Jacob Frederick Elsasser

Duane's take

The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one passing it along. Now settle in, because this is a story that starts in Germany, winds through Chicago, and ends up right here in the Texas dirt, and fire plays a hand more than once. Jacob Frederick Elsasser was born in Germany in 1834.

He came to this country with his father and his brothers, and by all accounts, that family was not the sit-still kind. They landed in Chicago and got to work, a cigar factory, if you can picture it. A family operation, smoke in the air, business humming along.

And for a while, I imagine things were pretty good. Then came 1871. You already know what happened in Chicago in 1871.

The great Chicago fire took that cigar factory right along with it. Gone. Just like that.

Now, some men would've stayed and rebuilt in the same spot. Jacob Frederick Elsasser was not one of those men. He gathered up his Swiss-born wife, Catharine, she was born in 1832, and he pointed himself toward Texas.

He built a two-story farmhouse east of Sanger. Two stories. A man making a statement about where he stood and where he intended to stay.

And then, well, I told you fire plays a hand more than once in this story, that house burned too. You almost have to wonder what Jacob made of that, having watched fire take so much. But he didn't fold.

In 1901, he and Catharine erected this residence. Catharine passed in 1903, just two years after the house was finished. One of Elsasser's daughters, Mrs.

J. M. Peery, moved in with her family and kept the place going all the way until 1939.

Then in 1952, Mr. and Mrs. Willard Bounds purchased it. A house that survived when others didn't.

A family that kept building. That's the story the marker holds.

What the marker says

Born in Germany in 1834, Jacob Frederick Elsasser migrated to this country with his father and brothers. They operated a cigar factory in Chicago until it was destroyed in the great Chicago fire of 1871. Elsasser moved to Texas with his Swiss-born wife, Catharine (1832-1903), and built a 2-story farm house east of Sanger. After it burned, they erected this residence in 1901. One of Elsasser's daughters, Mrs. J. M. Peery, and her family occupied the house until 1939. It was purchased in 1952 by Mr. and Mrs. Willard Bounds. (1976)