Pike Township Family Stories
GEIRSE FAMILY
Nichols, Iowa Centennial Book 1884-1984, pages 256-257
By Laura GeirseThe Geirse (Gersey) family came to the United States from Germany. They changed the spelling of the name as they were leaving Germany as Germany was talking war. The young couple first stopped in Nebraska, then went on to El Reno, Oklahoma. In 1894 they came to Iowa in a covered wagon with six children. The older ones walked most of the way with their father.
They settled on the farm 4 ½ miles north and east of Nichols. The farm had more timber than farm land. The father died in 1895. The mother, with the kind help of neighbors, kept her family together and helped the boys cut cord wood and clear more land. They finally had 260 acres, a lot of that raised good crops. They farmed with horses and walked behind the plow to cultivate corn. They cut hay and oats with a sickle. Their mother passed away in 1912.
The four boys helped a carpenter build a large barn in 1911. In 1925 the old house was torn down and much of that lumber was used to build a new house. The four boys helped the carpenter with the building.
The youngest boy, Carl Geirse, and I were married in 1928 and lived on the farm until 1945 when we moved to an 80 acre farm that we bought in 1834. The land adjoined ours.
Early one spring we had such a heavy rain along with snow melting that the Wapsie creek flooded a pasture for us, and we had to bring our cattle home around the road. They were standing in water near a fence when we got to them. Later that day the bridge washed away down stream. Before that, the Wapsie bridge on Main Road 70 washed down stream. The railroad bridge stopped it from going further.
The children all attended Adams school and Lean Geirse became a teacher. She taught at Poole school, Lone Tree and Nichols schools.
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