Sanchez Adobe

Nestled in San Pedro Valley (Pacifica)  is the second oldest house in San Mateo County.  Begun in 1842 by Don Francisco Sanchez it sits on land that had originally known as the village Pruristac home of the Ramaytush band of the Ohlone Tribe. 

Diagram of Mission Buildings

In 1776 Mission Dolores established an outpost, San Pedro y San Pablo Asistencia, on the site to facilitate mission work and to grow food for the mission.  Logs mark the boundaries of the original buildings.  

The outpost was abandoned in 1834 when the mission system was dismantled. 

In 1836 the land was part of the Rancho San Pedro grant to Francisco Sanchez.  Sanchez was Commandant of the Presidio and the eighth Alcade of San Francisco.  The house was finished in 1846.

In 1871 the adobe was purchased by James Regan, who defaulted on his mortgage.  It was then sold to Gen. Edward Kirkpatrick, commander of the presidio,  in 1879.  Kirkpatrick expanded the adobe to 20 rooms.  It then became Hotel San Pedro;  the Prohibition era speakeasy, Adobe House; and an artichoke storage facility before being purchased by the county in 1947.  Restoration of the original adobe was completed in 1953.

Today Sanchez Adobe is a County Park managed by the San Mateo County Historical Association.  Plans are underway for an interpretive center and other facility upgrades.  

Inside the adobe you will find examples of tools, furniture, fixtures, and more from the time of the Sanchez and Kirkpatrick families.  

Each year on the third Saturday of September, Rancho Day at Sanchez Adobe offers early California music and dance, original Rancho food, demonstrations of bygone trades and the opportunity to participate in do it yourself crafts.  This year that would be September 15.  This is a great opportunity to experience a little bit of San Mateo County's past. 

Location: 1000 Linda Mar Blvd, Pacifica

Learn More

• Sanchez Adobe - San Mateo County Historical Association
• Rancho Day at Sanchez Adobe
• Sanchez Adobe - San Mateo County Parks
• Historical Site Masterplan
• SMC Parks Foundation Newsletter spring 2017
• Sanchez Adobe - City of Pacifica  (nice timeline)
• Sanchez Adobe - National Park Service
• Wikipedia
• Sanchez Adobe  
• Francisco Sanchez 
• Rancho San Pedro
• Diseno del Terreno de S. Pedro

San Mateo County First Families

SMCGS has revamped their First Families Project.  First Families Promoter, Laurie Coulter, is the first to say it was a complicated process for the non-genealogist.    She would like to extend the following welcome to the new program, and also to invite anyone interested in getting started to the SMCGS meeting this Saturday.  There will be a First Families/San Mateo County Round Table Session, where we will explore the many online resources for finding information on your San Mateo County Families.

_______________________________________________

Welcome to the San Mateo County Genealogical Society FirstFamilies Project!

Do you have relatives or know of someone who lived in San Mateo County in the 1880's? the early 1900's?

Do you know anything about them, like where they lived or worked or sent their children to school?

Perhaps you  have a picture of a house or business or land that identifies when or where the person was in the early development of the county.

Perhaps you have a diary or letter or business journal or map.

All of these things help to create the story. What story? The story of how people lived and contributed to the growth and development of the area.

The San Mateo County Genealogical Society is interested in these stories and learning more about the ordinary people who came to this area following their dreams. We have shelves in our library dedicated to these stories.

Our First Families Project is designed to assist friends, relatives, school children, scouts, and anyone interested in sharing these stories. We provide assistance with finding proof of residency and will assist you if you get "hooked" and want to delve into finding all the public documents related to your person or family.

Laurie Coulter

_______________________________________________

Meyer's Family at Searsville Lake - Laurie Coulter

There are three categories of early pioneers in the First Families Program:

Founding Families – Ancestors who settled before 1879

Early Settlers – Ancestors who settled between 1880 and 1905

Century Families – Ancestors who settled between 1906 and 100 years ago.  

You will find the requirements and the needed forms for a First Families Submission on the SMCGS Website.  

Early Families: Northern County Families, cont.

Russ Brabec has contributed another set of families to this growing biographical resource.  This installment adds another five families to the collection.

Robert Sheldon Thornton

Perhaps the highlight of the additions is a three part series on Robert Sheldon Thornton, his family and the state beach that bears his name.  If you haven't had the pleasure of finding one of these biographies in the past, you will be astounded by the amount of research in each one.  You will find a detailed time line of the lives of those followed, maps, references to deeds and other county documents, newspaper articles and much more.

Even if you have no connections to these families, you will find the biographies interesting and worth the read.

• McMahon - Owen McMahon, Elizabeth McMahon & Their Daughters
• Patton/Patten - Robert Patton/Patten, Elizabeth Patton/Patten
• Pierce - Francis Ellis Pierce & Fanny Pierce 
• Thornton
  • Robert Sheldon Thornton, Sarah A Thornton & Their descendants
  • Robert Sheldon Thornton Special Events
  • Thornton Beach State Park

• Van Winkle - Abraham Jacob Van Winkle, Hannah Elizabeth Philbrook & Their Daughters

Early Northern San Mateo County Settlers

Russell Brabec has finished a number of biographies on the early settlers of Northern San Mateo County.  You will find links to the pdf files below.  Look for another list of families later this spring.  

Mother Minerva 1927
OpenSFHistory.org

Along with the early settlers you will find a biography of John Patrick (Jack) Lawson: Mayor of Bayshore.   Bayshore was a short lived city located near the border of San Francisco behind where the Cow Palace is located today.  Incorporated in 1932 to "...ensure a local government friendly to the racetrack and bookies. Dog racing was the town's purpose."  Dog racing was outlawed in 1939 under pressure from  horse racing interests and the city unincorporated. You can read more about Bayshore City in the San Mateo Daily Journal article, Bayshore City was built for the dogs, of 5 Mar 2007.


Don't miss the biography of Mother Minerva Hartman 1832-1937, a nurse in the Civil War, the Crimea, the Spanish American War.... and more.  A late settler in the area, Mother Minerva died in a fire at the age of 104 in Colma, where she had lived for about 30 years. 

Early Settlers of Northern San Mateo County

• Bepler -  Justice and Louise H Christaine Bepler
• Brown - Henry Ward Brown and Margaret Pauline Brown
• Carter - Charles D Carter at Visitacion Valley
• Comerford - Michael Comerford
• Daly - Michael Daly (John Donald Daly's father)
• Doncks - Peter Herman Doncks, Johanna G Doncks and their Daughters
• Gardner - John & Ellen Gardner
• Haquette - Isabelle Daly Haquette (John Donald Daly's Sister) 
• King - Jacob and Mary Ann King
• Knowles
  • Isreal Graham Knowles & Mary Sanderson Knowles
  • Knowles Matson Marriage Mystery 
• Locker
  • John Wesley Locker, Elizabeth Rachel Atkinson Locker
  • ​Levi W. Locker (brother)
• Matson  - Knowles Matson Marriage Mystery
• Prince - William Tyron Prince
• Walbridge - Hiram Waldbridge at Visitacion Valley
• White - Samuel Stetson White and Marry Ladd White

First Families - Morris

Welcome SMCGS' newest Founding Family, that of Reuben Morris (1833 IN - aft 1866 UNK) and Margaret Lynch (1828 IRE -1901 CA).

Julie Mooney's account of her great-grandfather states: "Reuben Eldon Morris was one of the transportation pioneers in the Bay Area.  He was the owner of the largest stage line leading from San Francisco to the interior towns, according to the obituary of his widow, Margaret Lynch Morris.

"His ‘outerlands ‘routes would have included one to the western portions of San Francisco which were sparsely populated at the time, and to the south to Brisbane and likely South San Francisco. 

"Later he expanded to the ‘Mile House” routes which would have proceeded from San Francisco via what is now San Bruno Avenue around the east side of San Bruno Mountain to Brisbane and then via what is now Hillside Road in So. San Francisco to Mission Street.  The road then connected with El Camino Real.  His routes would likely stop at Castor’s Store in Belmont and end in San Mateo at 2^nd Avenue and El Camino or Old County Road. .

"Reuben had a livery adjacent to the original blacksmith’s shop owned by Michael and Dennis Brown on 3^rd and what is now Railroad Ave in San Mateo.  His daughter Rachel married Dennis Brown and had two sons.  Their respective homes remain side by side on the west side of No. Delaware Street numbers # 2 and #5 and have been beautifully maintained and restored. (1)

"The family moved to San Mateo County in the late 1850’s as he initiated the first stage line from Belmont Township to Spanishtown ( now known as Half Moon Bay), Purissima and Pescadero.

"In August 1859  the road from Condon’s to Belmont was declared a public highway.  And in October “Stage line and express from Belmont to Spanishtown and Half Moon Bay: Leaves Belmont ( Castor’s Store) at 1 pm every Monday, Wed and Friday…Leaves Spanishtown every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 8 o’clock , arriving at Belmont at 12 Noon.  R.E. Morris, propr. (2)

"Per the Wells Fargo Archivist, these were not stage coaches as we know them but, mud wagons – similar to the one on display at the San Mateo County History Museum in Redwood City.

"When the Freeman express contract was bought/absorbed by Wells Fargo Stage Lines, it is likely that Reuben Eldon Morris sold his livery company and routes in the county within a few short years. (3) 

Reuben, the grandson of a wealthy Henry County, IN farmer, most likely arrived in San Francisco in the early 1850s.  According to family tradition he married Margaret about 1855 in the city, but no record has been found to date.  Reuben seems to have drifted between San Francisco and San Mateo counties in the 1850s and 1860s.  He is listed in the San Francisco directories in 1861-63 and again in 1866.

Reuben Morris is last found in records in San Francisco or San Mateo County (or elsewhere) in 1880 when the family is found living in Township 4.

  Margaret Lynch purchased a plot (or perhaps it was a gift from her friend Mrs. Parrott) in St. John's Cemetery in San Mateo in 1887. Although no burial has been found,  it seems likely it was for Reuben. Margaret was living with her son-in-law, Dennis Brown in 1900 and was in the house of her daughter in Livermore in 1901 when she died.

James Crowe Mortuary brought her back to San Mateo and she is buried in the Morris plot in St. John's Cemetery along with her son George. (4)

You will find more information on Reuben, Margaret and their descendants in the San Mateo County Genealogical Society Library's First Family Collection.  Read about other early San Mateo County families on the SMCGS First Families Blog.

(1)  Daily Journal article 10/10/2000 by Paul Buchanan.

(2) R.E Schellens Notes:  ‘in having a roadway or public highway established out of Belmont.  The Board of Supervisors agreed to have such a public highway built out of a meandering farm road leading to Lower Lake sometime in august 1859.  This was followed by the inauguration of a regular stage line and express from Belmont to Spanishtown on Monday October 17, 1859.  R.E. Morris, proprietor.  The express part was taken care of by Freeman & Co. Express, with A.T. Castor of Belmont acting as their agent.  RNT 8/1974

(3) Local Historian John Edmonds in the Journal of Local History  Vol 5. No 2 Addition To San Mateo Stagecoaches: Morris should rightly be credited with developing the original stage line from San Mateo to Half Moon Bay and Pescadero.

(4) SMCGS - San Mateo County Death Records - Pam Reynolds

MORRIS

Margaret

73

Ireland

10/25/1901

Livermore, Cal.

Married

F

White

Heart Disease

Dr. J. K. Warner

St. John's, San Mateo

11-2-1901

Fiedler & Graham

San Mateo County First Families Blog

Russ Brabec actively researches Daly City and Colma Pioneers.  He's compiled family histories using records in the San Mateo County Record Depository, newspapers and other resources. Check out his list of available families the San Mateo County First Families blog.  While you are there check the other pages where you will find links to cemeteries, place histories and more.  This is a slowly growing collection of San Mateo County materials.  Do you have information you'd like to share?  Are you looking for information on early San Mateo County residents.  Contact publications@smcgs.org to contribute to the blog.