Title: Van Gorden Family Papers : transcriptions and copies
Inclusive Dates: 1940-1945

Creator:

• Van Gorden family

Call Number: Eau Claire Mss CE

Quantity: 0.2 cubic feet (1 half-archives box)

Repository:

Housed at the Area Research Center, William D. McIntyre Library, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

UW-Eau Claire McIntyre Library / Eau Claire Area Research Ctr. (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Transcriptions completed by Cyrena Dierauer of her grandfather's diary (1940-1945) and her father's World War II letters home. Harry Van Gorden kept the diary while living in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where he operated a gasoline supply business and several gas stations. His diary entries reflect family life of the times, the gasoline business during World War II, and his interest in news events of the day. The letters are from his son, Archie “Red” Van Gorden, written while serving with the 32nd Division between July 1941 and December 1943 in Australia and New Guinea. Dierauer compiled the letters into a volume entitled “Red Arrow 'Red' Letters Home from WW2” with a brief family history, transcriber's notes photocopies of family photographs, a few newsclippings, and an index to names mentioned in the letters.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-ec00ce

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Flat arrangement.

Harry Humphrey Van Gorden was born on February 2, 1881, to Schuyler and Clara Van Gorden. Schuyler owned a General Store in Hixton, Wisconsin where Harry worked up until 1902, when he married Mary Ellen 'Nellie' McCullough and they opened a store together in Fenwood, Wisconsin. The couple would have three sons: Archie 'Red,' Bruce, and Kenneth between 1903-1905. After their store in Fenwood burned down, they bought a General Store in Alma Center, Wisconsin in 1908 which they would run until 1930. They also bought the Feed Mill in town in the 1920s. By the 1930s, Harry and his sons would own four Feed Mills in four different cities as the company H.H. Van Gorden & Sons before Harry sold out of the business in 1939. In the same year Harry bought the Texaco bulk plant and station in Eau Claire. Harry writes in his diary about the struggles he experienced with running his Texaco stations during the war as gas was rationed and he was shorthanded, having to do most of the work himself at 60 years old. Harry would sell his Texaco business in 1945 and he and Nellie moved to Merrillan, Wisconsin where they lived until 1951 when they moved to Neillsville. Harry died on October 21, 1956 in Neillsville at age 75.

Archie Humphrey 'Red' Van Gorden was born on April 11, 1903 in Hixton, Wisconsin. He married Hazel Madeline Fremstad on July 10, 1924. The couple had three children together: Richard (1925-2016), Heron (1926-2016), and Cyrena (1928-2008). Red worked for his father until he bought the Feed Mill in Neillsville, Wisconsin in 1929. He joined the National Guard in Neillsville in 1940 and was called into Federal Service in October when his unit was sent to a camp in Louisiana for training. Red, joined by Hazel while Harry and Nellie looked after their kids still in Neillsville, remained in Louisiana until he was sent to Australia in April 1942. He would serve in Australia and New Guinea until 1943. He tried to return to the family Feed Mill business that his brother Kenneth had maintained while he was serving but found it too difficult to work in the wintry weather. Red and Hazel moved to Florida in 1946 where they ran a motel until they retired in 1958. The couple would primarily live in Florida for the rest of their lives but would return to live in Wisconsin during the warmer months. Red suffered a stroke on September 27, 1981 and died on October 8 in Neillsville at the age of 78.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Cyrena M. Dierauer, Bloomington, Minnesota 1993.

Processing Information

Finding aid created by Stephanie Much in February 2022.

Van Gorden family; Dierauer, Cyrena M. Van Gorden; Van Gorden, Archie H. (Archie Humphrey), 1903-1981; Van Goden, Harry H. (Harry Humphrey), 1881-1956; United States. Army. Infantry Division, 32ndWorld War, 1939-1945 -- Wisconsin -- Eau ClaireWorld War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, AmericanManuscript collectionDiariesPhotographs

Box   1   Folder   1	Harry Van Gorden Diary and Brief Family History, 1940-1943
Box   1   Folder   2	Harry Van Gorden Diary, 1944-1945
Box   1   Folder   3	“Red Arrow 'Red' : Letters home from WW2”, 1942-1943 Note: Letters and accompanying information compiled at unknown date.