In an interview with the author on August 1, 1987, Joan Thanhouser Sherman, a granddaughter of Gertrude, recalled family tradition concerning her grandmother: Gertrude said that she was the seventh daughter of her mother, who, in turn was the seventh daughter of her mother. Gertrude said that when she was a child, Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) visited her home. She greatly admired the works of Friedrich von Schiller.