Early Families: Poor Farm Stories

San Francisco Call  8 Feb 1906 p 6

The County Poor Farm was home to many personalities, including supervisors and inmates.

Perhaps the most controversial was Albert Eikerenkotter, Supervisor of the farm in the early twentieth century.  In February of 1906 the Grand Jury charged him with perjury in regards to his testimony before them about dealings on the farm.

They stated he was incompetent and grossly negligent in his duties and accused him of living well on items ordered for the farm, while the indigents were living in terrible conditions.

While it does not appear that he was found guilty of a crime, the charges went on, as late as Jan 1909 the County Grand Jury recommended strong censure for Al Eikerenkotter, as superintendent of the county farm and for the supervisors having supervision over the place, which was, as conducted, "not fit to be occupied by human beings." They reported that their visit to the farm showed that the indigents of the county were living in deplorable conditions. They also called for an investigation into Al's use of the pension money of Edward Hart, a veteran who was a resident at the farm. (SF Call 31 Jan 1909)   A search through newspapers of the time brings up many other articles about Albert and the investigations surrounding him.

SF Chronicle - 20 Feb 1912 pg 9

Charles Ford replaced Eikerenkotter as Superintendent.  In 1912 he also ran into trouble when he struck August Herbst, an inmate and knocked him down.  Ford continued as Supervisor until 6 Jan 1913 when he was replaced by James Eubanks, a butcher.

August Herbst a 66 year old carpenter was a resident of the farm from February until December of 1912.

San Francisco Chronicle
16 Jan 1915 p 5

In 1915 the grand jury was unsure what to do with their discovery of a three month old baby living at the farm.  They debated whether the information should go in their report.  The Burlingame Women's Club intervened and found a home for Mrs. H A Jones and her baby in Capitola.

San Francisco Chronicle pg 3

The oldest resident of the poor farm was Jacinto Floria who died at the age of 114 in 1923.  Born in Mexico City in 1809, Jacinto joined the Mexican army as a bugler at the age of 12.  Wounded two months later he left the army after his recovery, traveling by ship to San Francisco. He left San Francisco within a short time and took a job with a Russian nobleman in Santa Cruz.  Two years later he came north to Pescadero where he lived for more than half a century.  Jacinto finally gave up working and entered the poor farm in 1919.  Over the next few years he could be found tootling around the county with Poor Farm Supervisor James Eubanks who became a friend.

Then there was Basilio Tocchini who was admitted to the farm in 1915 after falling ill in his flower store.  He was thought to be penniless, but in fact has an estate worth over $10000.

These are just a few of the thousands who entered the poor farm, which was also the county hospital until 1923.  Some stayed a few days, some stayed years, some were dead before they came.

A few were only found in one record and little is known about them.  This includes Mary Tilty, Freddie and two babies (one might have been Freddie) who entered the farm before Aug 1916 and were there until at least October when Mary was provided a pair of stockings. Who was she, what happened to her babies, did only Freddie survive? 

SMCGS Databases Online: County Poor Farm

This listing of Inmates and Patients at the San Mateo County Poor/ Relief Farm was created from a variety of sources.  There were three registers, the earliest dating from the opening of the farm in 1876.  That first register was relatively well maintained and for many individuals gave quite a bit of information including age, birthplace, how long they had lived in California and how long in the county. Some entries included the reason for the admission, the town where they had been living and their next of kin.  Unfortunately, that wealth of information was not carried forward in the later registers.

Besides the three registers, there was a bath list and a series of monthly reports that filled in or supplemented the sparsity of records for the early twentieth century.  Gaps still exist.  The two later registers, were most likely copied from other records.  The handwriting is often close to illegible and the lack of consistency in spelling creates a feeling of basic illiteracy.  Census records were also used to provide more information on individuals, in a few cases individuals listed on the farm in the census were not found in any other records.

Many patients were admitted for just a few days.  Others were residents for a long time, a few for decades.  Many were discharged and readmitted a number of times.  This lists tries to give the first date of admission and the last known discharge date or the death date.  When it is not clear that two entries are for the same person they were not combined even though it seems likely they were in fact the same.

Many of those who are shown as deceased in this list and in the registers were in fact never residents of the farm, or not so at the time of their death.  The farm's cemetery was used as a pauper's burial ground, and those buried there were entered in the register on the date they were buried.  An effort was made to find all those who were deceased in the early county death records, the state death index and/or the coroner's index to verify that they were in fact deceased. That the earliest deaths were not found was expected, however, there were death's after 1906 that were not found.  It is possible that they died outside the county, and even more likely that the names were so badly spelt that they weren't found, although a search was made in most cases just by death date (but only in San Mateo County).

• Index to Inmates and Patients of the County Poor/Relief Farm and Hospital.

Annual Reports and ledgers provide some insight into the income and expenses of the poor farm, mainly in the early part of the twentieth century.  The Income and Expense reports and the Contracts are located in the County Record Repository at Tower Road in Cabinet RC5B1 drawers 5, 26 and 27.

• Income and Expenses 1916-1920
• Index to County Poor Farm Contracts 1912-1917 
• Income Reports to Board 1903-1905

Employee lists were culled from Census records (families living on the farm are included) and entries in ledgers held by the San Mateo County Historical Association Museum.  Judging from the turnover of cooks and nurses in the records found, the list should probably be much longer.  If further sources are located names will be added to the list.  

• Poor Farm Employees

 For  a list of sources used to compile the Poor Farm database see:

• County Poor Farm Sources

Additional information was culled from newspaper articles.  They are identified when used.  The early San Mateo Times Gazette is not currently easily accessible in a searchable format.  When it becomes available information on the workings of the poor farm should be uncovered.  An additional resource that has not yet been located would be the minutes of the Board of Supervisors. 

San Mateo County Cemeteries: County Poor Farm

Over the years many burials took place at the County Relief Farm.  Other sources give a date of the start of the cemetery as 1894, but I would suggest that burials took place from the time the farm was opened.  In 1894 the registers started to indicate where those who died at the Poor Farm were buried.  Some were interred on the farm, others were taken to outside cemeteries.  Even after 1894 not all records indicated where the deceased was buried. And not all numbers are recorded in the registers





Support for earlier burials can be found in two facts. First the lack of information for many of the earlier burials in any other records. Second when the Institute for Canine Forensics brought cadaver dogs to search for burials on the Poor Farm Cemetery grounds they found more burials than had been recorded.




 We will never know. No decipherable markers remain in the burial grounds.  There are some ruins that appear to be the remnants of wooden markers, but they might be something else.  It is unlikely that there was ever anything other than inexpensive wooden markers.  Those with family or resources for burial were usually buried elsewhere.


Not everyone who was buried at the County Poor Farm had been an inmate of the Poor Farm/Hospital.  Outside indigents were brought to be buried through the years.  Not everyone who died at the hospital was buried on the grounds.  Many were removed to other cemeteries.  A few were interred and then disinterred and moved.  Some of those buried in the cemetery after 1906 have not been located in the CA death index.  This might be due to the misspellings found throughout the records.  It is also possible that some of the records were miscopied from the original sources and the deaths were attributed to the wrong person.

For those who find an ancestor buried here, the cemetery is located along the south side of highway 92 just east of Ralston Road.

San Mateo Times - 3 Aug 1929
(The register gives a date of 7 Aug 1929
states buried in grave ?
an example of the caliber of records)

• County Poor Farm Sources
• SF Genealogy - San Mateo County Poor Farm and Hospital (Includes list of known burials)
• FindAGrave - San Mateo County Poor Farm Cemetery
• SMCGS Flickr Album - San Mateo County Poor Farm

SMT - 25 Nov 1915 p 15
Buried in Grave 244

San Francisco Call 20 Nov 1907
Buried Grave 99

SFC - 6 Aug 1911
Buried in Union Cemetery