My Grandma Shellabarger told me that she had 4 siblings. They were Margaret, Julia, Viola, and a brother, John, who died as a baby shortly after the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco. I went many years thinking of the poor John dying so young. But, John didn’t really die in 1906. He was the boy…
Category: California Genealogy
The 1906 Earthquake and Fire: My Great Grandmother’s Story
I’ve been sorting through old letters that my Grandma Shellabarger wrote me. Many are not noteworthy. Hello, how are you? and nothing more. Others contain tidbits of her life. In one particular letter, she shared with me her mother’s recollection of the moment the 1906 San Francisco earthquake struck. It was one moment that change…
How Close Is Ernest Jobson’s Story to Harry Jackson’s?
Now that I know who my great grandfather really is, I’m curious how much the story he invented compares to his real life story. You may know that after 30 years of research I learned that my great grandfather was living in the United States under an alias. Harry Kenneth Jackson was a made up…
San Francisco Coroner’s Records are Interesting and Disturbing
FamilySearch.org has the San Francisco County coroner’s records. These records are as insightful as they are disturbing. Rarely do we get an actual account of our ancestor’s death. It makes these records one of a kind. What’s In The Coroner’s Records? The Coroner’s Office detailed what they found at the scene of the death in…
A French Woman Abandoned in San Francisco in the 1880s
I don’t know why Magdelaine Mazeres left France for America. She arrived in the late 1870s, a single woman, navigating the bustling city of San Francisco alone. She ended up in a bad situation. Would she survive the challenges ahead of her as a single parent alone in the city? Let’s find out. Here is…