P

Patrick

George Patrick arrived in Gig Harbor with the Burnham family from Albert Lea, Minnesota. Along with Dr. Burnham and others, George was a partner in Gig Harbor’s first lumber mill, the Gig Harbor Lumber Co. sawmill, a short lived venture. George and his wife Harriette Payne had four children: Emma, Nellie, Edgar & Albert. Emma married Cash Fuller. Their children, Bess and George, both died quite young. Bess was only four and George just 14. Cash ran the local telephone office and was one of the original organizers of the Gig Harbor Cemetery. Nellie married Christian Barness. Christian worked for American Teredoproff Co. and the Kino-Benton Land and Water Co. The couple was active in the Gig Harbor Cemetery Association. In the early 1900s, when the Association was unable to make payments on its mortgage, the Barnesses and Cash Fuller assumed the debt and deeded the title back to the Association. Albert Patrick married Lillie Hunt, one of Miles and Maritta Hunt’s daughters. Edgar Patrick married Lennie Hord, who was related to Rachel Hord Burnham, the matriarch of the Burnham family. Edgar had a boat-building and repair business. Lennie was a founding member of the Ladies Fortnightly Club. The couple had one daughter, Zelma. Zelma married Lillie Hunt’s brother, Arthur. GHPHS

Peacock

William Peacock was born in Maine. He served in the Union Army during the Civil War. His wife Anna was from Vermont. They moved to Gig Harbor in 1894 and builta a home on Peacock Hill. William was a millwright. For many years the family also delivered the Tacoma News Tribune. William and Anna had three children: Maud, Eva and Ernest. Ernest and his wife, Myrtie, had several children, including Proctor, who owned and operated Peacock Realty, and Gilbert. After Ernest’s death, Myrtie Married Ernest Magoon. Gilbert married Violet Shaw and had two children, Frank and Steve. In later years, Annie and William moved to a house on the water, just south of Finholm’s Market in north Gig Harbor. The original family home currently houses the Paradise Theater Company. (source: P. Alvestad) GHPHS

Pearson

Oliver Warren (“O.W.”) was born Olaf Pearson in Akaboda, Sweden. He herded geese when he was 5 years old. In 1871, at age 14, he immigrated to the U.S. with his father, two brothers, and a sister. They settled in New Sweden, Maine. From 1884-1892, O.W. edited a Swedish language religious newspaper. In 1887, he completed his training at the Chicago Theological Seminary, becoming a Seventh Day Baptist minister & missionary. While at school, he met Mary Nelson, who was working in a church office. From 1890-1929 he also published his own religious newspaper. Mary was born Maria Nilsdottar in Vanga, Sweden. Her father immigrated to Newaygo, Michigan in 1880. Mary, her mother, and 3 of her brothers joined him the following year. O.W. and Mary married in 1888 and settled in Chicago. O.W. became a U.S. citizen in 1890. The Pearsons moved to Warren, Gig Harbor (on Hales Pass) in 1905. O.W. farmed, raising tomatoes and cucumbers in greenhouses that stepped up the south-facing hill behind the house. He was known for having the earliest produce on the Pass and was a member of the Hales Pass and Wollochet Navigation Co. Mary was an excellent midwife, delivering many of the babies born in the Warren, Cromwell and Wollochet areas. She enjoyed quilting. O.W. and Mary had eight children: Clifford, Paul Peter (died at 3 months), Paul Pontus, Olive, Edna, Phillip, Ben & Pearl. GHPHS

Anna Ahlberg was wooed by Clifford Pearson for two years. Clifford was the eldest child of O.W. and Mary Pearson. Anna was one of five born to Andrew and Maria Ahlberg. Anna loved to crochet, making all of the lace for her wedding garments and her trousseau. Anna and Clifford were married at Anna’s parents’ home in 1911. They purchased five acres in Warren, Gig Harbor, where their children Ralph, Carl, Doris and Eugene were born. Trained as a carpenter by his father, Clifford built 15 homes, the Roxy Theater, Rehn’s Garage and Mr. Rupert’s 10 cent store in Gig Harbor. During WWII, Clifford was foreman of hull construction at the Gig Harbor Shipyard, and later of Edson Boat Co. Clifford was a pacifist; still, his son Carl died during the Battle of the Bulge in WWII. Clifford raised tomatos and sold eggs from over 1500 hens. Clifford’s daughter, Doris, achieved her teaching degree from Seattle Pacific College and taught at several schools on the Peninsula and at Mt. Vernon. Clifford served on various school boards over the years and on the board of the Peninsula Light Company. Anna belonged to the Happy Thoughts Club, the Hales Pass Orthopedic Guild and the Horsehead Bay Garden Club. (source: Barbara Pearson) GHPHS

Peyran

Phillip H. Peyran owned of Hollycroft Farms, a holly and Christmas tree farm on Soundview Drive. Establish 1914, with 35 holly trees. By 1929, Peyran had 600 producing trees and 15,000 smaller trees on 20 acres of land, delivering 2000boxes of holly. The Peyrans were a pioneering family at head of the bay. TPL, GHPHS

Puratich

Paul Puratich immigrated to Gig Harbor from Croatia in the early 1900s. Paul crewed on many fishing boats before he had the Emancipator built in1918. He married Spiro Babich's sister, Jeroma "Mumala" Babich and had two children, Marian and John. John married Katherine Jurich from Old Town Tacoma and had five children (Paul, John Jr. des'd, Joe, Bob, and Patty). Paul Sr. owned and operated many vessels over the years fishing from California to the Bering Sea.

The original family home, in historic Millville, was located to the south of the current net shed site. John inherited the property from his father, passing it on to his sons. The property includes a pier with the netshed, and upland a home and shop for the family fishing business. Sons Robert and Joseph began fishing with their father around the age of ten and continued in the business ever since. Unlike many of the other fishing families still living in Gig Harbor, the Puratich family continues to participate in a variety of fisheries that includes seining for salmon and sardines, and trawling for pollock, cod and shrimp. As a result, the they are away from Gig Harbor seven to nine months of the year.With such a large operation, their current storage needs outstretch the two net sheds in Gig Harbor. They have storage in ports up and down the west coast.

Originally built in the 1920s, Paul Puratich had the netshed rebuilt around 1950 after a fire in the 1930s or 1940s. A shipwright named Oscar was said to have helped rebuild the shed after the fire “took seines and seine skiff.” The new design had the netshed built further into the harbor. The tin siding and tin roof were replaced with wood siding and a shingled roof. A partial rebuild was done in the 1980’s and with the pier fully reconstructed in about 2013. Paul’s sons (Robert and Joseph) have kept the netshed well maintained for active use as a commercial fishing structure and plan to continue to do so. GHNSS