JJ and Leah Ganders Sam and Olive Ganders Stanton, Ruth and Dean Betty and Stanton Ganders, & Larry Bickleton Farmhouse (Hooker Place) Campaign photo, About 1958 1888 Homestead Agreement Oestrich Place "Normandie" Ship that carried Leah and young Sam Ganders  from Le Havre, France, to New York Arriving September, 1884 Headstone of J.J. Ganders Bickleton IOOF Cemetery (2011) Drawing believed to represent descriptions of the Gander Family Coat of Arms, perhaps dating back for centuries. The source was a seal used by JJs Grandfather, Christian Gander of Switzerland 1759-1836

The Ganders Family History Gander as a Swiss name dates back in written records 687 years to 1324 A.D. Firm ancestral links to our family lead to Willi Gander, born in 1526. Much of the family records are recorded in German in Gsteig, a town in the canton of Bern, Switzerland, just eight miles from the French-speaking region. The name originated from the "Gands," the fertile agricultural slopes of the Bernese Oberland (The higher and southern part of the Bern "canton" or Swiss state). The Gander Family (Johann Jakob and L'ea Gander) came to Washington Territory from the Swiss-German portion of Switzerland in 1884 and we, the family descendants, still reside in what is now the state of Washington. Upon arrival to Washington Territory, the Gander Family members spoke Swiss-German and Swiss-French. They could read English but did not speak it. Johann was a landscaper and the couple came to homestead. They were attracted by the plentiful bunchgrass, canyons full of wildflowers, distant alpine-like views of Mt. Adams and Mt Hood, a reputation for being good cattle country, and unusual geology (that many years later was regarded as due to a great flood following the ice age as Johann had suspected). The Gander Family found remaining homestead lands in 1884 unsuitable. They ended up purchasing better land elsewhere in the county, near Bickleton, WA. The property was known then as the Smith Homestead near a rural post office called "Bluelight." They raised polled (hornless) Hereford cattle and later expanded the farm for raising wheat.   To emigrate 7,000 miles from Switzerland to Bickleton, they took a steamship to the United States, crossed America by a series of early railroad lines ending with a recently-completed link operated by the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company. The train, which had connections to Northern Pacific from St. Paul, Minn., ran from Wallula (near Tri-Cities) and stopped at what is now called Arlington, Ore (then called Alkali.) They had to barge across the untamed Columbia River to what is now Roosevelt, WA (then there was no town). Johann (Larry's great grandfather) first made the 7,000-mile trip to the Bickleton Country alone. He sailed from Le Havre, France, on the 394-foot "Labrador" steamship. The rest was mostly by train to Alkali. He hiked about 25 miles or more from the river crossing to the Bickleton Trading Post. It was 1,000 feet above the river crossing. At that trading post, he found someone who also spoke Swiss and advised him to purchase a nearby farm. After the land transaction was complete, Larry's great grandmother L'ea, and Larry's grandfather, Sam, made the trip from Switzerland on the French passenger ship, "Normandie."They arrived in New York on Sept. 1, 1884 and took railroad lines to Oregon. The last 30 miles of their trip to Washington Territory may have been the most trying. Six of the 22 pine trunks that L'ea brought with her were blown into the river during the difficult Columbia barge crossing. However, all of the trunks were recovered.  Over a period of 15 years, they "Americanized" their Swiss-German name to "Ganders" a feeble try to avoid teasing of their children in school with rhymes like, "Goosie Goosie Gander."  John Jakob, who also went by Jean Jacques Gander on the ship's registry, became known simply at J.J. L'ea preferred the French Jean Jacque name. But L'ea changed the spelling of her own name to Leah. A wagon accident led to JJs death in 1901 and Leah became a single mother of a family that had grown to nine children. The family farm was moved to the O'Brien homestead and soon included what was known as the "Wilber Carrell Place," homesteaded by the Carrell family in 1904.  The Ganders home was on or near that property.  The eldest, Sam, at 18 years old, assumed much of the role of father. His strength and impatience were legendary. He reportedly rose from a sick bed with typhoid fever to roll six 300 pound bales of gunny sacks from a burning barn. He was said to have cured himself of a chest injury by gulping turpentine. He managed farm operations and also worked at the "Bank of Bickleton" which was formed in 1903 and  merged with "Community State Bank" (of Mabton) in 1931. Sam was on the board of the merged bank. Sam married the daughter of the owner of the Bickleton Livery Stable, Olive. Her family also operated one of two hotels in Bickleton, the Hotel Grand. She was a graduate of what is now Central Washington University and taught elementary school at nearby Dot School. She was a descendent of the Civil War pilot who ran the blockade at Vicksburg for General U.S. Grant. Sam and Olive gave birth to Stanton (Larry's father), Ruth, and Dean. Dean repaired airplanes, flew Hanford security, and built some of the first hangars at Vista Field in Kennewick.  Sam purchased 480 acres from the farm of Christian & Annie Oestreich in 1916 (Originally homesteaded by Christian Oestrich and Edward Duffy in 1886 & 1888.) Sam and Olive made their home on what was called the "Oestreich Place." The farm had distinctive white buildings with green roofs, a Delco-Light electrical system that fed glass batteries and provided electricity from the pumphouse before the advent of power lines, a smoke house, a bunk house, a chicken coop, a large barn, garage, and a farmhouse with a white picket fence. There was a stained glass window in the master bedroom.  The implement shed housed the family wagon and buggy until the 1970s. The barn is still located off "Gander Road." In 1929, Sam was among three Bickleton men that negotiated the purchase of a unique merry-go-round that is still an operating attraction at the annual Alder Creek Pioneer Picnic near Bickleton. The 24-horse Armitage Herschell/Herschell-Spillman carousel was built in New York between 1890 and 1907. The technology is unique because the horses rock but there is no overhead mechanism. There are less than ten still operational in the U.S.  In 1937, Stanton purchased 480 acres from Thomas and Ada Hooker. The Hookers had farmed in Bickleton after homesteading in 1895. The former Hooker home on Ferguson Road became Stanton's home. It still stands today, also painted white and green. The Hooker place also had a large red barn, a machine shed, a shop, a quonset for grain storage, and a pig pen; Stanton tried his hand at raising sheep but focused on raising polled herefords, wheat and barley.  Stanton continued to farm the Hooker Place, the Oestrich Place, the Wilber Carrell Place, other Bickleton family property farmed by his parents and grandparents. He acquired the Beckner Place, which once was the site of a dance hall and artesian well on the Mabton-Bickleton road near the Yakima-Klickitat County line. He married Elizabeth (Betty) Fraunfelder, also a Swiss-German immigrant and professional Swiss entertainer. Stanton became a state senator from a district that included Bickleton, Yakima and Tri-Cities. He was often credited with being the politician who made possible construction of the Blue Bridge between Kennewick and Pasco. Children Larry, Linda (Johnson) and Lisa (Yoshida) were born in Yakima, about 70 miles from the Bickleton farm.  In 1961, Stanton and Betty moved their family to Spokane where Stanton worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They later lived in Olympia, where both are now buried. Larry lives in Olympia. Lisa and Linda live in Spokane. -- Written by Larry Ganders, relying heavily on two scholarly publications: "Pioneering Ganders" (1974) and "Horse Heaven Hills" (1977) Both authored by Harry S Ganders 1894-1978 (originally born Obed Ganders), Bickleton native and one of nine children of JJ and Leah Ganders; Founding Dean of Education, and Graduate School Dean, at Syracuse University Published by Syracuse University Printing Services and copyrighted 1974, 1977 -- Information also gleaned from the family's own records, deeds, and recollections and... -- "The History of Klickitat County", 1982, Edited by Pete May (who was one of Larry's journalism mentors), Published by the Klickitat County Historical Society, Goldendale, WA. -- Special thanks to Klickitat historian Ada Ruth Whitmore and Sandra Powers, both of Bickleton, for their assistance (Eastern Klickitat County Historical Society.) -- Ship registry information confirmed through Ancestry.Com, Norway Heritage.Com, and TheShipsList.Com Stanton Ganders and Larry; Bickleton wheat farm, About 1958; Right, Larry Ganders, 2005.