by Roxy Triebel
treebz65@hotmail.com

I have in my possession Moses and Etta ( Merrihew) Gorsline's Marriage Certificate.

Etta was half English and half Dutch, She was a refined "English Lady."

Etta and Moses had eight children, two died as young children.  Etta had grown children with families when she had her last child at forty- four years of age.  It was like having two family.

Etta and Moses also raised seven of their grand-children, and still had three of their own at home.  By the old picture i have it looks like a lot of the other grandchildren were always at their home.  This time was during the great depression, Moses had 10 children to cloth and feed and cloth, three were his own children and six and sometime seven grandchildren were living with them.

My father was in W.W. II and i was the only child then.  My mother was Frances Gorsline Mackes, Etta was her grandmother that raised her.  Mother and I would walk to "Grammy's" house a couple time a week to have afternoon tea with her.  It was across town and i was only three and four years old. It was a very long walk.  We could not afford a taxie or bus back then.

Some of my cousin remember her a being a old lady that just in her chair and did nothing.  I remember her differently, as a loving funny lady.  I really loved her and when i think of her today i still get tears in my eyes.  When I was five years old my brother was born and "Grammy Etta" came and stayed at our house to take care of me.  It was around Halloween and i had a jet black cat, when he came in the house she would say "that cat belongs to the witches", and I would laugh.

Every time I eat applesauce I think of her because she made me home-made applesauce, it was so delicious.  I have many fond memories of her.  She would gather all us children around her chair and tell us things about her life.  A lot of my cousins don't remember the stories she told us, I have a good long term memory but its starting to get short and i listened intently to her.  One story was about someone in her family and their neighbors in Ulster County, New York that hit oil.  My Grammy never swore, but when she told this story she did.  She would raise her voice and say "That John Jacob Bastard" .  He bought all the land around our family and they could not ship their oil out. (She ment by train)  I was young and did not know who this man was or his status in life.  When i learn of him in school i never made a connection with this story. Many years later when I had three children and divorced, my mother , the children and I went to Canada.  We took the cruise of the Thousand Island on Lake Ontario.  The tour guide was pointing out famous peoples homes and he said "here is John Jacob Astor's home", it brought back the memories of the story by "Grammy".  I blurted out louder than I thought, and said to my mom is that the same "John Jacob Bastard" Grammy told us about. I always thought that was his name.  I was so embarrassed because it came out so loud that everyone around us heard me.  He was one in the same.

Another thing she would say was "That General Gage" is no relation to us, because he was a "Tory" and fought for King George in the Revolutionary War. I haven't been able to find out if he is one of our ancestors or not, but when she said it she raised her voice and it sounded like she was denouncing him from our family.  Since working on my family genealogy i have found other "Tories" in the family. America was a young country, the men and boys fighting for their "Freedom" and our Freedom today, from King George were looked upon as "rebels".  Some people like living under the heavy hand of the Kings rule. They did not want to upset the apple cart or as we might say today "Rock the boat",  I guess Grammy (Etta VanKleeck Merrihew Gorsline) did not know how many "Tories" were in our family and other families.  Many more of our ancestors fought for what they thought was right.  "The Freedom We Have Today", many lost there lives doing.  Etta's father died when she was about 5 years old from wounds he received in the "Civil War".  My thanks goes out to all my ancestors and everyone elses ancestors who fought for our freedom.

Grammy would tell us about when she spent the summers with her uncle "Jeremiah Van Kleeck" on his house boat on the "St. Lawerence" river.  My cousin Janet and I figured out why the boys don't remember anything Grammy telling us stories is because they were in the basement playing and not listening to Grammy.

My sister and I took my mom grave hopping in the 1981,we went into Kingston, NY , in a window of a building near the court house was the remains of Jeremiah VanKleeck's house boat.  It poured the three days we spent in the area. We did not get to see as much as we would of like to.  I also was not interested in genealogy at the time.  I did not take my camera or a notebook.  Now i am very sorry about it. i don't know if i will ever make it back.

If I sat back and started thinking, i could remember some more stories Grammy told us or what she told my mother while she was growing up.

She was the only grand - mother i had, She was my Great - grandmother.  Both my grandmothers died before i was born.

73 Survive Women, 83

Mrs. Etta Gorsline, 83 of 735 N. 11 Th Street, Allentown, matriarch of a clan which numbered 73 descendents into the 5th generation died at 5:25 p.m. yesterday at her home

She came to this area from Samsonville, Ulster County, New York, where she was born, a Daughter of Jerry - ( A misprint in the newspaper, her father was Truman. D. Merrihew)  Truman D. and Kathryn ( Van Kleeck ) Merrihew were her parents.

She lived in Northampton for 53 years and in Allentown,- with a son-in-law and daughter. Mr. and Mrs. William T. Kleppinger.  She was of the Evangelical and Reformed Faith.

Her husband, Moses D. Gorsline died 24 years ago.

She is survived by two daughters, Mrs. Ethel Beahm, and Dolores O. Kleppinger, wife of Willian T. Kleppinger, both of Allentown; and three sons Leon D. and Robert M. Gorsline, both of Kingston, New York, and Kenneth E. Gorsline, Williamsport, PA

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