Tag: California

Posted on

Tombstone Tuesday – My Kids First Cemetery Adventure

My older daughter attends preschool three days a week.  Tuesday is a non-school day so we were looking for something to do.  In an attempt to avoid some house work, I suggested we go on a genealogy adventure to Colma.  San Francisco does not have any cemeteries inside the city limits.  Most people who live in San Francisco are buried just south of the city in the town of Colma.  My husband’s side has many family members buried in three of the cemeteries there.

I was immediately bombarded with “why” questions from my daughter.  It was the first time in many months that I was excited to answer several hundred why questions.  We talked about why there are cemeteries, who is in them, the gravestones, and how each of the people are related to us.

I tried to keep things simple such as “You have two grandmas.  Daddy’s Grandma Shirley also  had two grandmas.  We are going to visit both of Grandma Shirley’s grandmas.”  This description worked better than “This is your great-great-great-grandma.”

We kept is fun.  J did a bunch of rubbings at one cemetery.  She picked the little weed flowers at another to make a tiny bouquet for our gravestone.  We used each gravestone as a letters quiz.  (Can you find an E?)  J also acted as my photo shoot director.  At the Pope family plot, she would ask who was at each headstone and then tell me we needed a picture of them.

 

My little one is only a year old.  M had fun on our adventure too.  She wanted to touch each gravestone we passed.  I was cracking up because it looked like she was playing Duck, Duck, Goose.  Anything outdoors makes her happy.

It was a great day!  I taught my kids some family history, photographed some headstones that I was missing in my collection, and enjoyed a beautiful day outside.  I still had to clean my house but I did it with a smile thinking about the day.

Posted on

Black Sheep Sunday – Where did Frank go after San Quentin?

Frank Gingg is my husband’s maternal great grandfather.  I have written a previous post about the crime that lead him to spend some quality time in San Quentin (Black Sheep Sunday – My Dad Lived In San Quentin).

I have known since a vacation with my husband’s family in 2001 that Frank lived in Alaska.  We enjoyed a cruise of the Inside Passage including a stop in Ketchikan.  I remember Grandma Shirley pointing out the newspaper office.  She told us a story of visiting her dad one summer and coming to the paper where he worked as a printer.

What I did not know at the time of the cruise is that Frank had spent at least six years in San Quentin starting in 1933.  I have been wondering since my previous research what was Frank’s life like after prison.

Last fall I was contacted by a new cousin who had read my original blog post about Frank.  This cousin is the son Frank adopted after getting remarried in Alaska.  For privacy I will call this person Cousin L.  Cousin L has been wonderful sharing information about his memories of Frank and a cd full of photos.

The digital files I received included a obituary from the newspaper in Ketchikan.  The obituary states that Frank had lived there for 15 years.  This puts his approximate date of arrival as 1942.  We know that Frank was sentenced to at least 6 years in prison in 1933.  It is more likely that he was in San Quentin for 8 or 9 years.

I know that Shirley spent at least two summers with Frank after his arrival in Ketchikan.  Shirley married in 1947 so I am guessing these summers took place about 1943-1945.

After Frank arrived in Ketchikan, Alaska he made contact with a childhood friend named Cecil.  Cecil was had two children from a previous marriage.  Frank and Cecil were married February 26, 1953 in Alaska.  Frank adopted both of Cecil’s children.

Frank, Cecil and the kids 1954

Cecil and the kids moved to Ketchikan where they resided at 1200 Millar Street.

View from 1200 Millar Street

Frank, Cecil and the kids enjoyed life in Ketchikan.  Frank worked as the mechanical superintendent at the Daily News in Ketchikan.  He was in charge of all the printers.  The family used to swim in the summers and ice skate in the winters at Ward Lake.  Cousin L has many warm memories from this time in Alaska.

Frank Gingg circa 1957
In October 1957, Frank and Cecil drove to California for a visit with Frank’s family.  He would visit his mother, Belle; daughter, Shirley; and sister, Catherine.  This would be the first time that Catherine and Frank would see each other in many years.  It would also be the last.  On the drive back to Alaska, Frank would suffer a deadly heart attack in Weed, California on October 26, 1957.  His body was taken back to San Francisco for funeral services.  Frank is buried at Cypress Lawn Cemetery in Colma, California.
Posted on

Census Sunday – Ida Austin Household 1940

The biggest news in genealogy this week was the release of the 1940 Federal Census on Monday, April 2nd.  The week started off with a few bumps but has largely been a success for me.  One of the positives about living on the west coast is that when I woke up on Monday, news was already spreading about the insane number of people trying to access archives.org.  I decided to wait until Tuesday to take a peek at my ancestors.  This plan was somehow communicated to ancestry.com and they loaded the states I needed first (Haha – they did a great job getting all 3.8 million images loaded).  I am extremely happy to say that I have found 7 out of 8 grandparents (I was looking for my husband’s grandparents too.)  The only one missing is a grandparent that lived in Chicago at the time.  I do not have an address for her and Chicago is way to large to just scroll through the images.

I plan on using the Census Sunday theme to share my finds in the 1940 Federal Census.  I will start this week with the Ida Austin household in San Francisco, California.

Ida Austin is my husband’s great-great-grandmother.  She lived at 25 Fair Oaks Street, San Francisco, California.  Also listed in the household (in order) is Alfred Pope, Althea Pope, Joyce Pope, John Pope, Louis Richards, and Sophia Richards.

I laughed out loud when I read that all of the people listed had a relationship as lodger.  All of the other families on the sheet have more conventional relationships listed such as wife, daughter, step-son.  Althea is Ida’s daughter.  She is living with her husband and two children in her mother’s home.  Sophia is Ida’s sister and Louis is Sophia’s husband.

I would love to peek into the past to see who answered the questions of the enumerator.  No one in the household is marked with the X in a circle.  It is possible that one of the neighbors answered the questions for this family.  Since everyone in the household is listed as living in the same house in 1935, they obviously have been living as an extended family for some time.

Ida Austin owned her home and it was valued at $8000.  She made $1470 the previous year and appears to be the only person in the household working.  This is pretty amazing since her age is listed as 65 in 1940.  Grandpa John tells me that his grandmother worked at Columbia Outfitting Company.  Alfred is listed as a laborer but he did not have any income.

The education column is also interesting to me.  Alfred Pope is listed as having only 4 years of education.  When I asked Grandpa John about that, he told me that his father took classes at UC Berkeley.  This might be another indication that a neighbor answered the questions about the family.

Posted on

Treasure Chest Thursday – Catharine Offerman Pope Death Certificate

Catherine Offerman in my husband’s 2nd great grandmother.  She was born in Germany in 1865.  She immigrated to the United States in 1887 or 1888 with her husband, John Pope.  They lived at 3335 26th Street in San Francisco.  Catherine died a horrible death.  She received 2nd and 3rd degree burns on her body after gas on the floor of her home caught fire.  I am told by my husband’s grandfather, who was 5 at the time of the accident, that Catherine was cleaning the floor with the gasoline.  The house burned down and was rebuilt.  I scanned the copy of the death certificate (below) from the genealogy stash at my husband’s grandfather’s house.  I plan on visiting the San Francisco Library to see if there were any articles written in the newspaper about the fire.  Hopefully, I will be able to add more to this story at a later date.

3335 26th Street, San Francisco, CA
Left: in 1989. Right:early 1900’s before burning down.

State of California, Department of Public Health, Vital Statistics, Standard Certificate of Death # 32-005460

1. Place of Death: Dist. No 3801, City and County of San Fransisco, Franklin Hospital
2. Full Name: Catharine Pope
3. Sex: Female
4. Color or Race: White
5. Single, Married, Widowed, or Divorced: Widowed, wife of the late John Pope
6. Date of Birth: August 27, 1865
7. Age: 66 years, 4 months, 24 days
8. Occupation: At Home
9. Birthplace: Germany
10. Name of Father: C.H. Offerman
11 Birthplace of Father: Germany
12. Maiden Name of Mother: Anna Hink
13. Birthplace of Mother: Germany
14. Length of Residence: 45 years, in California 45 years
15. Informant: Per Mr C H Offerman, 547 Guerrero Street
16. Date of Death: January 21st, 1932
17. Cause of Death: Second and third degree burns of body. (One half body area) Accidental ignition of gasoline.
18. Special Information, Former Residence: 3335 26th St.
19. Place of Burial: Cypress Lawn Burial
20. Date of Burial: Jan. 23, 1932
21. Undertaker: H F Suhr Co, 2919 Mission Street

Posted on

Tombstone Tuesday – Yosemite Cemetery

We are very lucky that my brother-in-law and his wife work and live in Yosemite.  They live in a small house in between Yosemite Village and Yosemite Falls.  We got to spend a long weekend with them in July.  Our older daughter was in heaven since her favorite book is “Ty Cooney and the Big Yosemite Race.”  She was so excited to see all of the landmarks (El Capitan, Half Dome, etc) that are chronicled in the book.

I, on the other hand, was excited to take a few minutes to walk through Yosemite’s Pioneer Cemetery and pay my respects.  It is a small cemetery that is sandwiched between Yosemite Village and some of the park housing.  I always enjoy walking through the cemetery because it is not typical at all.  There are a wide range of markers in the cemetery including stone monuments, wood markers, and names carved into large rocks.

There is an excellent website ( http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/pioneer_cemetery/ ) that is a digital copy of a booklet called Guide to the Pioneer Cemetery by Lloyd Brubaker, Laurence Degnan, and Richard Jackson.  This website includes all of the names found on markers in the cemetery and short notes about each person.

Here are some photos from my visit this summer:

Posted on

Those Places Thursday – 2 Wright Street, San Francisco, California

This is the house that my husband’s grandmother, Shirley Gingg, grew up in.  She was raised by her grandmother, Wendla Botmaster.  Wendla married twice, first to Charles Mattson, and then to John Long.  All of the stories I hear about her refer to her as Grandma Long.
2 Wright Street is located in the Bernal Heights neighborhood.  The picture above looks from Bernal Heights towards Potereo Hill.  It now lies very close to the intersection of Cesar Chavez (Army Street) and Hwy 101.  Here is a Google Maps satellite view of the area today.
Posted on

Funeral Card Friday – Claus Alfred Pope

Claus Alfred Pope died at Sonoma Valley Hospital on 23 June 1971.  He had been sick with heart problems for the two weeks leading up to his death.  He was born 19 September 1901 in San Francisco, California to John Pope and Catherine Offerman.  He was survived by his wife, Althea (Austin) Pope, son, John A. Pope, daughter, Joyce (Pope) Hunter, and sister, Elfrieda (Pope) Fancher.

Posted on

Surname Saturday – Dean Lawbaugh Family

This is my first Surname Saturday post.  I have decided to start with Dean Lawbaugh’s family because I have a wonderful photo of the family.  Dean Russell Lawbaugh is my great grandfather on my mother’s paternal side.

top: Eugenia, Bill, Clemmie
bottom: Effie, Dean, Eddie

1. Dean Russell Lawbaugh was born 15 December 1888 in Wellington, Kansas to William Henry Lawbaugh and Clementine L Hudson.  He died 30 May, 1950 in Los Angeles, California.  He is buried in Wellington, Kansas.  Dean married Effie Bender on 12 May 1912.

2.  Effie Mae Bender was born 30 December 1892 in Halstead, Kansas to William Henry Bender and Mary Eugenia Bradley.  She died 15 march 1974 in Fort Smith, Arkansas.  She is buried in Wellington, Kansas.

i.  Eugenia Beryl Lawbaugh was born 23 February 1913 in Wellington, Kansas.  She died 11 July 1995 in McMinnville, Oregon.

ii. Clemedean Lawbaugh was born 7 January 1917 in Wellington, Kansas.  She died 23 June 1996 in McMinnville, Oregon.

iii. Edna Mae Lawbaugh was born 11 May 1921 in Wellington, Kansas.  She died 28 August 2001 in  Topeka, Kansas.

iv.  William Henry Lawbaugh was born 12 September 1923 in Wellington, Kansas.  He died 14 October 1965 in Lake Isabella, California.

Posted on

An American Dream

Today is the 4th of July.  The day to celebrate the independence of this great country.  The most common ways to celebrate are barbecues, fireworks, and parades with lots of American flags.  I would also like to celebrate by telling you a little about my paternal grandfather.  Celio “Jay” Gordon Capelli lived the American Dream.

 

Jay Capelli, March 1942

Jay was born in Cassano Canavesse, Turino, Italy on December 31, 1914.  His parents were Matteo Ciardonei and Adele Siletto.  On March 22, 1920, Celio (5 years old) and his father, Matteo Ciardonei, arrived in the United States on the SS Dante Aligheri.  According to the ship’s manifest, Matteo was deported March 31st because he had been diagnosed with tuberculosis.  Matteo was a strong man because he left his young son in the United States with his sister-in-law, Mary (Siletto) Capelli.

Jay grew up in the Capelli household in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with his 3 cousins, Mabel, Bruno, and Elsie and his aunt and uncle, Mary and Alfredo (Fred) Capelli.  Jay became a citizen of the United States on February 25, 1937 when he was 22 years old.  He also changed his name at this time to Capelli.  My grandfather attended Duquesne University, majoring in accounting.  He also served as a Quartermaster in the Army during World War II.

My grandfather met my grandmother, Mary Dempsey in Pittsburgh and they married February 15th, 1947.  Later that year,  they migrated out west to California with my grandmother’s brother.  They settled in Los Angeles and had three children.  The oldest boy being my dad.   The kids grew up in Anaheim and my grandparents moved to Mission Viejo during the 1970’s.

 

Jay & Mary Capelli, 40th Wedding Anniversary, February 1987

Jay was ninety four when he passed away just over 2 years ago.  He was a hard working man who loved his family deeply.  I remember being in high school when he finally retired from being a CPA at 80.  He loved to go bowling and did so until his late 80’s.  There are many family photos of Jay camping with his family.

He was hard of hearing in his later years.  I will never forget the first time I visited him after he got his hearing aids.  There was a look of astonishment on his face when I spoke to him.  I realized that my voice had been out of his hearing range for years and he was excited to hear what I sounded like.

One of my most favorite memories of my grandfather is from Christmas about 7 or 8 years ago.  I had found the passenger manifest for his arrival in the U.S. on EllisIsland.org and ordered a copy of the manifest and a photo of the ship to give to him for Christmas.  He was so amazed by the gift!  It made me so happy to be able to bring a piece of his past to him.

It is amazing to think that my grandfather did it all in this country.  He immigrated here as a young boy, learned a new language, grew up in a loving family, attended university, became a U.S. citizen, served his country in war, found the love of his life, followed his dreams out west, and raised a family.  He really did live the American Dream.

Posted on

Tombstone Tuesday – Charles F. Dempsey & Josephine A. Gamble

Charles Francis Dempsey was born September 1, 1894 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Josephine Amelia Gamble was born May 18, 1894 in Pennsylvania.  They married about 1920 in Pittsburgh.  Their marriage produced a son, William James, and a daughter, Mary Elizabeth (my paternal grandmother).

The family lived in Pittsburg for a time before moving to California in the late 1940’s.  Josephine passed away in Burbank, California on September 26, 1976.  Charles died in Burbank, California on February 13, 1986.

They are buried together at the San Fernando Mission Cemetery in San Fernando, California.