I suppose most people have things in their family's past, whether stories which may or may not be true or actual documented facts, which make them ask themselves, "Should I talk about that? What will people think?" Sometimes, however, the story is so compelling that it just begs to be told.
This particular story begins with my Great-Grandparents, Cynthia Alice Sheffer and Henry Cooper Garletts.
Henry and Cynthia were married in 1878 in Walla Walla and by 1900 were living in Skagit County.
The 1900 census shows them living in LaConner and by
1910
they were in Bay View.
Times must have been hard at the turn-of-the-century in those parts, because the family legend is that Great-Grandma Cynthia was a madam and had some of her
daughters working for her as ladies of the evening! I have always found that hard to believe and thought that it was just something my grandmother fabricated for one reason or another. I mean, look at these girls... they just don't look the part of soiled doves...
They are angelic looking!
According to my Grandma, she avoided the fate of her sisters by marrying my grandfather when she was seventeen.
Ishmel was a nice looking man, but he was eleven years older than my grandma, and their marriage didn't turn out well. I guess it was better than the alternative, though!
I shoved the information about Cynthia to the back of my mind,
refusing to believe the possibility of it being reality, and hadn't even thought about it for years.
During the past
year, however, I have been working frantically on a book - a historical novel based on the
lives of my great-great-grandparents, Cynthia's mother and father, and
as a result, my interest in that branch of the family has only intensified. I decided to delve further into the fantastical story.
A few years ago, one of my Mom's cousins had
emailed me a photo of three of the Garletts girls, my Grandma's sisters - Lelia, Nettie, and
Thelma, or "Tommy", as she was called.
It's a fascinating photo - two of
the girls are holding flowers, but Lelia is holding what appears to be a
Campbell's Soup can. What could that possibly signify? The building they are standing in front of looks like some kind of business structure rather than a house. Based on the census information, I guessed that the building was either in Bay View or LaConner. I needed to know more!
I became more intrigued by the story of the alleged Madam Cynthia and her
daughters. This is Great-Grandma Cynthia from about that time period. She's a bit stern looking. I think she would most likely scare off potential customers if she was indeed a madam!
I decided to do some research online. I googled "Brothels in
LaConner" and, lo and behold, the www.lovelaconner.com website gave me a
clue in the information about the LaConner Walking Tour. It said that The Wiggin's Store, built in the 1890s, which is now the Ginger Grater and Olive Shop, was at one time a grocery store and general merchandise store, and upstairs brothel, then a furniture and hardware store, among other things to follow. An UPSTAIRS BROTHEL! What a clue that was! And the windows in the photo of the shop on the walking tour website looked to be of the same style as the windows in the building behind the girls. Oh, my! A trip to LaConner was indeed called for.
Since some of the tulips are in bloom right now, we decided that today was a perfect day to not only check out the beautiful blooms, but also to take a look at the Wiggin's Store building, so off we went.
Downtown LaConner is pretty peaceful on a Monday morning, so we were able to find a parking spot right in front of our destination.
I told Larry that I needed to walk to the back of the building, because it seemed obvious that the photo of the girls was taken behind the building. We walked along the boardwalk towards the water, I got out my phone with the photo of the girls, and Larry said, "the windows are the same - it's the same building!" I got goosebumps.
It's not exactly the same, but pretty close. Some remodeling may have been done over the years. And the siding - the old picture looks like the outer walls were a stucco-like surface. When we walked around the corner, there was a wall with that very same surface - one that hadn't been re-sided.
I'm still not positive, but it seems possible that we were in the same spot as the three girls had stood. In any case, it gives me a lot more to ponder. And it makes me realize that sometimes circumstances call for drastic measures. Whether or not this is the same building as in the old photo, and whether or not the story about the girls "profession" is indeed true, I think this will give me enough fuel to add a few more chapters to my book!
We left downtown LaConner and headed for the tulips. We began at Roozengaarde, paid our five dollars to park, and began to explore the many gorgeous blooms. So many colors!
I love this old barn.
Lots of photo opps to be found...
There was a bit of mud between the rows, but the walkways were pretty dry.
Stopping to smell the flowers!
The daffodils were beginning to fade, but still put on a beautiful golden show.
Larry got Duchess from the car so that she could tiptoe through the tulips with us.
We left the tulips and drove into Mount Vernon for lunch at the Co-op. I love potatoes,, and was excited to find creamed potatoes with spinach, and mashed potatoes as well, so piled some of both into my cup. We took our food and drove to the park by the river just as the raindrops began to fall.
We headed for home, thankful that we had planned our visit to the tulip fields early enough to avoid getting wet. What a fantastic day!
