Do You Recall The Gerspacher Brothers?

The Courier welcomes Kitty Lou Rusher to the Opinion page. She'll be writing a monthly column on treasures at the Valley County Pioneer Museum.

A most interesting slender volume has been added to the archival collection of the Valley County Pioneer Museum. “The Gerspacher Brothers” chronicles the brothers' (Joe, Matt, Ed) arrivals to America (from Germany) up to the time each married.

Wonderful photographs and postcard replications abound. A fascinating excerpt from a 1916 Glasgow Courier recounts that 34 of 51 applicants – including Matt Gerspacher – were admitted as citizens following a lengthy examination of their knowledge of the affairs of the United States in Judge Utter's court.

The brother who remained in the Glasgow area the longest and therefore most well remembered here was Ed, who married Betty Chanlund at Hays Mission in 1924. In 1928 they purchased a ranch on Lost Coulee, 25 miles south of Saco near Larb Creek. Ed lived at Nemont Manor in his later years, and he and his wife are buried in the Grandview Cemetery north of Saco.

In the letter accompanying the donations to the archives, Mark Gerspacher of the Seattle area, commented that he and his dad, Pat, were in the Glasgow area five days in June 2012, spending time at the museum, finding photos, interviews and newspaper articles – a virtual treasure trove – about their forebears. They also met Gene and Elaine Etchart, good friends of Ed while he lived in Glasgow, and thus harvested more information.

The staff is happy to aid researchers and is rewarded when the museum receives the fruit of those labors to further enhance the collection and benefit a future researcher.