photos from both her and grandpa’s family. 

So very few of them were labeled as Grandma did not need any labels to identify them. I asked to borrow some of the photos so I could copy them. I had a photo lab set up in our basement and I borrowed a copy stand for my camera. I copied and made copies of the family photos and then shared them with family members. Among the photos are several I am still not sure naming the various people in them. I had reached out to some of the surviving siblings of my grandparents and received a few more people identified. Fortunately today with our smart phones, copying photos is so much easier.

As I did more research, I gathered more information and became more knowable about possible labels for some of those photos. Hair styles, clothes and backgrounds can give clues to possible dates for the photo.

 During my chats with my Great Aunt Lucy, she told fond tales of Cousin Joe Aldrich. Joe’s mother was killed when Joe was a child. His father reached out to his relatives to help him raise his children. Joe was taken in by my great grandfather A.L. Aldrich. Joe was old enough to be a help to him as his own son, Clarence, was too young to be a helper. Joe lived with the family in Iowa and made the move cross country to California in 1906. Joe was old enough to feed the animals in the railroad car that A.L. brought with them. Ethel had just turned five so the year was 1906. 

I took another look at the photo of Great Grandmother Ida standing in front of their home in Iowa. Now for the first time there was a picture of Cousin Joe and  Great Great Grandpa George Palmer. Ida’s father who took turns living at each of his three daughters’ homes when he retired.. George’s house job was to keep Ida supplied with a fresh bucket of water from the well. Great Aunt Lucy confessed to begging Cousin Joe to bring in the kindling for the kitchen fire as Lucy hated the dark and the wood pile and her job was to bring in the kindling. Based on the year 1906, Ida is 27 years old, George would be 62, Pearl was 5, Clarence was 3, Lulu was 7. Joe looks close to Lulu or Pearl’s age.

I spend some wonderful days visiting Great Aunt Lucy in her last decade. She told me delightful family stories and she remained a consistent story teller. She asked me to find Cousin Joe and I had to remind her that Joe would have been 107ish when she asked me. Lucy always wondered about her relatives and I wish I could have found more for her before she passed. Her father would not answer her questions when she asked about relatives. He claimed she was better off not knowing.

In 2008 my husband and I went on an ancestor trip to see all of the land my various relatives owned in the midwest. Thanks to the help from a local farmer with an interest in genealogy, I was able to see the land where this photo was taken. The original house was replaced by a modern home but I could see that the land had good attributes. It had a stream near by plus the Pony Express Trail ran through one of the property’s corners. It is located near the town of Humboldt in Iowa. The original town of Arnold is no longer as the post office moved. I was able to visit the Humboldt cemetery and see the graves of the oldest and youngest sons Roy and Ray, who died as very young children. I also saw the graves of A.L. Aldrich’s parents. As I look at this picture, I have so many questions. Who took the picture? Is this the back or front of the house? Ida was known for her flower gardens. Where is the garden? Is Ethel born yet? How big was the house? I am guessing Ida made the clothing for herself and her children. How was her relationship to Cousin Joe? Lucy was so fond of him. 

There are now more photos I have that I need to examine more closely. There are clues in each photo if you know what see.

823 words

2/18/24

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