I was looking through some newspaper clippings that I found online over the last few weeks. Mary (Kelly) Meincke was my Great Great Grandmother’s sister. She and her husband owned the Five Mile House at Silver Avenue and Mission Road in San Francisco at the turn of the century.
I thought this entry was curious. Frederick was Mary’s husband. He gave her a piece of property on “W line of Mission” or New County Road at the intersection of Tingley Street. New County Road was where Mary’s Father, Martin Kelly, had owned property, though not at Tingley.
I have no record of the Meincke’s owning land beyond the Five Mile House where they ran a boardinghouse. So, this is new to me.
There is a very good reason why Frederick transferred this land over to Mary. The land transfer was listed in the 15 November 1900 San Francisco Call Newspaper. Frederick passed away on the 25th of the same month. I suspect that he was ill or injured and knew that he was going to die soon. He probably wanted to make sure that there were no legal hassles for Mary. God knows she would have enough of them 5 years later when her Uncle, Patrick Dolan, died and she had to fight cousins from Boston over who were legal heirs to his estate.
I took a gander at Google Maps to see if there was anything old there. Joe’s Cable Car Restaurant (established in 1965) and another building are at the intersection. I was kind of hoping to see a really old building…my search to find one of these old boardinghouses still existing but used as something else continues.
Now, I have another building to research. I am not sure if this area of Mission Road (aka New County Road) falls into San Mateo County or if it did in 1905. But, that is one avenue (no pun intended) to search.
It really makes me wonder how much property the Kelly’s and the Meincke’s owned. It appears that they could have owned the 5, 6, 7, and 8 mile houses just like my Grandma and her sister said.
