Years later, Lottie returned to her home in Snohomish. It had been 70 or so years since the Swartz family had left the area and with much excitement, Lottie made her way back with two of her daughters, Eva and Grace. It was September of 1978 and the three of them likely decided to make it a plan since Eva was going to that area anyway to pick up a piece of equipment for her honey bee hives. Below is a reflection of the day by Eva, Lottie’s oldest daughter:
Sept. 19, 1978
This is the day we went to Snohomish to purchase a bee honey extractor and visit Mom’s home where she was born. Grace drove her daugher’s car over and left it at our place. I took the Capri and we went into Mom’s where the 3 of us left about 9:00 A.M. for Snohomish. We arrived there 2 hours later and found the Silverbow Honey Co. with not much trouble. We made our purchases and the kind man who waited on us drew a map for Mom showing where the Three Lakes Road was. We found it with no trouble and Mom loved every minute of going there. It was all new to Grace and me and very interesting. On the Three Lakes Road we crossed the Pilchuck River, came to the Charlie Carey Road (name changed to Maple now) and came to the Nevins Road (name also changed). Off to the right we spotted Mom’s old home just past and through the orchard that her dad, Philip Swartz planted over 70 years ago. We arrived at the house and a young girl met us at the door with her 3 dogs barking. She called her mother and Mom introduced us to her and explained to her why we were there. The woman, who’s husband was away logging, was interested in the information on the place as they thought the house was built in the 1930s where it was actually built in 1904 — quite a difference. The family living there now had it painted blue with white trim the year before where as before that it was quite weather beaten.
After walking around the house and taking pictures we were invited inside. Mom said the living room was the same and the stove in the same place as when she lived there. The parlor (dining room) was about the same except the staircase had been enclosed. Mom says she was born in a bedroom just off the dining room. We then went into the kitchen. The sink was in the same place but modern plumbing put in, where as in the early days Mother’s dad had piped water from the well and had the pump on the back porch through the wall – over the sink. So much better than packing the water by buckets. One interesting thing I might mention here is the way the house was constructed. When the current family were checking the walls they found horizontal boards at least 10″ wide with narrower boards running up and down on the wide boards with no air space — no room for wiring but it was not necessary in those days as kerosene lamps were usually used for lighting. The lumber used was old growth and almost hard as iron.
Getting back to the kitchen, the pantry (now a bathroom) was in the same place as was the milk room. I could see the original boards on that wall only they had been painted. All the while Mom and the woman of the house were exchanging stories about the place. We laughed when Mom told of the cat skin her brother, Bill was drying next to the chimney over the kitchen (the chimney is not there now). Grandma Swartz could not find their cat until one day she saw a little yellow fuzz where the chimney went through the kitchen ceiling! Bill finally confessed that he had to try out his new .22 his dad gave him on something so he decided on their poor cat. He then skinned it and stretched the skin over a board and was drying it next to the chimney where Grandma found it. I just wonder what he planned on doing with that skin!
~Eva Japhet