Bertha and Gussie: A tale of Two Sisters - Softcover

Erhart, James W; Porter, Mary Erhart

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1481936883 ISBN 13: 9781481936880

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013

Synopsis

About Bertha and Gussie Bertha (Behnke) Erhart and Augusta (Behnke) Harley were born In Quartz Valley, California on August 24, 1871, and September 22, 1867 respectively. The story is that Bertha, my grandmother, came to Sawyers Bar as a baby over Salmon Mountain strapped to the side of a mule. Presumably Gussie, and the rest of the family, came with her. Both lived almost their entire lives in and around Sawyers Bar, a mountain mining town about 50 miles west of Yreka in Siskiyou county, a place so canyon-buried that even today the town (if you can call it that) does not have electricity. Both kept diaries, which fortune has delivered into my hands. What follows is their account, of their lives, written in their words, set down here just as they recorded them in a box full of yellowed but beautifully preserved note books, ledgers and diaries.

About this title

About the Author

Jim Erhart, grandson to Bertha, cousin to Mary (Erhart) Porter, lives in San Francisco with his wife Marilyn, but still visits the Sawyers Bar area regularly, where he and his brother have two moderatly active gold mines, both with potential, but no cigar yet. At 88 he still fishes the nearby Trinity river, (the Salmon river has long been closed to fishing, and long devoid of salmon), writes poetry (new collections, Natural Things I and II have just been published) and serves on the board of Pocket Opera, a notoriously under appreciated jewel in the crown of San Francisco. Long retired, he is ernestly engaged in enjoying life. MARY JANE ERHART PORTER is the oldest and only daughter of Virginia and Eric Erhart. She was born and raised in San Francisco, Ca. Growing up, she visited her Grandma Bertha as well as her Great-Aunt Gussie Harley many times and has fond memories of those visits. Her father’s career as an engineer for the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads, took her to live in Ankara, Turkey in 1948. She met and married her husband Ethan O. Porter, Jr. in Ankara in 1949. Ethan was serving with the U.S.Navy Mission For Aid To Turkey. The Porter’s have 3 children: Douglas, (b. in Ankara in June 1950; Jeffrey, (b. 1951 in Bethsda, Md.) and Laura (b. 1958 in Madrid Spain). Upon her husband’s retirement from the U.S. Navy, they chose San Diego, Ca. as their home and have lived there since 1976.

Edition details

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1481936883
• ISBN 13: 9781481936880
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 396