Johan Georg Horlacher was born on November 21, 1848, in Wurtemberg, German. After emigrating to America, he married Maria Margerethe Jung, born November 20, 1860, in Colsville, Wisconsin. After a trip west on May 1, 1882, the Horlachers purchased their first parcel of land, amounting to 160 acres from the Northern Pacific Railroad. The land is located approximately four miles south of Rosalia, Washington, on Olson Road. Georg and Maria farmed the land until about 1918, when their daughter, Serena, and her husband, Ray Meyers, took over farming, operations. The Meyers farmed the land until Georg's death in 1923. Soon after, Serena's sister, Bena, and her husband, Elmer Claude McCoy, took over. In the ensuing years, Elmer acquired possession of the farms previously owned by the Horlachers and James Henry McCoy, his father. Bena and Claude likewise farmed the land until 1964, when their daughter Marjorie Gwendolyn McCoy and her husband, Harry Elmer Smith, assumed farming responsibilities. Upon Claude's death in 1984, possession of the farm went to Marjorie's brother, Clayton McCoy. Marjorie and Harry's son, Clifton, is currently farming the property and owns a portion of land jointly with his uncle.
The Horlacher-McCoy-Smith papers are arranged into five series. The first series, the Horlacher Papers, 1876-1963, contains the correspondence which pertains to the Horlacher possession of the land. It includes farm titles, mortgages, indentures, deeds, leases, tax information and forms. Also included are documents relating to an 1889 highway lawsuit, personal business documents and correspondence, personal correspondence, John Georg Horlacher's diary, and George Horlacher's will (George Horlacher is Georg and Maria's son).
Series 2, Elmer Claude McCoy Papers, 1917-1979, contains farm business and related documents, crop books, crop statements, weight and grain certificates, farm tax information, produce and livestock receipts, business notes, highway documents and related correspondence, personal business, personal tax information and blank forms, miscellaneous calendars covering 1923-1933, and personal correspondence. Also included in this series are Bena McCoy's papers which cover the Horlacher heirs conflict, 1926-1967.
Series 3 consists of the James Henry McCoy Papers, 1893-1944. Unlike the previous two series, Series 3 contains farm business information. Instead, stock and investment-related business comprise the bulk of this series, including miscellaneous personal business, loose receipts, personal tax information and forms, and several documents relating to James McCoy's participation in the Bannock Indian War of 1878.
The last correspondence-based series is the Smith Papers, 1878-1989. This series, although smaller than the others, contains similar information: farm business documents, tax information and forms, and personal correspondence. Also included in this series is centennial farms information, centennial farms information photographs, and Horlacher heirs information.
Series 5 consists of two photo albums, the Serena Meyers photo album and the Marjorie Smith photo album. The first album contains photographs of Serena's married years with Ray, emphasizing their trip east. The Marjorie Smith album is a photostatic copy of the original album, which remain in the possession of the owner.
This collection is open for research use.
[Item Description]. Cage 575, Horlacher-McCoy-Smith Family Papers. Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.
The Horlacher-McCoy-Smith Papers were donated by Marjorie McCoy-Smith to the Whitman County Historical Society which placed the collection on permanent loan to Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, September, 1990.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.