SMC Newspapers: A List

This list is a work in progress.  It needs the collaboration of all those with a knowledge of the newspapers past and present of San Mateo County

Originally complied from the Library of Congress US Newspaper Directory it has been enhanced with miscellaneous other sources.  Linked titles go either to a blog post about that paper or to a current online newspaper.

For those newspapers that do not currently have online versions or a blog post, pointers to online digital images are noted if known.  LOC - Chronicling America  ANC- Ancestry  GB-Genealogy Bank

Advocate (San Mateo)
Almanac (Menlo Park) 199?
Banner (San Bruno) 1910

Beachcomer (HMB)
Belmont Courier Bulletin
Boutique and Villager (Burlingame) 1975
Brisbane Bee-Democrat 1961
Brisbane Byline 1950-1952
Brisbane Star 1939
Brisbane Sun 193?
Broadway Editor (Burlingame) 1944-1946
Burlingame Advance
Burlingame Herald 193?-1944
Burlingame Sun
Coast Advocate (HMB)1890-19?
Coast Advocate-Pennant (HMB)
Coast Side Comet (Moss Beach) 19?-1918
Coast Side News (Moss Beach)
Coastside Chronicle (San Bruno) 1959
Coastside Tribune (Sharp Park) -1959
Colma Record
Country Almanac (Portola Valley) 1965-
Daily Journal (online)
Daily News Leader (San Mateo) 1922-1926
Daly City Herald
Daly City Record
Daly City Shopping News
Daly City Tattler
Editor of Burlingame 1946-
Explanatory Globe (East Palo Alto)
Foster City Islander
Foster City Progress
Free Press (Redwood City)1893
Half Moon Bay Review
Half Moon Bay News 1922
Home Front News 1944-1946
Independent (Burlingame) 1998
Menlo-Atherton Recorder 1965
Menlo Park News
Menlo Park Gazette
Menlo Park Recorder
Millbrae Sun and Leader
Pacific States enterprise 187?
Pacifica Record
Pacifica Tidings and Sharp park Breakers 1957
Pacifica Tribune 1959
Peninsula Beacon
Peninsula Bulletin (East Palo Alto) 1967
Peninsula News (San Bruno) 1914
Pescadero Pebble
Ravenswood Post
Recorder-Progress (San Bruno)
Redwood City Almanac 1979
Redwood City Daily News 2000
Redwood City Daily Tribune
Redwood City Democrat
Redwood City Star
Redwood City Standard
San Bruno Herald and Peninsula News
San Bruno Progress 1946
San Bruno Recorder
San Bruno Union 193?
San Bruno Who's Who
San Carlos Courier Bulletin 1944-1952
San Carlos Enquirer 194?
San Mateo County News
San Mateo county Recorder 1933
San Mateo Daily Journal
San Mateo Leader ANC
San Mateo Post 1946 ANC
San Mateo Times ANC
Searchlight (Menlo Park) 1929
Shao Nian Zhongguo Shi Bao- New Cathay (Millbrae) 1991
Sharp Park Breakers and Pacific Tidings 1938-1957
South San Francisco Enterprise
South San Francisco Journal
South San Francisco News 189?
Star (Woodside) 1895
Stockman's Market Journal (South San Francisco) 192?
Tanforan Totalizer (San Bruno) 1942
Times Gazette
Westlake Times (Daly City)
Wildcat-a-log (Woodside) 1959
Woodside World 1959
Your Carlmont Enquirer-Bulletin (San Carlos) 1981-1985

This list will become a page that can be accessed from the sidebar of this blog following it's publication.  Links will be updated as newspapers are covered.

SMC newspapers: The Tanforan Totalizer

Courtesy of the family of Itaru and Shizuko Ina

The Tanforan Totalizer began publication from the Japanese interment camp on 15 May 1942.  In all nineteen were edited by Taro Katayama and they varied in length from 4 to 26 pages. You will find a good description of the paper in the Densho Encyclopedia


All 19 issues Tanforan Totalizer are available on Densho Digital Repository  Click on the issue image and on the resulting page click on download full size to get a file with the entire paper.

The mission of the Densho Digital Repository is to allow users to "Hear the story of the Japanese American incarceration experience from those who lived it, and find thousands of historic photographs, documents, newspapers, letters and other primary source materials from immigration to the WWII incarceration and its aftermath."

The Library of Congress lists various libraries throughout the country that have both microfilm and original copies of the paper for those who are not satisfied with online images.

SMC Newspapers: The Free Press

Found in Remington's 1893

The run of the Free Press is currently unknown and only one issue seems to be available in the California State Library.

The free press. : (Redwood City, Cal.) 1893-1???  

Geographic coverage: Redwood City, San Mateo, California   

Publisher: Frank H. Owen

Dates of publication: 1893-1???

Description: Began in 1893.

Frequency: Weekly

Language: English

Subjects: California--Redwood City.--fast--(OCoLC)fst01215157 

Notes: Description based on: Vol. 1, no. 18 (Aug. 18, 1893).

LCCN: sn 95061995

OCLC: 33823815

Holdings: California State Library  <1893:8:18>

__________________________________________________
(w) weekly (d) daily (n) daily except Sunday and holidays
(p) partial run  (s) scattered missing issues
CA Lib - California State Library
UCR - University of California Riverside - Newspaper Master Files
RCL - Redwood City Public Library
SM Lib - San Mateo City Library
AFL - Alameda Free Library
SSFPL - South San Francisco Public Library

SMC Newspapers: San Bruno Herald and the Peninsula News

Herald Building Circa 1940
Calisphere
Courtesy of San Bruno Library

The Peninsula News, a weekly, was published by Glen Byers starting in 1914.  Only two known issues exist today, one from December 1914 on microfilm at the San Bruno Public Library and one original from Sept. 1915 at the San Mateo County Historical Association Archives.  The length of the run is unknown. At some point between 1914 and 1921 the paper was acquired by Horace W Amphlet.

"The Peninsula News, a weekly paper has been purchased by G. A. Helmore from Horace W. Amphlet, editor and proprietor of the San Mateo Times, Helmore but recently returned from England where he served with the British forces during the late war. "  

Coast Side Comet, Volume 12, Number 46, 14 January 1921

Helmore established the San Bruno Herald  in November of 1920. After his purchase of the Peninsula news he changed the title to include "and Peninsula News"  A change in the numbering of volumes suggests that the Peninsula News was being published continuously before the purchase.  Volume 1 issue 10 was issued on 8 Jan 1921 and Volume 8 issue 3 was issued on 15 Jan 1921.  1921 would have been it's eighth year of production. 

In 1931 the publisher of record was Harry Elston.  He continued using the title San Bruno Herald and Peninsula News until 1934 and added it back in 1937. It appears that he continued as publisher until 1955, when the Amphlett Printing Company was again listed as owner. During this period A I Cloud was publisher for many years.

The San Bruno Public Library has a nearly complete run of all the issues on microfilm.  UCR has many of the issues on microfilm masters. A few other libraries have individual issues, but none have significant holdings.

Statues of California V1. P387

• Peninsula news. : (San Bruno, San Mateo County, Calif.) 1914-19??  
• San Bruno herald. :W (San Bruno, Calif) 1920-1920  Vol. 1, no. 1 (Nov. 6, 1920)-v. 1, no. 8 (Dec. 25, 1920) 
• San Bruno herald and Peninsula news. : (San Bruno, Calif.) 1921-1931 
• San Bruno herald. : (San Bruno, San Mateo County, Calif.) 1931-1937 
• San Bruno herald and Peninsula news. : (San Bruno, Calif.) 1937-1955  
• San Bruno herald, Peninsula news and the San Bruno progress. : (San Bruno, Calif.) 1955-1980 
• San Bruno enterprise journal, San Bruno herald. : (San Bruno, Ca.) 1980-1980 
• San Bruno herald. : (South San Francisco, Calif.) 1980- 2004

San Bruno Public Library
San Bruno Herald - Wikipedia

SMC Newspapers: Half Moon Bay Review

SF Call 13 Jan 1907

The Half Moon Bay Review was established in 1898 by Harry Griffith. It has been serving coastside readers ever since.

The paper was purchased by Wick Communications in 1886 and they in turn announced plans to sell it in September 2017.  At that time a group of community members formed the Coastside News Group and entered into an agreement to buy the paper. 

The sale was completed in 2018. 

The paper is published each Wednesday, with over 7500 paid copies being distributed to homes from Montara to Pescadero.

The new owners come from a variety of backgrounds: Lenny Mendonca owns the Half Moon Bay Brewing Co.; Rich Klein is the former chief technology officer of a tech company; Susy Castoria serves on some San Mateo County commissions; Roy Salume is a former school board member in Half Moon Bay; and Kelly Hoffman-Davis is a business owner.

Half Moon Bay Review  (Facebook)  The newspaper office has hard copies of newspapers from about 1960 on and everything from 1998 on is available in their online archive

Half Moon Bay Review 19?-19? CALib 1916-1924 (sc) ; SMCLib original 1916-1928, microfilm 1916-1924 (sc) 1925-1928 (s) - Online SMCLib 1997-present.  The San Mateo County Library in Half Moon Bay has microfilm of early copies.  Most likely even earlier than the 1916 listed here, but unfortunately they are currently in storage.  Efforts are being made to get the papers digitized. 

If you are looking for copies, contact both the library and the newspaper office for updates on their availability.


Half Moon Bay Review - Wikipedia
Article by Chris Lampert
_____________________________________________________
(w) weekly (d) daily (n) daily except Sunday and holidays
(p) partial run  (s) scattered missing issues (sc) scattered copies
CA Lib - California State Library
UCR - University of California Riverside - Newspaper Master Files
RCL - Redwood City Public Library
SM Lib - San Mateo City Library
SMCLib - San Mateo County Library

SMCGS Databases Online: The Clipping File

The SMCGS Clipping file is a small, but growing, collection of articles about San Mateo County residents. 

Researchers are encouraged to submit articles about early San Mateo County ancestors to aid others researching the same families.  If desired contact information for the submitter will be supplied to anyone requesting copies.



Index to the SMCGS Clipping File




Copies of clippings from this collection can be obtained by contacting the Research team at SMCGS.


 

SMC Newspapers: The Times Gazette

In his Story of Redwood City, which was edited by John Edmunds years after his death, Roy Cloud notes......

"During the first few years of its existence San Mateo County had no newspaper to disseminate its news or in which to publish its official doings. This deficit was overcome on April 9, 1859 almost exactly three years after the formation of the County. On that day William Godfrey published the first issue of the San Mateo County Gazette."

The story goes on to state that, "Charles N. Fox was the editor of the Gazette for the first six months, then turned over his editorial duties to Mr. Godfrey who up to that time was printer and pressman."

The paper changed hands a number of times over the next few years, there was David Downer, proprietor and publisher in 1861, George W Fox, editor in 1864, Horace Hawes, Harvey Scofield (editor) and A Warren (printer) proprietors in 1866.

In 1871 Duncan and Sandy McPherson who owned the Santa Cruz Sentinel took over and continued until at least 1886.  In 1876 the Gazette purchased the San Mateo Times which had been established in 1874. The first issue of the consolidated Times-Gazette was published on 5 Feb 1876.

In 1893 the Times-Gazette was purchased by Denis and James O'Keefe.  James left to practice law after a few years, but Denis continued as editor until 1922 and continued ownership until the paper was sold to the Redwood City Tribune.

San Mateo County Times Gazette Index 1859-1899
San Mateo County Gazette Transcriptions by Chris Havnar on SFGenealogy 1906

1893

• San Mateo County Gazette (w) Vol. 1, no. 1 (Apr. 9, 1859)-v. 13, no. 24 (Sept. 9, 1871) Original RCL, CA Lib (p), Microfilm RCL, UCR, CA Lib
• San Mateo Gazette  (w) Vol. 13, no. 25 (Sept. 16, 1871)-v. 17, no. 44 (Jan. 29, 1876) Original RCL, CA Lib (p), Microfilm RCL, UCR, CA Lib
• Times and Gazette (w) Vol. 17, no. 45 (Feb. 5, 1876)-v. 28, no. 8 (May 22, 1886) Original RCL, CA Lib (p), Microfilm RCL, UCR (p) , CA Lib
• San Mateo County Times and Gazette  (w) Vol. 28, no. 9 (May 29, 1886)-v. 31, no. 24 (Sept. 14, 1889) Original RCL, CA Lib (p), Microfilm RCL, UCR (p) , CA Lib   
• (Redwood City) Times Gazette (w) Vol. 31, no. 25 (Sept. 21, 1889)-v. 75, no. 60 (May 24, 1935) ; v. 75 (May 31, 1935)-v. 76 (May 27, 1949) Original RCL, CA Lib (p), Microfilm RCL, UCR (p) , CA Lib   
• Times Gazette: The Peninsula Beacon  (w) June 3, 1949-v. 104, no. 48 (Mar. 27, 1963) Original RCL (s), Microfilm RCL, CA Lib (p)
• Times Gazette (w) Vol. 104, no. 49 (Apr. 3, 1963)-114th year, no. 52 (Apr. 25, 1973) Original RCL

_____________________________________________________
(w) weekly (d) daily (n) daily except Sunday and holidays
(p) partial run  (s) scattered missing issues
CA Lib - California State Library
UCR - University of California Riverside - Newspaper Master Files
RCL - Redwood City Public Library
SM Lib - San Mateo City Library

SMC Newspapers: San Mateo Leader & The San Mateo County News

On 25 May 1889, Charles N Kirkbride and R H Jury with help from Henry P Bowie, established the San Mateo Leader, the first newspaper in the city of San Mateo. Jury subsequently bought out Kirkbride and became the sole owner.  At some time before 1913 the Leader was purchased by Charles M Morse.

On 1 Nov 1913 John D Bromfield and AP Bellisle purchased the leader from Morse. Bellisle had been working with Morse in the production of the Leader and Bromfield had been working for the San Francisco Call for about five years.  Within a few months of the purchase, the two young men had announced their intention to establish a new daily newspaper. The History of San Mateo County reported that they had over six hundred subscriptions within less than Two days.

Many thought the enterprise wouldn't be successful, however, it took off.  They continued to publish the Leader as a weekly paper.  Eventually,  Bromfield bought out Bellisle and became the sole owner.  On 31 Dec 1918 he combined the two papers into the the Daily-News Leader.  In 1920 the paper was purchased by Ed S Riggins of San Francisco.

It continued production until 21 Jan 1926 when it was purchased by Horace W Amphlett and consolidated with the San Mateo Times

  

The San Mateo County News  - History of San Mateo County from the Earliest Times - 1916

• San Mateo Leader (Weekly) Vol. 1, no. 1 (May 25, 1889)-v. 30, no. 52 (Dec. 26, 1918) Microfilm CA Lib (s) , SM Lib (s) , UCR (s)
• San Mateo County News (Daily/no Sun) [Vol. 1] no. 1 (Jan. 5, 1914)-v. 5, no. 301 (Dec. 31, 1918) Microfilm  SM Lib, UCR 
• News-Leader (Daily) Vol. 6, no. 1 (Jan. 2, 1919)-v. 6, no. 63 (Mar. 18, 1919) Microfilm CA Lib (s) , SM Lib (s) , UCR (s)
• News-leader, the San Mateo County news (Daily/no Sunday) Vol. 6, no. 64 (Mar. 19, 1919)-v. 7, no. 75 (Mar. 31, 1920  Microfilm CA Lib (s) , SM Lib (s) , UCR (s)
• News-Leader (Daily/no Sunday) Vol. 7, no. 76 (Apr. 1, 1920)-v. 9, no. 203 (Aug. 31, 1922) Microfilm CA Lib (s) , SM Lib (s) , UCR (s)
• Daily News Leader (Daily/ no Sunday) Vol. 9, no. 204 (Sept. 1, 1922)- v. 13, no. 16 (Jan. 20, 1926) Microfilm   SM Lib, UCR (s) CA Lib, SMCHA (p)
• SEE SAN MATEO TIMES

________________________________________________

(w) weekly (d) daily (n) daily except Sunday and holidays
(p) partial run  (s) scattered missing issues
CA Lib - California State Library
UCR - University of California Riverside - Newspaper Master Files
RCL - Redwood City Public Library
SM Lib - San Mateo City Library
SMCHA - San Mateo County Historical Associatino

SMCGS Databases: San Mateo Times Gazette Index 1859-1899

One of the early indexes published by SMCGS is the San Mateo Times Gazette Index 1859-1899 compiled by Mary Lou Grunigen.

There are two parts to this index, which was originally published in 1996 in book form.  The first part is an index to vital records (births, marriages, deaths, probates, etc.) for the first forty years of this early publication.

The second part is an every name index to the paper from 1859-1867.  Here you might find entries for tax lists, memberships to social institutions, crime reports and much more.

The printed publication, like all SMCGS publications has been digitized and is available for public search on the SMCGS website.

San Mateo County Times Gazette Index

Barry's Bits

From the files of Barry Goyette

If one wonders why some work their way through projects faster than others, the answer might be found by some deep research.  In Barry's case, we discovered that obituaries couldn't be cut before the "other side" of the page had been carefully perused. And as we discovered we were often chuckling or fondly reminiscing at the resulting finds, we decided to share.  Here is the first of Barry's Bits....

SF Examiner 21 Aug 1924

San Mateo County Places - La Honda

John Sears settled the forested mountain area around La Honda (the Sling) in 1862 and built a small inn along the stage road to Pescadero.  Legend states that Jim and Bob Younger of the Jesse James gang helped with the construction.  (The original store was destroyed by fire in 1960.) 

The Marysville Daily Appeal reported on 4 Mar 1873 that the Senate Amendments to create post roads were to go into effect that day.  Those post roads included the route from Redwood City to Pescadero through Searsville and La Honda Junction.

A little colony and resort grew around La Honda Junction with saloons aptly named "Robber's Roost" and "Apple Jacks".  Since the 1870's La Honda has remained an area of lumbering and ranching with a population in 2010 of 928.

Sacramento Daily Union 18 Oct 1873

In 1873 a store and hotel at the junction were owned by Sayers and Lausman as reported in the tale of Major Pauline Cushman.





The Pacific Rural Press announced the opening of a new Grange in La Honda on 25 Jul 1874.  There were also granges in Pescadero, Ocean View and San Mateo.



On 28 Nov of that year the following letter which was placed in the Pacific Rural Press gives a picture of farming in the area.

You can find hundreds of articles about La Honda and its residents on the California Digital Newspaper website. Articles include reports of bear hunting, camping, visiting and visitors, court cases, employment advertisements, accidents as well as births, marriages and deaths. There are nearly 1000 from the San Francisco Call alone.  When searching be sure to use quotes around "La Honda" to avoid getting results for each word.

Links and More:

• Hanson's Mill at La Honda 1870
• Live or Die in La Honda
• Mobile Ranger: Old La Honda Road
• The La Honda Voice
• La Honda Historical Society no longer maintained but interesting info, including a 7 part lecture on the history of La Honda.
• La Honda - Wikipedia
• The South of Skyline Story
• Jones, Charles & Susan Friedman, A Separate Place,SF Sierra Club 1974
• La Honda - Arcadia Publishing

James Vincent Swift

"James Vincent Swift, postmaster of Redwood City and editor and proprietor of the Redwood City Democrat, is one of the county's best known and respected citizens. Born in January 1862 at West Union, a few miles from Redwood, Mr. Swift has lived and wrought his career in San Mateo County.

After receiving his early education in the Redwood schools Mr. Swift entered the printing office of the Times-Gazette at the early age of seventeen. He soon mastered the mechanical and editorial ends of the paper and in 1898 he had advanced  sufficiently to buy a half interest in the Democrat. In 1902 this paper became his sole property and has so remained. Mr. Swift has succeeded well in his ambition to make his paper one of the most progressive and enterprising in the county; and no move for civic betterment or the public good has failed to find a staunch supporter in Mr. Swift and his paper.

Mr. Swift's deep interest in Redwood's progress has caused him to serve four terms as city assessor, three terms as city trustee and five terms as trustee of the Redwood school district. Although San Mateo was recognized as a strong republican county, Mr. Swift has worked untiringly and fearlessly for the democratic party. As a fitting tribute to his party loyalty came Mr. Swift's appointment as postmaster this year. No appointment to public office ever received more genuine approval.

Mr. Swift has been married and has a son, Arthur and a daughter Eileen (Mrs. J.J. McCormick). Arthur is head of the mechanical department of the Democrat, the editorial being in charge of Mr. James Hedge, since Mr. Swift took over the duties of postmaster. Mr. Swift belongs to the Native Sons, and the Eagles." Biographies of Representative Men p 181-119,  History of San Mateo County, California: Including Its Geography, Topography, Climatography and Description, IC Steele  

 Sunday, February 21, 1915 

San Francisco Chronicle p.14

He bought the Democrat with W.L. Davis in 1898.  The partnership dissolved in Mar. 1903. 

This is a partial reconstruction of the family using census records and entries in SMCGS indexes.

Miles (Myles) Swift bn @ 1827 Ireland d. 1880-1900  m. Mary @1830 Ireland -1906

1. Elizabeth M. (Lizzie)   1858 SM - aft 1933 - unmarried in 1900

2. William J.   Jan 1860 - 1887

3. James Victor 1862 West Union - 1933   m. Emma Haferkorn 1 Jan 1885 Menlo Park

1. Arthur  15 Mar 1885 - 7 Mar 1965 married Josephine Nicholas who died in 1927
2. Eileen --- Swift, girl 27 Nov 1886 b. 23-Nov J. V. Swift - Times Gazette  m. J.J. McCormick

4. Morris A (Maurice)  1864 - 1914 m. Emma Derry -  living in Twp 3 in 1910

1. William
2. George 
3. Leland V. 22 Jun 1898 - 2 Aug 1968 SM
4. Olivia 6 Feb 1903 - 13 Apr 1987 Sacramento m Peter Christian Zinsli
5. Mary Catherine (May) 29 Apr 1902 - 16 Dec 1994 SM  m1 Arthur L. Bowman m2 Wootten
6. Maurice August 1905  m. Louise Alfreda Slater    

5. Rosa E.   1864 - 1933 unmarried  

By 1870 the family had moved to Redwood City.

Read more:

• A History of the New California: Its Resources and People James V. Swift p.1033
• Numerous entries in Schellen's Collection 
• Redwood City Democrat was in production from 1889 to 1931.

SMCGS Databases Online: The SMCGS Obituary Collection

This SMCGS Obituary Collection currently includes over 57,000 indexed and scanned obituaries as well as a large collection of obituaries that are indexed elsewhere.  This project started when the society received the obituary morgue of the Redwood City / Peninsula Times Tribune when they closed their doors.  That original collection was indexed by the SMCGS Computer club.  As it became more troublesome to store and use the obituaries in their original envelopes the society decided to photocopy the obituaries.  The copies were then placed in binders in the SMCGS Library. Eventually the pages started to wear so it was decided that we should scan the pages.  This was the start of the collection that exists today.  

You will find the following collections in the index

• PTT Redwood City Tribune / Peninsula Times Tribune - obituary morgue (1969-1992)  Indexed by SMCGS Computer Club - copied and scanned by Barry Goyette and Cath Trindle
• MISC Obituaries contributed by a variety of sources, newspaper generally unknown (mainly 1960s-1990s) - Copied, Scanned and Indexed by Barry Goyette and Cath Trindle
• SMCHA Obituaries culled from the Biographical files of the San Mateo County Historical Association and added to SMCGS  (mainly 1970-1995 some earlier) - Indexed and scanned by Jo Rebuck, Lauren Perritt , Donna Farmar, Celeste Guillory, Cath Trindle - a work in progress
• DJ Daily Journal - Scanned and Indexed by Jo Rebuck
• BORK Obituaries of San Mateo County Individuals listed in Southern California Newspapers Collected by Eleanor Borkenhagen - Scanned and indexed by Cath Trindle
• DP Daily Post - Scanned and Indexed by Jo Rebuck
• DN Daily News - Scanned and Indexed by Jo Rebuck 
• VET Veteran's Memorial - Scanned and indexed by Cath Trindle 
• DN Daily News - Scanned and Indexed by Jo Rebuck 
• SMCT San Mateo County Times - assorted pages - Scanned and indexed by Cath Trindle

This is an ongoing project.  As the SMCHA culls more obituaries we will add them to the collection.  Additionally if anyone has access to other papers in the county and would like to contribute it would be appreciated.

The following collections which are indexed on Obituary Daily Times are also available in our scanned files.

• Pacifica Times Tribune 1999 + collected and indexed by Chris Havanar scanned by Jean Ann Carroll
• San Mateo Times 1999 + collected and  indexed by Chris Havanar scanned by Jo Rebuck, Donna Farmar, Lauren Perritt and Cath Trindle

To obtain a copy of any obituary in our index or from the collections listed for the Obituary Daily Times see Research Services under Research on the SMCGS website.

Check out the other SMCGS Databases and good luck with your research.