Barry's Bits

culled from the San Francisco Examiner by Barry Goyette 

Happy Birthday USA

Labor in the Cemetery

San  Francisco Call - 13 Oct 1892
CDNC Collections

In 1892 over 80 men with the Granite-cutters Union went on strike demanding 50 cents and hour and 8 hour days.

San Francisco Call 4 Apr 1903
CDNC Collection

In April 1903 it was reported differences settled between the Cemetery Workers Union and several had been San Mateo County Cemeteries.

SF Chronicle 4 Jun 1903 p39

However, it appears that the agreements did not go without a hitch, two months later it was reported that a Boycott against Cypress Lawn had been called off  after arbitration by Mayor Schmitz.  The 23 men who had gone on strike were to be reemployed and the 8 non-union scabs would all be let go within 2 weeks.


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CGS announces a seminar with Judy G Russell, The Legal Genealogist on 23 Sep 2017 in Berkeley.
Take advantage of Early Bird Registration and learn more about the days program

HERE.

SMCGS Sharing Stories 2017

San Mateo County Pioneers

by Laurie Coulter

My grandparents, Fritz and Louisa Meyer were part of the early growth and development of San Mateo County, in California. They were not part of the wealthy Floods, Menzes, Crockers or Stanfords, but they did play a part in the economic and social growth of the county south of the big City of San Francisico.

Annie, Carl and Freida Meyer and Arthur Wolfe

In the late 1880's San Mateo County was starting to find its own identity other than a country home for the wealthy. Towns which had grown up around stagecoach stops began to flourish. Redwood City less than 30 miles south of San Francisco, had a port. The port on the San Francisco Bay gave access for the redwood cut in the coastal hills to be milled and shipped north to San Francisco and east to the delta and the gold country. Most roads were dirt and horse and wagon were the main source of local transportation.

Fritz and Louise settled in a village called Woodside nestled beneath the coastal hills, about two miles west of Redwood City. They had both traveled a long way to get there. Their families were part of the wave of German immigrants who came to the USA in the mid to late 1800's. They came with their families and extended families many of whom settled in German communities in the midwest. Fritz was born in 1850 and named Fredrick in the farming town of Oiste, Germany, about 70 miles northwest of Hanover. At the age of eighteen he had been in the United States at least five years, because he applied for American citizenship in Mason County Indiana in the year of 1868.  Two years later he is living with relatives in Alameda County, California working as a farm worker. Seven years later he marries Louisa Bolte, born in 1854 also in Oiste, Germany on August 24,1877. Three years after that they have settled in Woodside on the western side of the San Francisco Bay, with two children, Margaret age two years and Henry, age six months.

The Meyers managed to buy a bit of land and build a house. They raised vegetables and chickens. Fritz was hired to work for the county watering the dirt roads, particularly the logging road that carried the lumber to the port of Redwood City. That road, Woodside Road is a major arterial road to the present day. Louisa was busy raising their family. They had nine children, seven of whom lived to adulthood. They were in addition to Margaret and Henry: Louise, b 1881; Augusta, b1883; Freida, b 1885; Anna, b 1887; Matilda, b 1889; Carl, b 1891; and Hazel b 1895. Both Augusta and Matilda died a month after birth.

Farmhouse and Barn with Freida and her future husband Arthur,
Hazel, Carl & Henry (hat).

Henry never married, and was a gardener at the developing Leland Stanford Jr. University, Lou and Margaret worked as housekeepers for the affluent in San Francisco until the 1906 earthquake, when they were brought home, never to work outside the home again. Margaret , Annie and Frieda married and raised their famlies in the area. Carl, my dad, grew up and left home to live in the industrial city of South San Francisco. He worked in the booming meat industry, in the stockyards, slaughterhouses and eventually as a plant manager. Lou and Hazel never married. They lived in the family farmhouse until 1957 when it was sold to support them.

Meyer Gravesite, Union Cemetery, RWC aft. 1903

Fritz died in 1900 as a result of an accident. He was watering the county road and got kicked in the head by his horse.  He was only 50 years old. There is an obituary and a small newspaper article about the accident in the local paper. Louisa died in 1903 of influx of the bowels after a brief illness. Both are buried in the historic Union Cemetery on Woodside Road in Redwood City, CA. along with three of their children, the babies, Augusta and Matilda and son Henry. The rest of the family for the most part, is buried in Colma, CA at Cypress Lawn Cemetery.

Fritz and Louisa were pioneers. They were ordinary people who contributed to the growth and viability of San Mateo County. They will not be found in the history books but they had to be tenacious and kind to have raised a wonderful family. I am still in touch with several cousins because of the value that our parents taught us about the importance of families sticking together.

There is a small obituary for my grandmother Louisa that states that she was a "devoted mother, a true Christian woman and good neighbor and admired for her many womanly virtues." It also states that she was "well known and liked by all." She died at age 48 years leaving five adult children and two young ones, my dad Carl and his sister Hazel. They were raised by their older siblings and it seems Louisa's values of hard work and kindness were passed on to them. Values I got from my dad were about the importance of family, hospitality, never turning anyone away who needs help and doing acts of kindness without any notice to oneself.  4 Jun 2015

Searsville Lake - when it opened for water and Recreation abt. 1893
Annie, Louisa holding Carl, Freida, Fritz, Margaret, Lou, & Henry Meyer
(Hazel wasn't born yet)

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Laurie Coulter has been a member of SMCGS for 8 years. She was born in San Francisco but raised in San Mateo and has lived on the peninsula ever since. Her Dad was born in Woodside in the 1890s where the family had a farmhouse until the 1950s.  She is actively working on her First Families Application.  Laurie started taking classes from Gayle Simon and says "My classes led me to writing stories about my family as a way of sharing the family history which is so much more than a pedigree chart. Since I had no elders to ask, I decided that my own memories and those of my sister and cousins will have to do. I use research for gaps, but I inherited a lot of documents and photos which gain meaning and context in the stories. For now my focus remains on what we know collaboratively  and what I can verify."

© 2017 Laurie Coulter - Please contact SMCGS  for permissions.

SMCGS Databases: Professional Registers

In 2006 SMCGS published the Index to the Professional Registers in book format.  The index which includes entries from six volumes found in the SMC Record Center is now among those that can be found in pdf format on the SMCGS website.


The volumes that are included are:

•  Register of Chiropractors, Osteopaths, Pharmacists, Dentists and Dental Hygienists (Nov 26, 1923‐1952)  Affidavit forms in this volume contain the following information for the applicant: name, age, office address, date and number of license, nationality.  You will also find the signatures of president and secretary of governing board of his profession, of applicant and of county clerk.  Some records are duplicates of those actually created earlier and lost in the 1906 earthquake. This Volume is indexed in the front. It is then divided into sections according to the type of certificate: 
• Chiropractic Pages 1‐98 (61‐98 are blank); Chiropodist Pages 99‐101A
• Optometrists Pages 101A‐113 (This was an added section)
• Osteopaths Pages 101‐164 (102‐164 are blank)
• Osteopath (physician/surgeon) Pages 165‐200 (167‐200 blank)
• Osteopath (drugless) Pages 201‐250 (205‐250 blank)
• Pharmacists(licensed) Pages 251‐300 (258‐300 blank)
• Pharmacists(registered agent) Pages 301‐350 (304‐350 Blank)
• Dentists Pages 351‐400 (pages 397‐400 blank)
• Dental Hygienists Pages 401‐440 (403‐440 blank)
• Pages 441‐464 are missing from book
• Physiotherapy Page 465  

• Physicians, Surgeons & Optometrists (Oct 1876‐Mar 1929) The certificates in this volume show the education & diploma information for the applicant, signature of president and secretary of the state board of medical examiners, date and signature of county clerk.  Some certificates are typed and some are handwritten.  The are arranged chronologically. There maybe a chronology of the places the individual has practiced. Not only Physician, Surgeons and Optometrists are included despite the title of the book. There are also records for Veterinarians, Osteopaths, dentists, Pharmacists and Midwives..Indexed by Ken Tessendorf & Cath Trindle 

• Index to Medical Licenses  (1876‐1931)  This is an index of physicians granted licenses to practice medicine in San Mateo County.  It gives the volume and page # of the entry in the preceding volume. Computer index created by Ken Tessendorf.  

• Register of Dentists (May 23 1903‐July 26 1935) Entries include the following information for the applicant: name, age, office address, date & number of license, and nationality. There are signatures of president & secretary of the governing board of the appropriate agency, of the applicant and of the county clerk. Only the first 36 of 200 pages are filled in. Index by Ken Tessendorf.

• Medical Certificates 1940‐1970 Arranged Alphabetically within each volume. 12 3/4 x 10 1/2 x @4 Post WPA and Coy I would think that an index to these certificates probably exists in the clerks office. We should check before doing any type of indexing. The first volume would be the only one likely to fit in a 1950 cut off date for indexes. [This record group was not included in the SMCGS index]

• Index to Register of Doctor's Certificates (Aug 10, 1914‐May 29, 1951) These certificates give the University from which the Dr. graduated and the date. Besides regular certificates this volume includes reciprocity certificates which also give the original licensing state.  Indexed by Jack Taylor, Bob Tousey and Cath Trindle.

The following volumes were not indexed

• Medical Certificates 1940‐1970 Certificates are arranged alphabetically within each volume.  

General Laws of the State of California 1906

In drawer 33/ cabinet RC5B1 there are entries for Certified Dentists who paid dues in 1903-1906.  The list is included in it's entirety here.

DE Blackburn - Pescadero 1903-1905

Ira H Chapman - Burlingame 1906

AW Collins - Redwood City 1905

Della M Johnson Locke - Half Moon Bay 1906

AL Sanderson - 1 B St., San Mateo 1903 & 1905

Ernest K Sisson - San Mateo 1903

J H Stineman - Redwood City 1905

WO Stuttmeister - Redwood City 1903-1906

   

In the drawer you will also find a  certified copy of the certificate of Heiman Bernhardt Adelson who was registered as an Optometrist on 4 Sep 1903. 

Index to the Professional Registers 

Don't miss the next SMCGS Meeting.......

The Berryessa Family: A California Legacy

Saturday, June 24, 10:30 am - 12:00 pmGrace Lutheran Church, 2825 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo   
read more   SMCGS Website   CGS Blog

Anthony Ray is an avid genealogist who specializes in church records, California, Mexican, and Southwest research. He has been researching his own family for the past fourteen years and has been a member of the Antelope Valley Genealogical Society, the Genealogical Society of Hispanic America, The Contra Costa County Historical Society, and the Solano County Genealogical Society.

In 2011, Ray was honored with being awarded the first Suzanne Winsor Freeman Student Genealogy Grant, which he used to further his research. He has done extensive research all throughout California, Arizona, and in the northern Mexican state of Sonora. He is currently in the process of researching and writing a comprehensive history of the Berryessa’s, a founding family of San Francisco and San Jose. 

In addition to being a genealogist, Ray is also a musician, currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in vocal performance and music education. He sings with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Tonality, Lore Vocal Ensemble, and the Sunday Night Singers. He has also been a guest chorister with many other community and church choirs throughout the Los Angeles area.  -- Carolyn Williams