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Garness

Severt Garness emigrated from Norway when he was a young boy. He met his future wife, Matilda, in North Dakota. She had arrived to the United States from Norway when she was just nine months old. Severt moved to Tacoma in the early 1900s. He sent for Matilda and they were married in Old Town. Severt was a fisherman and established a homestead on Sunrise Beach in Crescent Valley. Matilda and Severt had five children: Marie, Laurie, Albert, Selmer and Ida. Ida died as an infant. When Severt wasn’t fishing, he worked the farm with Matilda, harvesting potatoes and other crops, and raising chickens, cattle and pigs. The children walked three miles to attend classes at Crescent Valley School. Tragically, both Albert and Selmer died young. Albert drowned just outside of Gig Harbor and Selmer died when his appendix burst. Laurie grew up and married Roland Smyth. They had two children: Corinne and Sonny. She later married Hans Seuness. Marie married Roy McDonald. She still lives in Gig Harbor. (source: Mary McDonald) GHPHS

Gilich

Andrew Gilich was born February 25th 1882 in the town of Sumartin on the Island of Brac, Croatia. At 17 years old, he immigrated to Vancouver, British Columbia and went to work on a fishing boat named Rainier. He moved to Gig Harbor where he skippered the seiner Traveler, and later owned and operated the Saint Mary. Andrew is recognized by local fishermen as having played a major role in the development of the Gig Harbor fishing industry. Throughout his career, he owned outright or had an interest in nine different fishing vessels. He was also a successful businessman. He was one of the original organizers of the Gig Harbor First National Bank, and a founder of the Friday Harbor Canning Company. Andrew invested in stocks and bonds, and was active in local commerce and real estate. With his partner, Justin Richardson, he built and operated the Peninsula Hotel (now Peninsula Square). Andrew and his wife Annetta had three children: Nora, John “Buster,” and Andrew Francis. Andrew Francis died two weeks after his birth. Mother Annetta died two months later. (source: croatians.com, American biographies A-J) GHPHS

In 1915, 20 year old Tony Gilich came to Gig Harbor to fish with his brother Andrew aboard his 50 ft. seiner, Traveler. Under his brother’s teutelage, Tony took quickly to the sea and, after two years, he used his earnings to purchase an interest in the 62 ft. Skansie-built seiner, the Commander. With Tony as skipper, the Commander did well fishing the Salmon Banks in the San Juan Islands. After only two seasons, Tony saved enough money to commission his own boat, the Victory. In the summer of 1919, the run of Salmon in the Puget Sound was small. Tony made the risky decision to take his new boat to up Kodiak, Alaska in hopes of a better catch. Far away from home, in fishing ground he had never seen before, it was a tremendous challenge. But the challenge proved to be worth it. The catch was so good that he was able to pay the balance on his share of the Victory within a year. Tony never returned to Alaska, opting instead to focus his talents on the San Juans. Before long, he was known as one of the top skippers of the Salmon Banks. Back in Gig Harbor, Tony married Angeline, the daughter of John Novak and Josephine Cosgrove (of Puyallup Native American origin). Tony and Angeline had two children, son Donald and daughter Marien. In 1933, Andrew and Tony built a dock and a net shed on the harbor. It remained in the Gilich family for commercial fishing until it was purchased for development by Paul Gustafson in the early 1980s. It was remodeled in 1985 to become the Arabella’s Landing Marina Clubhouse. (source: croatians.com, American biographies A-J, and puyallup tribalnews.net) GHNSS

Tony's son Don began his fishing career in 1935, when he was 15 years old. He crewed with skipper Tony Novak aboard the Harmony, a seiner in which his father held part interest. The next year, he crewed for his father's boat, the Victory, and received a full share. He would go on to spend the next 58 seasons on the same vessel. "I had always been interested in working on the net, and even at 16 years old, I was as accomplished a net-man as anyone else on my dad's crew," Don said. During WWII, Tony chartered the Victory to the US Coast Guard as a patrol vessel. As part of the arrangement, Don would enter the Coast Guard Reserve and serve as the Victory's skipper. The Victory was stationed at Port Angeles. Don said, "We went out looking for enemy submarines or planes, and we also ran errands which kept us pretty busy." The Victory was back in the fishing business in 1943, after the Coast Guard acquired another patrol boat. Don began running the Victory on a part-time basis in the 1940s. When Tony retired in 1971, Don assumed the helm of and made many improvements. He remained full-time skipper of the Victory until the age of 73. (source: croatians.com, American biographies A-J)

Goldsmith

Along with Sam Jerisich and John Farragut, Peter was one of three European settlers to establish the town of Gig Harbor. In the mid-1860s, the men met on a steamer bound for Victoria, British Columbia and by the time the vessel docked at Nanaimo they had decided to become business partners. Peter hailed from Dalmatia, Croatia and, upon his arrival to America, changed his from Petar Zlatarich to “Peter Goldsmith.” Peter, Sam and John fished the length of Vancouver Island and throughout the Puget Sound in a boat they rowed by hand. On one of their excursions to the south Sound, they happened upon a sheltered little bay with ample fishing grounds nearby. They decided to settle there and start a community that would come to be known as “Gig Harbor.” They cleared land, built rudimentary homes and established a nascent fishing industry. Peter married Millie, a woman 30 years his junior, and together they had a son, Peter Jr. After 1880, when he was registered as a 51 year old Pierce County fisherman in the U.S. Census, little is known of what became of Peter and his family. But for a few documents recording the transfer of title to land, and as a witness to marriage, the trail of his wherebouts quickly grows cold. The Washington Death Index lists one “Millie Goldsmith” who died in 1900 at the age of 39. Fourteen years later, just miles away from Gig Harbor, there is a “Peter Goldsmith” interred at the Pauper’s Cemetery in Tacoma. His birth and death dates match our founding fisherman. Burried right next to him is 32 year Peter Goldsmith Jr. Both men died the same year. (source: “First Croatian Fishermen on Vancouver Island,” by Dr. Zelimir Juricic [cousin of Samuel Jerisich]. Zagreb:Matica. 2001; also findagrave.com) BK/28-29, WFL

Goodman

Joseph w Goodman as born near Prague in Bohemia. He came to America in 1863 and enlisted in a Wisconsin regiment of the Union Army. In 1867, he married Rose Wright in Des Moines, Iowa. The following year they headed west. In 1883, the steamer Zephyr dropped Joseph, Rose and their children off on the sandspit at the mouth of Gig Harbor. The family lived in Sam Jerisich’s original one-room shack near the spit until a proper home could be built on the Goodmans’ 160-acre pre-emption claim in Crescent Valley. All provision were brought by rowboat from Tacoma. The Goodmans then carried their supplies 1 ½ miles up a narrow trail from the beach to their home. Joseph smoothed the skids of an old logger road near their land so his daughters could use a wheelbarrow to make the hauling a little easier. There were a number of families already living on the peninsula when the Goodmans arrived. There was a school in Artondale, but it was quite a distance away and the trail leading to it was not safe. In 1885, the first school opened in Gig Harbor with 17-year-old Anna Goodman as teacher. The local Native American community loaned the settlers a small building near their village for the schoolhouse. Its equipment was scant, the term lasted only four months, and sometimes the mud-and-stick chimney caught fire. Nevertheless, for the ten children (both Native American and settler) who attended classes there, it was the beginning of formal education in Gig Harbor. Of the seven Goodman girls, four grew up to be teachers. Anna and Lucy became very well known as educators in Pierce County. When she retired, Lucy had the distinction of having taught school longer than any other person in the United State – 76 years! GHPHS

Gustafson

John Gustafson came to the United States from Sweden in 1879. He first settled in Colorado, where he worked as a stonecutter and a miner. In 1883, he came to Gig Harbor and established a 160-acre homestead in the Midway area. He cleared the land and built a small house made of split cedar. He worked as a logger and raised dairy cows and chickens. He purchased more land in Gig Harbor, which he subdivided and sold. He also donated land for the construction of Midway’s first church. He served on the local school board and, as a foreman, mapped and supervised the building of many of the roads along the Peninsula. John married Anna Ferguson. They had a son, Earnest, who died at age 19 during a flu epidemic. John later married Inez Young House. (sources: Paul Gustufson, Shirley Knapp & The History of Pierce County) GHPHS

Gustafson

Like John, Oscar and Anna Lisa were also born in Sweden. The couple established a much smaller homestead, a 10-acre farm, also in the Midway area. They raised six children: Carl, Oscar Jr. (Al), Einar, Ebba, Mildred and Arnold. Oscar was a logger. Every Sunday night he walked to Rosedale by lantern light, met fellow loggers and together they rowed to the lower peninsula where they worked hard, physical labor, felling trees five days a week, before Oscar returned to Midway on Friday evenings. Oscar Jr., better known as “Al,” was an engineer aboard a number of steamships in the Puget Sound. For years, he transported freight between Seattle, Victoria, Port Townsend and Port Angeles. Al’s son Burton was lost at sea while stationed in Alaska during the war. Oscar’s son Einar was an engineer on diesel ships. He worked in the Puget Sound and on the open seas. He was on a ship in the Philippines when the Japanese attacked during WWII. Son Arnold was an electrician. He worked for Puget Sound Power and Light. He died in a car accident on the way to a job. Mildred married Ernest LeMay, who had a meat market in Olympia. Ebba married Bert Uddenberg and had six children: Jeanette, Lola, Shirley, Patricia, Rosalie & Bert Jr. Bert owned and operated the West Side Grocery Store (where Tides Tavern is now). After serving in WWI, he opened the town’s first Ford Dealership. GHPHS

Guttormsen

Carl Guttormsen was born in Kjolsdalen, Norway. He came to the U.S. in 1907. He first settled in Minnesota, where he worked as a lumber inspector. He then lived briefly in California before moving to Tacoma in 1917. There he met and married Karen Elizabeth Alsvik. Karen was also from Norway. She came to America in 1916. She spent two years working for the family that had sponsored her entry into the U.S. Carl and Karen moved to Gig Harbor in 1920. Carl built a house for Karen and himself, and another for his friend Tom Throsdahl. The homes were located at the head of the bay. Carl and Karen had four children, only two of whom survived childhood: Clarence and Elsie. When Clarence was two, the family bought 10 acres of land in Crescent Valley from Harry Rowley. The property had been part of the Rowley homestead. Carl cleared the land and built a small house. In 1929, he built a larger, permanent home for his family. He farmed the land and worked as a carpenter. He also crewed for Gig Harbor fishing boats when they left in the spring to fish Alaska and northern Washington. While Carl was away, Karen and the children kept the farm going. After completing high school, daughter Elsie attended the University of Washington. She married William Wenrich and had one son, William Douglas. Clarence worked for Spadoni Brothers for many years, retiring in 1983. After her husband died, Elsie married Glen Baker. Clarence married Jean Otto in 1943. They raised three children, Gerald, Karen & Ronald, in the family home (source: Clarence and Jean Guttormsen) GHPHS