This unique household product originated with my great-grandmother, Gladys Hartson (1901-1984). She traveled with her family in a wagon train across the United States as a young girl. After settling in Albe, South Dakota, her family lived in a sod house during the difficult years of the Great Depression. Gladys was fortunate to find work as a cook, earning $1 a day for her family. After marrying m
y great-grandfather, Hubert Ebsen, Gladys and Hubert moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where they lived out the rest of their years. The couple raised a family of four children, so one can imagine Gladys washed plenty of dishes. One day, she happened across an idea in a magazine suggesting how to make a homemade dish scrubber. The Ebsen scrubber was born. In their later years, their children and grandchildren gathered at the Ebsen home every Christmas. Each year, Gladys gave the women in the family red and green scrubbers as a Christmas gift. (She gave the men homemade nut rolls!) The women came to expect these wonderful scrubbers each year, and thus began an Ebsen family tradition. Gladys taught her daughters how to make these scrubbers, and so my maternal grandmother, Ardith Biederman (1924-2007), made and used them her whole life. In turn, she taught my mother, Terry Claassen (1945-), how to make them. And now, nearly one hundred years later, my sisters and I make and use them ourselves. After using these scrubbers to wash dishes our whole lives, we can't use anything else! Gladys always considered herself to be a "modern" woman. If she were still alive today, I know she would be proud to have her name attached to this business, which she unknowingly helped create. On behalf of four generations of hard-working women, we hope you will carry on the tradition and use Ebsen Scrubbers to keep your dishes sparkling!
