The long route to Portland, Oregon

An address search of Gottsackers in the United States will turn up a number of Gottsacker families in Oregon, both in Portland and Woodburn, about 30 minutes south of Portland. The Oregon branch of our family owes its existence to Joseph Peter Gottsacker and his wife Catherine Linder, one of the 6 original Gottsacker immigrant families. In November of 2004, I had the great pleasure of meeting many members of the Oregon Gottsackers. The story of their branch of the family is very interesting due to the long journey of Joseph Peter and Catherine that finally ended in Portland, tragedy along the way, and the rise of several significant entrepreneurs in the Oregon Gottsacker families

The story begins. Where else…but…

Like every other Gottsacker immigrant family, Joseph Peter and Catherine settled first in Wisconsin–Mt. Calvary, Wisconsin, about 30 miles north of Sheboygan. At the time, Mt. Calvary was the home of at least two other Gottsacker immigrant families–Carl Gottsacker and wife Catherine Gergen and Peter Gottsacker and wife Anna Orth. If you’ve read the page on this website about Farmer, SD, you may recognize the family of Carl and Catherine–all but one of their daughters became pioneers/founders of Farmer. In Mt. Calvary, Carl Gottsacker was a mechanic, Peter Gottsacker was a shoemaker and Joseph Peter supported his wife Catherine Linder and family first as a shoemaker and later as a barber.

Moves around Southeast Wisconsin

As we will learn, Joseph Peter and Catherine moved quite a bit, especially considering the time period–the mid to late 1800s. The couple stayed in Mt. Calvary at least long enough to have one child there–Anna Marie Josephine Gottsacker, born September 7, 1859. Sometime in the next year, Joseph Peter and Catherine moved to Racine, just south of Milwaukee. Two more children were born in Racine, Helen C., born December 21, 1860 and Joseph P., born July 9, 1863. By 1865, it appears that the family moved a bit further northeast, to the Waukesha area (now a suburb of Milwaukee). A fourth child, Casper N., was born on December 17, 1865 in Duplainville, WI, very near Waukesha. All the remaining children–Kate, Anna, John Edward, Peter J. and Theresa (Trace)–appear to have born in the Waukesha area. The last of these births was in 1879. Racine, Duplainville, and Waukesha are all a short distance from one of the largest German cities in the country at the time–Milwaukee.

On to Kansas and tragedy

Shortly after the birth of their last child in 1879, Joseph Peter and Catherine moved their family to an area near Beloit, Kansas called ‘Plumb Creek’. It is not clear whether this is a very small town that no longer exists, or simply a geographical reference point–in either case, no such town exists on current maps. The family appears in the 1880 census at the Plumb Creek location with Joseph’s occupation listed as ‘Farmer’. While living in Kansas, two of the Gottsacker daughters married: Anna Marie married John Deters in 1881 and Kate married Richard Hune in 1884. After five short years of marriage and two children of their own, Kate was seriously burned in a stove fire and died as a result of her injuries on September 30th, 1889. A child she was carrying at the time of the accident also died.

Another, final, move

Whether it was the death of their married daughter Kate and her child, or other circumstances, the family once again pulled up stakes and moved. After living in Kansas since 1880, the family reappeared in 1892 in Portland and the city directory for that year lists Joseph in business as a barber with a man named Rosenkranz. One year later, Joseph opened his own barbershop at 390 E. Morrison in Portland. The site of the barbershop is long gone–it is now the site of a bridge abutment. In these early days in Portland, Casper was a carpenter, brother Joseph, like his father was a barber, and brother Edward was a clerk in a store. The family has begun to sink long lasting roots in the Portland area.

An immigrant and his son pass away

In 1895, barber and immigrant Joseph Peter Gottsacker died, leaving a large but active and thriving family. After Joseph Peter’s death, son Joseph assumed barbering duties at the barber shop on Morrison St. Just two years later, this son Joseph also passed away at the age of 34.

A turn for better at the turn of the century

By 1901, two of the Gottsacker brothers, Casper and John Edward (known as Ed) opened a grocery store on Grand Avenue in East Portland, across the Wilamette River from downtown Portland. The building, much remodeled since the turn of the century, is below. The store was known as Gottsacker Brothers Grocery and most Gottsacker family members lived above the store at this site, including Joseph Peter’s wife Catherine.

The family prospers

About 12 years after establishing their first grocery store, Casper and Ed opened a second location at 21-23 E. 12th Street in Portland. This beautiful craftsman style building is now on the National Register of Historic Places (photo below). The Gottsackers did not own this building–they rented it for $20/ month from the time it opened until the grocery closed in the early 1970s–the rent never changed. While still open, the grocery was also known as the Rosebud Grocery, probably to distinguish it from the orginal Gottsacker Brothers Grocery location on Grand. The building now houses two recently closed restaurants and a coffee shop.

Daughters and more daughters

Casper and wife Philomena and Ed and wife Anna had a total of 12 children–11 of them daughters! The single male was Roland. At the left in the photo below are Bernice, Lucille, Louise, Eva, Gertude, and Edith Gottsacker, daughters of Ed and Anna. Locally, they are known as “The Gottsacker Girls”. In the photo below on the right are Casper and wife in front and Philamena. Children Luella, Roland, Delma and Theatta at the rear.

Below are Ed Gottsacker and daughter Bernice in front of family house on SE Alder in Portland. On the right is the house as it stands today.

Another store, another tragedy

By 1926, another Portland Gottsacker grocery store, called Kleen-Way Grocery was opened by the Gottsackers on NE 42nd St. At some point, there was a split between brothers Casper and Ed. Although it is unclear exactly how their interests were split, Casper was responsible for the Kleen-Way store and Ed for the other two stores. On October 16, 1941, tragedy once again struck the Oregon Gottsackers when Ed, working outside his store, was struck by a truck as it was rounding the corner. Ed died later that day of injuries from the accident. Daughters Eva and Gertrude took over active management of the store and continued in that role until 1973, when the store closed. Daughters Lucille and Eva are shown below inside the store. Theatta, daughter of Casper eventually became the active manager of the Kleen-Way Grocery on 42nd St.

Pickles!

In 1933, Roland, Casper’s son and the only male of 11 children of Ed and Casper, started a food processing and manufacturing company. Within a year, the company expanded and was known as Roland’s Food Products. Roland was the first in the area to provide premixed food spreads and toppings to grocery stores. Within 5 years of starting the food products company, Roland was processing and distributing pickles, mayonnaise, potato salad and sauerkraut. On September 10, 1937, Roland expanded pickle production by purchasing the assets of Goldstaub Pickling, Co.

More pickles and real estate

Roland Gottsacker’s pickle processing career continued with son Bert Gottsacker. Bert had been involved in his father’s food processing business starting in about 1950. In 1960, Bert Gottsacker and 9 other Woodburn, OR area men organized a company to process pickles in the Woodburn area. The company, Woodburn Enterprises, processed between 150 and 200 tons of cucumbers a year and also processed and packaged sauerkraut. In the photo below, Bert Gottsacker, (left) and partner Bob Boitano (right) are unloading fresh dill pickles. In 1964, after all those years in the food processing and pickle business, Bert became a realtor and within 4 years, opened his own real estate office, Woodburn Realty.

2004: Fewer and fewer Gottsackers

While the Portland, OR area is home to many decendants of Joseph Peter and Catherine Linder Gottsacker, few carry the Gottsacker family name since most of the descendants were female. As mentioned earlier, I had the pleasure of meeting several cousins. Below, at the left, is Bert and Bette Gottsacker who live near Woodburn, OR. At the right are several cousins, including two family elders, Eva Gottsacker at 94 years and Edith at 96 years. They lived in the city of Portland. In addition to Edith, and Eva in Portland, there are only three additional Gottsackers in the Woodburn, OR area–brothers Bert, Mel and Bill Gottsacker. (Note: Mel passed away in 2009, Eva in 2008 and Edith in 2009).

Special thanks to Laura Buffington who has extensively researched the Oregon Gottsacker family. Her research is exceptionally detailed and provided many insights into the Orgeon family, its travels and traumas.