Biographical Note
Etta Studley Schwerin was born in 1883 to George E. Studley and Anna
Barbara Neuenschwander Studley . One of four children, she spent her childhood
in several communities in Washington state, including Olympia, Oaksdale, and
Bossburg. After her mother’s death, she and her siblings lived with their
grandparents in Olympia. Her father died shortly thereafter, and the children
scattered, living with various relatives until they reached adulthood.
Etta Studley Schwerin moved to Nebraska with her Aunt Cora when she
was fourteen. She attended normal school in Nebraska and taught two terms
there. She then taught three terms in Ritzville, Washington, where she met and
married her husband, C. A. (Charlie) Schwerin. Etta Studley Schwerin died in
1987.
Elizabeth E. Peiffer Kelly was born in 1877 in a Kansas dugout. In
December 1888, her father decided to move the family to Washington Territory by
train. The family settled in Dixie, Washington, where her father worked as an
agricultural laborer. She married L. C. Kelly in December 1896 and together
they had a son and a daughter. They farmed in Dixie their entire married lives,
except for a brief stay in Sunnyside, Washington from 1911-1913. L.C. died in
1942.
Content Description
The collection consists of writings and photographs from two
apparently unrelated families. Etta Studley Schwerin’s writings include her
childhood memoirs, genealogical information about her siblings, and a
Neuenschwander family tree. Elizabeth E. Peiffer Kelly’s writings describe her
childhood in Kansas and young adulthood in Washington, her experiences as a
farm wife and mother, and a brief history of Dixie, Washington. Researchers
should note that the writings are photocopies of original documents. The
photographs depict turn of the century homesteads in Western Washington,
members of the C.A. and Etta Schwerin family, and agricultural equipment and
processes of early twentieth century wheat farming.
