Roads: San Bruno Turnpike Road

In 1858 The San Bruno Turnpike (1) Road Company was established under the provisions of an Act of the Legislature (12th May 1853) for the formation of Corporations to construct Plank and Turnpike Roads and an Act of the Legislature (26th Apr 1858) granting the right of way over certain lands of this state in the counties of San Francisco and San Mateo.  The bylaws state the corporation will exist for twenty years from the 30th of Jun 1858 when it was first formed.

The purpose of the company was to "construct and maintain a turnpike road from the south end or side of the Potrero Nuevo in the city and county of San Francisco over the most favorable ground as near the Bay of San Francisco as practicable to intersect the present stage road from San Francisco to San Jose at a point near fifteen mile house in the county of San Mateo and extending and maintaining the said road Northerly and Easterly from the point first above mentioned as far as the company may deem expedient, the exact termini location, width and mode of construction being determined by the company on proper surveys and reports of its engineer."

Daily Alta California 12 Sep 1858 Vol 10 p 3 c 1

At a meeting on 10 Sep A E Easton was elected President, O Cipriani as Secretary, CB Polhemus as treasurer and A B Forbes, P Dows, P P Heeley, P W Brittoen and DL Cook as directors.  It was reported that the worth of the stock of the company was $40,000.

They also resolved to establish a tollgate within San Mateo County as close to Point San Bruno as was practical.

The Bylaws were filed on the 20 of Sep
In 1858 the Board of Directors for the San Bruno Turnpike Company informed the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors that they had set the tolls as
12 1/2 cents for a single animal
25 cents for a single team
50 cents for a double team.

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Guidelines - Visitacion Valley

Near the tollgate stood Six Mile House, both a rooming house and tavern which provided a stopping place for passengers to rest and drivers to change their horses. It was opened in 1876 by Henry (Pop) Blanken. Images of America's San Francisco's Visitacion Valley notes, "Pop Blanken's Six Mile House located on Bayshore Boulevard near today's county line, was for many years a place popular with business men and politicians. ....in addition Six Mile house offered recreational opportunities like trap and rifle shooting, shuffleboard and bowling , and served as the training headquarters for prize boxes, including "Gentleman Jim Corbett.  Pop Blanken died on 30 Dec 1915, Six mile house continued for another couple of decades.  It was eventually razed in 1938 to make way for a garage and gas station.

The road was sold to San Mateo County in 1889.  In the 1890s a Toll House was built for caretaker James Richardson.  It was ranch style with 4 bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining room and a small room for taking baths.  It was enclosed by a fence and a vegetable garden filled the land from the fence to the house. (2)  

The toll road evolved into the Bayshore Highway.  Today portions bear the names Bayshore Blvd, Airport Blvd and San Mateo Ave.

(1) a road on which turnpikes, or tollgates, are established by law, in order to collect from the users tolls to defray the cost of building, repairing, 
(2) Clara Boner's recollections of her life as a child in the Toll House 1944

Sources:

• Scuffhauer, Joyce, San Bruno Road - Turnpike, SSFHS 1944, SMCHA SM 632
• DOCS 88-178 Road Construction - First Township SMCHA Collections
• San Bruno's Toll Road was the Main Thoroughfare
• Images of America's San Francisco's Visitacion Valley 

It’s Great to be Alive in Colma!

 As a continuation of the blogs on San Mateo Cemeteries, we feature this reminder from the Colma Historical Association.  Their moto: It’s Great to be Alive in Colma!

To check the veracity of this claim, the Menlo Park genealogy class took a trip up to the museum.  If you’ve never been there, you’re missing a great local history resource.  It’s more than just a museum.  There’s a whole compound with train station (no train anymore), blacksmith shop, and views out over the Italian Cemetery.  The main building contains a reproduction of a turn-of-the century kitchen, and numerous local artifacts.  We claimed to recognize some of the old kitchen equipment - and to have used it.  Also on site is a research library, where some of us found ancestors.  And of course a shop with books – and t-shirts.

 

Do you know why Colma was the burial place for San Francisco?  Besides the fact that they couldn’t go west, north, or east?  We had a geology expert along to explain this.   It turns out the soil is very sandy in that area, and is good for planting potatoes – and people.

The association was founded in 1993 as a means of preserving some of the history of the area.  Much of their archives centers on the surrounding burial plots.  The research library contains mortuary records, transcriptions, and maps.  There are usually docents on hand to explain the exhibits and help with research. 

And speaking of research, our intrepid record transcribers, Cath Trindle, Jean Ann Carroll, Lauren Perritt, and Russ and Eunice Brabec, are up there frequently working on records from the Valente, Marini,  and Perata Mortuary.   They’re looking for someone good at cameras to help photograph the records.  Contact SMCGS if you’d like to help!

The center is open Tuesdays through Sundays 10-3PM.  Closed on holidays. Their website is

http://www.colmahistory.com/index.html.

by Maggie Melaney

SMCGS Databases: Early Land Records

One of the first databases posted on the SMCGS website was the Early Land Records Index.  This index, mainly compiled by Russ Brabec with a little help from Cath Trindle consists of nine volumes of early records.

The index includes:

• Patent   1-3 covering the years 1856-1921. Images of these volumes are available on FamilySearch  --  Land Patents were granted by the US Government on land they had acquired.  Most of the early patents in San Mateo County were verifying claims of those who had been given Spanish land grants.  Subsequent transfers of those original land patents are is made by deed.  It is possible to declare that the original patent has been transfered to an individual, which can give protections not necessarily transferred by deed.
• Record of Deeds   1-4 covering the years 1855-1866.   Images of these volumes are available on FamilySearch.  FamilySearch has images of deeds well beyond these initial 4 volumes as well as images of many of the indexes that were created over the years.  These are all browse only, but are not difficult to navigate and find the records you are looking for.
• Mortgages 1-2.  These records are available from the San Mateo Country Recorders Office.  These are just the first two of many Mortgage volumes available in the County Record Repository.  They can help provide a better picture of the worth of a property as amounts are often no included in the deeds.

Early Land Records Index

Images on FamilySearch

For other early land records of San Mateo County see

• Homesteads  Index Images
• Leases  Index
• Lis Pendens Index
• Sole Traders   Index Images
• Tax Sales Index to Sales by Tax Collector, Index to Sales, Executions and Certificates

More:

• Understanding Land Patents
• Bureau of Land Management - Land Patents  Original Surveys San Mateo County - includes Plat Maps and original patentees

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