Page 1 of 13 
 
Washington Women’s Heritage Project records, 1900-2000 
University of Washington Libraries Special Collections 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand 
April 21, 1986 
Cassette 1, Side 1 
 
 
Robert L. Reed  00:29 
April 21, 1986 this is Bob Reed in the home of Esther Brand in Seattle beginning the first 
recorded interview with [inaudible]. 
 
Robert L. Reed  00:38 
Your married name is Esther Brand?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  00:41 
Yes, it is.  
 
Robert L. Reed  00:44 
What was your maiden name?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  00:47 
My name was Garske.  
 
Robert L. Reed  00:50 
Would you spell that for me please?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  01:02 
G-A-R-S-K-E.  
 
Robert L. Reed  01:03 
Where were you born, Mrs. Brand?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  01:04 
I was born in Maple Lake, Minnesota, June the 19th, 1894. 
 
Robert L. Reed  01:08 
Now think back. What is the first thing you can remember and how old were you then? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  01:11 
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The first thing I actually remember that comes into mind was when our home was destroyed by 
fire in 1900. My mother and father had put a two-story building in which they had two 
businesses. One part was my mother's milliner's store, which was called the Paris Millinery 
Shop. My father operated a German beer hall. They also purchased 100 acres of farmland as an 
investment at that time, and they did very well. 
 
Robert L. Reed  01:56 
How many brothers and sisters did you have? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  02:02 
[Tape cuts] However, in 1900, while my father was away on a trip to Saint Paul in order to get 
more stock for the winter, our home was completely destroyed by fire. My father returned. He 
was shocked and devastated. At the same time, there were certain suspects, but could not be 
proved. It was arson. All this happened in the late fall. My mother managed to rouse the five 
children, and only a few belongings were saved. We were in our bedclothes barefoot, and the 
ground was frozen. She directed us to run out the door, across the alley, to a friend's house, 
where we stayed overnight. We then tried farming, but since my father was not a farmer, we tried 
it anyway. There was nothing else to do. We remained there for two or three years, then sold out. 
My mother and father never could forget Seattle, so they decided to go back to Seattle and try 
our luck once more.  
 
Robert L. Reed  03:29 
Had they been to Seattle before then? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  03:31 
On their honeymoon, 1883. 
 
Robert L. Reed  03:35 
On their honeymoon? Would you tell us what you know about that? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  03:37 
[?Stop now?]. Well, that was first, but you told me you were going to ask questions, so I [?didn't 
prepare?]. My parents had gone-- had had their honeymoon there in 1883, and there was 
something attractive about it at that time, but they couldn't decide to stay there. They never 
forgot, though, that they could rather like the weather and the surroundings and all the trees and 
the green and all that. So they packed up their family and we moved to Seattle. This was in 1900. 
[Inaudible.] 
 
Robert L. Reed  04:22 
In 1900 they made a trip back to Seattle? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  04:25 
[Inaudible.] Home burned in 1900. No, they went to Seattle later. [Inaudible] 1908, I think, we 
came [crosstalk]. 
 
Robert L. Reed  04:38 
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About 1908 when you moved here?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  04:42 
Mm-hmm. I will have to change that. Came to Seattle in 1908. 
 
Robert L. Reed  04:47 
Let's talk about the time when you lived in Minnesota. You had how many brothers and sisters? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  04:57 
Oh, when we lived-- first moved to Minnesota-- I'm trying to figure out... Oh, we had neighbors. 
There were some businesses. There were markets. My mother had the main millinery store. She 
was very clever with hands. 
 
Robert L. Reed  05:17 
That was in Belle Plaine? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  05:20 
No, this was in Maple Lake. This was where they had their business. We went to school, and 
that's about all I remember, because when I was not quite six years old, our home was destroyed 
and burned. So before that, I don't remember much, but I do remember we lived in the rear of the 
house. There was a large living room, and we could see our mother working in her millinery 
shop, and she sewed hats until way into the night. I still have the lamp that she used when she 
was working and doing her handwork. 
 
Robert L. Reed  06:02 
Was the millinery shop in the home? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  06:05 
It was the front of the home. 
 
Robert L. Reed  06:07 
And how large a town was, uh-- 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  06:10 
I don't remember the population. 
 
Robert L. Reed  06:12 
--Belle Plaine, you said? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  06:13 
Maple Lake.  
 
Robert L. Reed  06:14 
Maple Lake first. 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  06:16 
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There was-- there were about three streets in our city. Main Street and another on either side, 
which I don't quite remember. There was a little church and there was a school, and there was a 
large marketplace to buy foods and things. However, there was no refrigeration in any of these 
stores. When we knew the farmers were coming to town with butter or eggs, we people usually 
knew about when, and we'd rush over and get some. And we had sort of a ice house, we call it, in 
back of our building, where in this-- in the winter, they would cut blocks of ice, put it in, and 
cover it with sawdust. So we could use that as sort of a refrigerator to keep fresh meats or foods 
in. And I remember the only time we had ice cream was on the Fourth of July, because by that 
time, the ice was dwindling. So Mother made homemade ice cream, about a gallon. She'd get the 
real cream from a farmer. And I have never tasted ice cream like that since then. It had a 
fragrance about it. It was eggs and vanilla and just like a frozen pudding, I'd say, but the texture 
of ice cream. And the only time we had watermelon was on the Fourth of July. There was no 
way to keep it. The grocer would get in some, and it would sell by night, [inaudible] was gone. 
And I remember the first ice cream cone I ever saw. That was about 1904 or 1905. We didn't 
know what these children were eating, but finally, we were treated, ourselves, and it was 
delicious. 
 
Robert L. Reed  08:06 
In the house you lived in, did you have running water? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  08:11 
We had-- downstairs, we had a large living room, and we had a large kitchen. We had a cistern in 
the kitchen. A cistern is different than the well outside. We couldn't drink the water from the 
cistern, but we could use it for [?full?] laundry. It was softer, you see? 
 
Robert L. Reed  08:39 
Cistern water was rain water that came off the roof. 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  08:39 
Well, but we had to pump to it.  
 
Robert L. Reed  08:40 
Mm-hmm, but then they pump it up. 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  08:42 
They called it cistern water. But we didn't dare drink it. But we had a well. We'd go out and 
pump fresh water to drink.  
 
Robert L. Reed  08:48 
And did you-- I suppose, like most houses at that time, you had the little place outside? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  08:52 
Yes, our outhouse in the back. Everyone else's was the same thing. 
 
Robert L. Reed  08:55 
Now, your parents, was that where they settled when they came from--  
Page 5 of 13 
 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  08:58 
Their honeymoon. 
 
Robert L. Reed  08:59 
--when they moved to Minnesota on their honeymoon? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  09:01 
When they came back from their honeymoon, that's where they settled. 
 
Robert L. Reed  09:18 
At Belle Plaine. 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  09:19 
At Maple Lake.  
 
Robert L. Reed  09:20 
I get those two names [inaudible] up. 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  09:22 
Belle Plaine was the place my mother was born. I've never seen it. I've never been there. 
 
Robert L. Reed  09:26 
And your father, was your father's first name?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  09:29 
Oh, Gregor. Gregor [inaudible]. 
 
Robert L. Reed  09:30 
And where did he come from? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  09:32 
Well, he came from Europe. He came from-- he was born near Harmelsdorf, [?Krin?], Deutsch 
Krone. He was-- shall I tell about his ancestors a bit? 
 
Robert L. Reed  09:53 
Let's do that later. We'll--  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  09:40 
And he came to this country when he was 14 years old with 14¢ in his pocket, and he had 
nowheres to go. 
 
Robert L. Reed  10:05 
Where did he meet your mother?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  10:07 
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He met my mother, oh, a number of years later on, because he-- as a boy and as a young man, he 
took work wherever he could get it. He was supposed to go to the Dakotas, where there was a 
German uncle. But when he got to the Dakotas, the German uncle was not as well off as they-- as 
he thought and was told, and he found a house full of little children and just one room, so he 
knew that was no home for him. So he turned back to the cities. He worked on the railroad. He 
worked in the farms. He-- well anything he could get. So he met my mother somewhere or other. 
 
Robert L. Reed  10:50 
You don't know if he lived in Maple Lake then before they were married? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  10:54 
No, no, no. 
 
Robert L. Reed  10:56 
But after they were married, they settled in Maple?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  10:57 
They went on their honeymoon to Seattle. Why? He was trying to look for some money or-- you 
know, people could pick up gold in the West, they were told. So they came out here and 
[inaudible] disappointed. 
 
Robert L. Reed  11:09 
And then back to Maple Lake? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  11:11 
Uh-huh. Then after they were disappointed and didn't like it in Seattle, they went back to Maple 
Lake, and that's where they built their home. And that home was destroyed by fire. 
 
Robert L. Reed  11:25 
And after the fire, what happened? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  11:27 
After the fire, they went on to the farmhouse, which he owned. But they were not farmers, and 
they just couldn't manage it all. And they were unhappy there. The children were unhappy. But 
we remained there for about two or three years, and then my father always thought about Seattle. 
There was a hankering there to go back again. He must have seen something or experienced 
something that touched him. So they came to Seattle with five children, and they settled here and 
built up another home. 
 
Robert L. Reed  12:05 
Would you tell me who the five children were at that time-- 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  12:12 
Yes, there was my brother John-- 
 
Robert L. Reed  12:14 
Page 7 of 13 
 
--and about when they were born?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  12:17 
My brother John.  
 
Robert L. Reed  12:21 
1885? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  12:23 
1885, yeah. Oh, and there was a little Katherine, but she passed away at only a year or two years 
old. My brother Leo in 1888; my sister Veronica, 1890; my sister Theresa in 1892; myself in 
1894; Joseph in 1900; Benjamin in 1903; and Ruth in 1905. 
 
Robert L. Reed  12:55 
So you had four brothers and sisters who were older than you. 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  13:00 
That's right. 
 
Robert L. Reed  13:03 
And you were sort of almost in the middle, there.  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  13:05 
I was in the middle.  
 
Robert L. Reed  13:07 
So how was life in your-- did you continue to live in Maple Lake for all the time you were in 
Minnesota?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  13:17 
Maple Lake, we went to the farm. 
 
Robert L. Reed  13:20 
I mean after the farm, now. 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  13:21 
Well, for the short time, we lived a little while in Saint Cloud; that was nearby. We moved 
around many places. My father couldn't find the kind of work he wanted to do. So we lived a 
while in Saint Cloud, and we lived a little while in Annandale, and back again to Maple Lake. 
 
Robert L. Reed  13:44 
Did you live in Belle Plaine? 
 
Robert L. Reed  13:47 
No, my mother was born in Belle Plaine, but I had never seen the Belle Plaine. 
 
Page 8 of 13 
 
Robert L. Reed  13:51 
So you must have gone to school in Maple Lake? 
 
Robert L. Reed  13:59 
Yeah, we went to Maple Lake-- let me see, for several years. But when our home burned, I had 
just started school. I was about six years old. And then from there, we lived on the farm for a 
while, and there we went to a little country school, which was all so new to us. First, we thought 
we would never get used to it. But the children were all friendly, like children usually are. And-- 
but after we sold the farm and came to Saint-- came to Seattle, we were more happy here. 
 
Robert L. Reed  14:38 
And in Maple Lake, were there other German families who settled there? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  14:45 
There were many-- quite a few. Not that many. 
 
Robert L. Reed  14:45 
But had they all settled there at about the same time? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  14:50 
Oh, no, no, no. No, just-- there's few old timers. I didn't know too many people, just a few 
children, because I was quite young. But up in the country, on the farm, we did very well. We 
got acquainted. We were only there a couple years, though. And in Saint Cloud, we were only 
there about a year or two. There was no time to really get acquainted. And then in Annandale, we 
didn't like it there at all. I didn't-- we didn't like the school. In fact, we weren't there long enough 
to get to like it. 
 
Robert L. Reed  15:33 
About how long?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  15:34 
That's the problem when you're moving around to schools. I don't think we were there a year. 
But in Saint Cloud, that was different. There was a sister school there. The Benedictine sisters 
had that, and I was there in my first grade. Then we weren't there in the second. Then we went 
back to the farm and went there a few years. Then we went back to Saint Cloud and I was there 
until the fifth grade, and after that we just moved. 
 
Robert L. Reed  16:13 
Now, that was a Catholic school.  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  16:15 
Yes. 
 
Robert L. Reed  16:18 
Were the others Catholic schools, or were they Protestant? 
 
Page 9 of 13 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  16:20 
No, we didn't have one in Maple Lake. They have one now, but not then. 
 
Robert L. Reed  16:26 
And how did your parents feel about education for the kids? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  16:33 
Well, my parents were disciplinarians. We had to go to school and we have to go to church. And 
when there was an opportunity for us to go to a Catholic school, my father drove us over 40 
miles in September. We packed up a wagon driven by horses, we children in the back with 
blankets and everything -- it was very cold -- with maybe a barrel of apples and a bushel of 
potatoes and maybe a stove and a few cooking utensils and a few things for bedclothes. And then 
we'd come back in the summer to come back after... It was a great hardship, but he did it.  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  17:25 
Then we had to learn music. They couldn't afford to have them all take music. So my oldest 
sister took music and voice. My second sister took violin and voice. I was the third one, so I had 
to wait. And finally, my sisters were instructed that if they took lessons, they have to teach me or 
they wouldn't get a chance to learn. The professor came to our house one day; I was very small, 
about 10-12 years old. He said, "You go and play something for me." I said, "Okay." So I did a 
little bit. He said, "I want to teach this child. It'll only cost you 25 cents more." They couldn't 
afford it. We had to pay tuition for school, but I got in free because I was-- there was the fifth 
ones. They had music, but they couldn't afford me then. But, you know, I kept up with my 
sisters. I played music all my life. My piano has been my comfort, and still is.  
 
Robert L. Reed  18:37 
Were any of your brothers interested in music? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  18:41 
No, they weren't. One of my brothers took lessons for a while. 
 
Robert L. Reed  18:46 
Did they-- did the parents have about the same feelings for the brothers than the sisters getting a 
good education? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  18:55 
Oh, yes. My oldest brother, he was always with my father. He was with my father more than the 
rest of us, because when we would go to school, he would be left with my father. He had finished 
the eighth grade and that was it. He didn't care for school. In all his writings, he admits it, but 
you should see some of his writings. My second oldest brother had an opportunity to become a 
druggist, and there was an old druggist who took a fancy to my brother Leo. So when we were 
leaving, he spoke to my mother. He said, "If you leave this boy with me, I will get him to school. 
I'll teach him all I know about the druggist business, and then from there, I'll see that he goes on 
far, which he did. My brother became the owner of this store, and he was a druggist until he died 
a couple years ago in his eighties. Then my sister, my two sisters, they studied music, as I did. 
Page 10 of 13 
 
But when they grew up, my older sister was in-- she had very [inaudible] South Bend. And my 
second sister became a school teacher. And the other two remained in Oregon. 
 
Robert L. Reed  20:21 
In your family at that young age, who paid the bills in your family? Your mother or your father? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  20:30 
It was sort of a, you know, togetherness. My mother was a very good business woman. She kept 
track of everything. My father was there. He was a good advisor. He was really a good 
businessman. And for what happened to him in his life, working so hard from 40 years old with 
nothing, acquiring a home and a large family and a huge homestead in Oregon, I'm really proud 
of my parents. 
 
Robert L. Reed  21:14 
That was in later years-- 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  21:15 
Yes.  
 
Robert L. Reed  21:15 
--and we'll get into that later on. Who sort of laid down the law to the kids?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  21:19 
Oh, my father, did. My father did. He believed in not spoiling the child, if you know what that 
means. 
 
Robert L. Reed  21:23 
Yeah, or sparing the rod? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  21:24 
Well, he told me many years later, he said, "Why was it you never got a spanking?" I was sitting 
here. I said, "You know why? Because I was not going to get spanked-- a spanking like the rest 
of the children. It would have hurt me too much. So I remained quiet, and I knew what I had to 
do, obey." So I [?come on?] real well.  
 
Robert L. Reed  21:50 
I know that-- 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  21:52 
And I never believed in spanking children. My husband and I agreed before it, "We will not hit 
our children. We will talk to them. We will encourage them, and maybe take away a few little 
goodies from them, but no spanking," and we never did. 
 
Robert L. Reed  22:10 
And you found that worked? 
 
Page 11 of 13 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  22:12 
Better. 
 
Robert L. Reed  22:16 
How about some of the tasks around the home, like who did all the washing for a family that 
large? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  22:23 
Well, in the early years, when my mother was at her millinery trade, we always had a woman 
helping in the house. But later on, when we came back to Seattle and we were all more or less at 
home and going to school and so and so forth, we had an old fashioned washing machine, but it 
was not connected like an electric one. You have to do it-- handle it with a, you know, with a a 
handle going back and forth. [?I can't do it after-- I'm gonna explain it?]. And we took turns. 
Mother would do it until she was tired. Anybody else, they'd do it till they were tired. And so we 
got along. And hung the clothes out on the line. If it was rainy weather, we'd have to get them in 
again. If it was sunny, it was just wonderful. 
 
Robert L. Reed  23:14 
I don't suppose you had one of these old iron wash plots out in the yard? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  23:19 
No, they've all-- I don't know what happened to them. I don't have any of the old things now. 
 
Robert L. Reed  23:24 
I mean, at that time, did you-- if you lived in town, maybe you didn't. Maybe you don't know the 
old iron wash plots at a lot of farms. 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  23:35 
No-- oh, we had a boiler. We had a boiler to boil white clothes.  
 
Robert L. Reed  23:37 
But you did that on a stove, and not out in the yard. 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  23:40 
No, I don't know anything about it. No, we boiled them on the stove, the clothes, not outside. 
 
Robert L. Reed  23:51 
Was there a tendency for the German families sort of hang together around Maple Lake there?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  24:00 
No, no, I really don't-- can't say so. No. They were all w-- on each side, we had people who were 
Irish; we had a Jewish family, quite of a ways from us. They had a nice big business. And a few 
French people. Our parish priest was French, although he spoke in English at all the services and 
so forth. No, I don't see that they come together any different. 
 
Robert L. Reed  24:36 
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Did your parents get involved much community work? Were they interested in [crosstalk]? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  24:41 
My mother was always interested. She-- if I could just show you something, where she was--  
 
Robert L. Reed  24:54 
Shall we look at [?it a little later?]?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  24:56 
A little later on, maybe. I think have something or other. Yeah, she was interested in church 
work and anything that pertains to the school. She never missed the voting. She was always 
reading about voting.  
 
Robert L. Reed  25:13 
Voting? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  25:15 
My father. 
 
Robert L. Reed  25:17 
Your father.  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  25:17 
Yeah. Well later on... 
 
Robert L. Reed  25:20 
Later on. But in that time--  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  25:21 
There was no voting, I know, for women. My father was a great reader. He read everything about 
history and so forth. 
 
Robert L. Reed  25:32 
I suppose he read in two languages.  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  25:35 
He could. He used to say to us, "When I speak to you, I want you to answer me in German. If I 
speak you in English, you may answer me in English." So that went on for a while [laughs]. 
English was easier for us. 
 
Robert L. Reed  25:52 
Did your mother speak German also?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  25:55 
She could also. 
 
Page 13 of 13 
 
Robert L. Reed  25:58 
And your father, did he have his citizenship papers?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  26:01 
Oh, yes, he had those.  
 
Robert L. Reed  26:02 
Way back there before you were born? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  26:06 
Oh, yes. 
 
Robert L. Reed  26:07 
What are some of the things that the family did together? Did you go on picnics and...? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  26:13 
Oh, I'll tell you the most-- the best thing we could think of to do on a Sunday afternoon was to 
take walks. We always took walks, because there was so many of us. 
 