Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Esterfay Pfremmer Collection of G. K. Watson Materials
- Dates:
- 1849-1973
- Extent:
- .21 Linear Feet 1 Half Hollinger document case
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
-
[Box/folder# or item name], Esterfary Pfremmer Collection of G. K. Watson Materials, Collection no. 202, Special Collections and University Archives, University Libraries, Pepperdine University.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
This collection contains the handwritten journal of G.K. Watson, along with a handwritten and typed transcriptions of the journal by Esterfay Pfremmer.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Esterfay McBride Pfremmer (1912-1999) was an avid reader, and she loved history, learning as much as she could wherever she lived and traveled. She was pleased to have rescued "Grandpa Watson's journal," as she always called it, from a dilapidated shed in Malibu in the 1950s on the property of a home being rented by her daughter and friends. Fascinated by G.K. Watson's firsthand account of his 1849 journey across North America by covered wagon, Ester carefully transcribed the journal using her manual typewriter. The donation of the journal to Pepperdine University was made in Ester's honor by her son, Robert Dale Pfremmer, and granddaughter, Kindalee Pfremmer De Long (?87, ?94), who is a member of the faculty and associate dean at Seaver College. They believe that Ester would be thrilled to know that the journal and her are available to students and historians as part of the University Libraries Special Collections. Ester was born in 1912 in National City near San Diego, where she lived until her teenage years. When she was fifteen, the family relocated to Orick, in northern California. In this move, Ester drove the length of the state in her stripped-down Model T. In Orick, she established a cherished relationship with her maternal grandmother, Ahna "Annie" Tepsaw Griffin Frey, an indigenous woman of the Yurok people. Ester spent many days with Annie at her cabin near Redwood Creek and in Annie's redwood dugout canoe, fishing for salmon. Ester herself was a proud member of the Yurok Tribe and in later years, shared family history with both descendants and researchers. Ester married Bernard Pfremmer in 1933, and they enjoyed fishing, boating, hunting ducks, dancing, and hosting picnics and parties at the beach. In the years when their children Dale and Ida Mae were born, they ran a gas station and diner in Orick, struggling to make ends meet during the depression. They spent most of the World War II years in Modoc County and returned to the coast in 1944, settling in Eureka. After their children were grown, Ester and Bernie moved to Boulder City, Nevada. When Bernie retired, they took up motorcycle riding, taking long road trips and camping along the way. To escape the desert heat, they moved again to Auburn, California. Everywhere Ester lived, she invested in friendships. When Bernie died in 1981, Ester relocated to San Marcos, California, near her son. Ester loved to travel. From her home in San Marcos, she visited France, Germany, Italy, England, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, Panama, Yellowstone, and Alaska. She passed away at age 87 from a sudden illness, surrounded by family.
- Acquisition information:
- The journal was donated to Special Collections in 2018 by Kindy DeLong and her family.
- Arrangement:
-
Folders are arranged in alphabetical order by title.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
About this collection guide
- Date Encoded:
- This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2025-08-22 22:14:24 +0000 .
Access and use
- Preferred citation:
-
[Box/folder# or item name], Esterfary Pfremmer Collection of G. K. Watson Materials, Collection no. 202, Special Collections and University Archives, University Libraries, Pepperdine University.
- Location of this collection:
-
24255 Pacific Coast HighwayMalibu, CA 90263-4786, US
- Contact:
- (310) 506-4323