Eunice Prickett
When we are growing up, our lives are so centered about us, that we fail to understand what got us here today. Why I chose this Grandmother is all becoming clear. Her story of struggle as an woman and and individual was unique unto herself. It wasn't until I was an adult that I would hear from my mother stories of her "crazy grandmother" and how Eunice was portrayed to a young Karleen (my mother) as "harlot" or a "loose woman". The picture of my grandfather Paul with his mother doesn't portray that. Every indication I have found is that she was an excellent mother. But there was an undeniable estrangement between her and son.
Born in 1873, she was the only daughter of James Hudson Prickett and Eunice Axtell. She was born in Nebraska, very likely during the big land migration in 1870's into the great plains. Her father, James, was a civil war veteran. Records show he enlisted 1861 and mustered out in 1865. Other records show he also benefited at the veterans hospital in Pomona, California in 1896. I don't know how he got to California, but very likely they moved to the Los Angeles area to be near his oldest son Roan (Rowen) who was located there. There was a half-brother, Asher Axtell who was born first. I believe James Prickett may have married a widow with a young son named Asher. To confirm him, I found Asher in a census from Eureka, California. A double confirmation was found in my mother's belongings, a hand-written note by Asher Axtell of Eureka, California, identifying that my grandfather Paul Raymond Cushman, was born in San Francisco and listed the name of his parents. I believe my grandfather had no proof of his birth when he registered for World War I and needed some kind of family record.
Her older brother Roen (Rowan) was born in Ohio, where it seems their father James was too. James provided meaningful work as a carpenter. A lot of jobs were provided by the railroad, pushing the tracks through Nebraska, which may be the answer why they were in Nebraska when she was born. The 1880 census shows them back up in Michigan at age 7.
By 1886, a Battle Creek, Michigan directory shows her listed as a helper at age 13. The store was well-known for selling merchandise in the Calhoun County, Michigan. What I have found is that my great-grandmother Eunice was born into a life of hard-working parents. I believe her defined purpose in her life was to get out of it as quickly as she could.
By the age of 17, I find her married to a man - my great grandfather, Charles Henry Cushman, 16 years her senior. I just can't seem to figure out how they met, but as soon as they married, she had their first son at age 18, and then two more boys within 7 years. All were born in San Francisco. Great-Grandfather Charles Henry Cushman, had many excellent jobs listed through the San Francisco directories. He was listed as a conductor in San Francisco in 1882, and by 1888, a government employee in Berkeley. By 1892 through 1904 he is listed as letter carrier (or postal worker) in San Francisco.
In the 1910 census, great-grandmother Eunice Swift appears in the San Joaquin area with a husband by the name of Henry Swift, and another son by the name of Mancell Swift, age 3. I knew Uncle Mancell. This was an Uncle that would come and visit us occasionally in my teen years. He and his wife Millie would normally visit at Christmas time. One year, they gave my younger sister and me rabbit fur hats with matching hand muffs. We were absolutely thrilled with these. As we got older, we felt uncomfortable with my "Uncle Mancell". One time, I told my mother that I didn't feel comfortable around him and that he "oogled me" and looked at my breasts. They were never at our house again after that.
I tried to piece together why my great grandparents divorced. There are no records of it to be found. It had to be around 1906, because Mancell was born in 1907. It's highly suspected and had been confirmed by my mother and Uncle when they were alive, and that she and Henry Swift had an affair, which broke Charles Henry Cushman's heart. I also found that Henry Swift was also a letter carrier during those years in San Francisco It seems maybe that Henry and Eunice met through my grandfather because both men worked at the Post Office. The divorce would have been around the time of the great earthquake. I would imagine that at the age of 13 or 14 (my grandfather, that is) would see his mother leave his dad, remarries and had another child. This may have had a very traumatic affect on his life. During this particular social era, this just was not done and was scandalous to even talk about it. Perhaps the great earthquake of 1906 shook more than the earth, and very likely this family structure.
All indications in her later years shows that she had continuous contacts with her Cushman sons and lived with them, but not without some estrangement. There was one point that I found my grandfather not living with her and Henry Swift in Stockton, during the census of 1910. He was aged 16 and working as "hired help" in the Yountville area of the Napa Valley. This would also be just before World War I...which he promptly enlisted in around the age of 19 or 20.
Eunice's oldest son, Walter Charles Cushman, was listed in the 1930 census as an inmate for San Quinten Prison in Marin County. His age was 39, and I do show that he died in 1971 in Sacramento. There was listed a wife with the death record. It was rumored greatly -- and very likely the truth -- that this oldest son, Walter, was arrested in San Joaquin (Elkhorn, Lodi) and convicted of child rape. When I became an adult, the truth -- said with vague statements from my mother -- that she was one of his victims. (as of 2/2/2021, a Geneaologist Criminologist contacted me through Ancestry and said that Walter actually was arrested for raping his own daughter. Records show that he was pardoned. This could be entirely true. There are reasons that I believe this, because of the closed discussions and secret hushes about this family member. I know that these were significant traumatic experiences that happen to girls and women, and they can shut down conversation quickly, if a person doesn't feel good discussing them. Just as it is now. (paragraph updated on 2/3/2021)
The thought of perhaps this woman dealing with the victimization of her grand daughter by her own son makes my mind try to have compassion for the incident. If that perhaps had happened to me, I don't know how I would have reacted or even my parents, or what I could have done if it had happened to my daughter. Apparently the path for Walter was to go to prison. It was about 1930 or 1931 when my Grandfather Paul, my grandfather Bessie (Irene), and the five children from two marriages relocated to Seattle, never to move back to California again. Uncovering these "soul searching" family tragedies can be difficult. Perhaps others would like to just cover them back up again. I have no family that I can find from the other Cushman or Swift family lines that can counter the stories. Walter had one child, Warren had none, and neither did their half-brother Mancell. Perhaps the family dynamic of tragedy, or the earlier issues of their parents divorcing at their young ages of 16, 14, and 12 set them up into a tragic set of family circumstances. It is what it is.
The unfortunate timing and the culture at that time probably defined me more than my mother especially in terms of my own sexuality and womanhood. She taught me what was necessary, but intimate discussions were not something discussed. She was strident about women's issues and stood tall with intentions of making sure my sister and I were aware that improper advances from any man were not appropriate. Perhaps her early experience as a victim became her unintentional mantra. When it came to the rights of women in order to drive, vote, and be independent "just in case your marriage fails", she was very vocal. It carried over from the way her own father treated her compared to her brother. He did not believe that women should drive. The first thing she did when she had a job (early World War II) was get herself a car and taught herself how to drive. My grand-father had taught her younger brother how to drive...perhaps it was sibling rivalry, or just the ultimate act of rebellion.
Eunice Swift died in the Stockton area around 1955. I would have been four years old. I don't think I ever met her. When I do look at her picture, I see a lot of my mother in her facial features...of which, I see a lot of me there, too. There is more to her story, of that I can be more creative. I hope you will enjoy it, too.
With thought and creativity, I will persevere and try to get her story right.
Born in 1873, she was the only daughter of James Hudson Prickett and Eunice Axtell. She was born in Nebraska, very likely during the big land migration in 1870's into the great plains. Her father, James, was a civil war veteran. Records show he enlisted 1861 and mustered out in 1865. Other records show he also benefited at the veterans hospital in Pomona, California in 1896. I don't know how he got to California, but very likely they moved to the Los Angeles area to be near his oldest son Roan (Rowen) who was located there. There was a half-brother, Asher Axtell who was born first. I believe James Prickett may have married a widow with a young son named Asher. To confirm him, I found Asher in a census from Eureka, California. A double confirmation was found in my mother's belongings, a hand-written note by Asher Axtell of Eureka, California, identifying that my grandfather Paul Raymond Cushman, was born in San Francisco and listed the name of his parents. I believe my grandfather had no proof of his birth when he registered for World War I and needed some kind of family record.
Her older brother Roen (Rowan) was born in Ohio, where it seems their father James was too. James provided meaningful work as a carpenter. A lot of jobs were provided by the railroad, pushing the tracks through Nebraska, which may be the answer why they were in Nebraska when she was born. The 1880 census shows them back up in Michigan at age 7.
By 1886, a Battle Creek, Michigan directory shows her listed as a helper at age 13. The store was well-known for selling merchandise in the Calhoun County, Michigan. What I have found is that my great-grandmother Eunice was born into a life of hard-working parents. I believe her defined purpose in her life was to get out of it as quickly as she could.
By the age of 17, I find her married to a man - my great grandfather, Charles Henry Cushman, 16 years her senior. I just can't seem to figure out how they met, but as soon as they married, she had their first son at age 18, and then two more boys within 7 years. All were born in San Francisco. Great-Grandfather Charles Henry Cushman, had many excellent jobs listed through the San Francisco directories. He was listed as a conductor in San Francisco in 1882, and by 1888, a government employee in Berkeley. By 1892 through 1904 he is listed as letter carrier (or postal worker) in San Francisco.
In the 1910 census, great-grandmother Eunice Swift appears in the San Joaquin area with a husband by the name of Henry Swift, and another son by the name of Mancell Swift, age 3. I knew Uncle Mancell. This was an Uncle that would come and visit us occasionally in my teen years. He and his wife Millie would normally visit at Christmas time. One year, they gave my younger sister and me rabbit fur hats with matching hand muffs. We were absolutely thrilled with these. As we got older, we felt uncomfortable with my "Uncle Mancell". One time, I told my mother that I didn't feel comfortable around him and that he "oogled me" and looked at my breasts. They were never at our house again after that.
I tried to piece together why my great grandparents divorced. There are no records of it to be found. It had to be around 1906, because Mancell was born in 1907. It's highly suspected and had been confirmed by my mother and Uncle when they were alive, and that she and Henry Swift had an affair, which broke Charles Henry Cushman's heart. I also found that Henry Swift was also a letter carrier during those years in San Francisco It seems maybe that Henry and Eunice met through my grandfather because both men worked at the Post Office. The divorce would have been around the time of the great earthquake. I would imagine that at the age of 13 or 14 (my grandfather, that is) would see his mother leave his dad, remarries and had another child. This may have had a very traumatic affect on his life. During this particular social era, this just was not done and was scandalous to even talk about it. Perhaps the great earthquake of 1906 shook more than the earth, and very likely this family structure.
All indications in her later years shows that she had continuous contacts with her Cushman sons and lived with them, but not without some estrangement. There was one point that I found my grandfather not living with her and Henry Swift in Stockton, during the census of 1910. He was aged 16 and working as "hired help" in the Yountville area of the Napa Valley. This would also be just before World War I...which he promptly enlisted in around the age of 19 or 20.
Eunice's oldest son, Walter Charles Cushman, was listed in the 1930 census as an inmate for San Quinten Prison in Marin County. His age was 39, and I do show that he died in 1971 in Sacramento. There was listed a wife with the death record. It was rumored greatly -- and very likely the truth -- that this oldest son, Walter, was arrested in San Joaquin (Elkhorn, Lodi) and convicted of child rape. When I became an adult, the truth -- said with vague statements from my mother -- that she was one of his victims. (as of 2/2/2021, a Geneaologist Criminologist contacted me through Ancestry and said that Walter actually was arrested for raping his own daughter. Records show that he was pardoned. This could be entirely true. There are reasons that I believe this, because of the closed discussions and secret hushes about this family member. I know that these were significant traumatic experiences that happen to girls and women, and they can shut down conversation quickly, if a person doesn't feel good discussing them. Just as it is now. (paragraph updated on 2/3/2021)
The thought of perhaps this woman dealing with the victimization of her grand daughter by her own son makes my mind try to have compassion for the incident. If that perhaps had happened to me, I don't know how I would have reacted or even my parents, or what I could have done if it had happened to my daughter. Apparently the path for Walter was to go to prison. It was about 1930 or 1931 when my Grandfather Paul, my grandfather Bessie (Irene), and the five children from two marriages relocated to Seattle, never to move back to California again. Uncovering these "soul searching" family tragedies can be difficult. Perhaps others would like to just cover them back up again. I have no family that I can find from the other Cushman or Swift family lines that can counter the stories. Walter had one child, Warren had none, and neither did their half-brother Mancell. Perhaps the family dynamic of tragedy, or the earlier issues of their parents divorcing at their young ages of 16, 14, and 12 set them up into a tragic set of family circumstances. It is what it is.
The unfortunate timing and the culture at that time probably defined me more than my mother especially in terms of my own sexuality and womanhood. She taught me what was necessary, but intimate discussions were not something discussed. She was strident about women's issues and stood tall with intentions of making sure my sister and I were aware that improper advances from any man were not appropriate. Perhaps her early experience as a victim became her unintentional mantra. When it came to the rights of women in order to drive, vote, and be independent "just in case your marriage fails", she was very vocal. It carried over from the way her own father treated her compared to her brother. He did not believe that women should drive. The first thing she did when she had a job (early World War II) was get herself a car and taught herself how to drive. My grand-father had taught her younger brother how to drive...perhaps it was sibling rivalry, or just the ultimate act of rebellion.
Eunice Swift died in the Stockton area around 1955. I would have been four years old. I don't think I ever met her. When I do look at her picture, I see a lot of my mother in her facial features...of which, I see a lot of me there, too. There is more to her story, of that I can be more creative. I hope you will enjoy it, too.
With thought and creativity, I will persevere and try to get her story right.
