Saving Grandma's Cabin
Candy's hair-brained idea to keep her family history intact.
Categories: Westward Home
By: Candy Moulton 02/01/2008
Grandma Vyvey
In 1901, my grandmother, Emma Vermeersch, who worked as a maid for a wealthy family in Moerkerke, Belgium, was making bobbin lace when a very tall, very thin Belgian stopped before her. Peter Verplancke (originally spelled Ver Plancke) was 19 years older than Emma, and he offered her an opportunity she likely never expected would come her way.
Peter had been to America where he claimed a homestead in Wyoming on a small stream that flowed from the Sierra Madre. He told Emma she could marry him and travel with him to America, where she would never have to make bobbin lace again.
My grandmother and Peter arrived on the stagecoach in Grand Encampment in March 1903, and set out on foot for Peter's homestead, 10 miles southeast of town. By the time they reached the Brownlee Ranch five miles from town, Peter was carrying my grandmother into the face of a full-scale blizzard. They spent the night at the Brownlee Ranch and went by wagon on to the homestead, arriving at the cabin that would be their home on March 20.
The homestead was already productive. Exactly when Peter immigrated to America isn't known, but by 1894, he had established himself among a community of Belgians in southern Wyoming. As the Saratoga Sun reported on May 18, 1894, "Peter Ver Plancke of Collins has put in 55 acres of wheat and oats this spring and planted two and one-half acres of potatoes, besides a good garden. The Belgians are known for their steady thrift and hard toil, and Mr. Ver Plancke is no exception to the rule. He is a man of much intelligence, great strength, and untiring energy, and will soon hew himself a home out of the rough, natural surroundings of that region."
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