By Marcy Shortuse
Photos provided
One of the best-known
families on Gasparilla
Island also has one of
the most colorful histories, and has
made some of the biggest impacts.
The Sprott/Pouncey/Clark family
names are very familiar to historians,
and what makes them even more
unique is that several of the fourthand
fifth-generation’s family members
still live on Gasparilla Island today.
Jennifer Burch, owner of the stores
Ariel Ltd. and Palm on Park (the Lilly
Pulitzer store) lives and works on the
island with her husband, contractor Ken
Burch. We sat down with her, as well as
two of her sisters, Ruth Amen and
Donette Gonia. It’s amazing to hear their
family stories, and reminiscing about a life
filled with love and intrigue.
As far as Boca Grande is concerned, it all
started with a woman named Sarah Ellen
Linhart and her wealthy husband Joseph
Henry Bargesser on a little homestead in
Missouri. While Bargesser came from a very
influential Pittsburgh family, he left the fold to Ruth Sprott Pouncey