The Keepers and Destroyers of History

Yesterday I took a leisurely bicycle ride through the historic Washburne neighborhood with my kindred, Michael Dundon. Since he moved from Hawaii to Oregon in March, Michael and I have been refreshing our long history as friends and kindred. We share the same nephew, Shamus Dundon, the son of Vicki Presco and James Dundon, Michael’s older brother. Shamus is the cousin of Shannon and Drew Benton, as well as Jamie, Jeremy, Jenifer, and Michael Lewis Dundon, Michael’s four children. Michael has around ten grandchildren. Diane Frye married Michael around 1972.

Tonight I will be having dinner at Jennifer’s home. I will be gifting her second born son with some empty canvases, artist brushes and colors. Wylie is a gifted artist and I want to be his mentor.

Yesterday, Michael told me he went to the same High School Christine and I attended when we moved to West Los Angeles. Around 1970, Michael bought Christine about $300 dollars worth of art supplies in a big art supply store in downtown Los Angeles. Two years later, Christine became the world famous artist known as Rosamond. My kin encouraged my sister to become an artist. Michael’s has another nephew, James Dundon, who has become a good friend of Drew Benton who is living with Vicki in Bullhead City. Alas, the true history of my family is coming out after being hoarded by my brother, Mark Presco, and Vicki Presco, who was Daddy’s Little Princess. My sibling had lent Christine money before she died, and thus they felt entitled to our history in order to enrich themselves with a biography and movie.

Vic Presco disowned his sons, and made Vicki his only Heir. This history fits with Mark disowning his only child after Cian changed his last name to O’Brian in order to honor his step-father. I tried to bring Cian back into the family by introducing him to my daughter and my new-born grandson. That is us in the photo above along with Mark’s two grandsons who should be surnamed Presco. But, because they are half Filipeno, my racist brother will have nothing to do with them, he calling them “Mud People”. This fits with Bill Cornwell calling me a parasite because he and his father hate Mexicans, they Tea Party Patriots bent on stopping the flow over the border. Bill was shocked to learn I was authoring a autobiography after he called me to inform me he was in charge of my grandson now – and his family history will have a powerful influence on Tyler Hunt from now on.

Above is a photo of two man in a wagon with the title ‘Belmont Soda Works’ on the side. These young men could be the two sons of my great grandfather, Carl Janke, a co-founder of the city of Belmont (that we see in old photo) located ten miles south of San Francisco.

Above are several photos of my offspring at General Vallejo’s home in Sonoma where Heather grew up and went to school. After learning Ryan Hunt was not happy being a father, and was neglecting his son and my daughter, I took the train down to see this abandoned baby and claim Tyler as a member of my family. I took Heather and Tyler to the Janke-Stuttmeister tomb in Colma and told my daughter;

“Here are your people. Here is your history!”

The Bear Flag Rebellion began on Vallejo’s ranch. Our kindred, John Fremont, was behind this rebellion that made California a part of the United States. Fremont organized the men that evicted Vallejo from his abode part of his army. He then evicted other Mexicans from their land grants. This appears to be the mission of his step-father, Senator Thomas Hart Benton, whose daughter Jessie married Fremont. These historic figures became our kindred when Christine Rosamond Benton married the muralist, Garth Benton.

Above is the flag of the German Revo/lution of 1848. My Stuttmeister kin fled Berlin after this bebellion was lost. These are the 48ers that formed the Republican Party and backed Fremont as the first presidential candidate of this party that has been taken over by evangelicals and false patriots bent on replealing the Civil Rights movement, and creating a theocratic rule.

The Stuttmeisters sent family members to prepare a way for an Exodus to the Americas. They came to Chile, and then San Francisco. They helped colonize German towns in Chile and appear to be members of the Tunverien Society that I suspect is the source of the name Tanforan. Toribio Tanforan was a native of Chile, later made a native of San Francisco. Above are photos of the Tanforan homes that were moved to the Mission. I am certain these are two of the six portable homes Carl Janke brought around the Cape in 1849 and erected in Belmont. One of these homes belonged to Count Leo Cipriani that he erected with 5,000 screws. He sold this home to Ralston ‘The Man Who Built San Francsco’. The granddaughter of Carl Janke, August, married Willam Stuttmeister in this historic home.

It is time for all the males who are related to me in any fashion to stop fighting the Family Historian and go along with the program. None of these males, and females, knew anything about the Family History you have just read. I highly suggest my relationship with my grandson, Tyler Hunt, be restored and encouraged, or…………History will bury you alive!

Before Lady Liberty came to stand on our eastern shore in 1886, Germania came to Belmont California thanks to my great grandfathers. The painting above was rendered by Philipp Veit, a Nazarene Artist, who let their hair grow long. After discovering this group, and the Pre-Raphaelite artists they influenced, I let my hair grow long. I was one of the original Hippies. Take not of the hemp branch in Germania’s sword hand, denoting – Peace! I shared these artists with my sister who became famous for her rendering of beautiful women. She captured them. She gave me credit for her success. We…..inspired The Rose of the World! I have raised our beautiful history – from the dead!

Jon Presco

Germania is a painting by Philipp Veit created in March 1848 during the Revolutions of 1848. This allegorical figure is represented with the imperial Eagle, oak leaves (symbols of German strength), a hemp branch (as a sign of peace), and a banner.

Philipp Veit (13 February 1793 – 18 December 1877) was a German Romantic painter. To Veit is due the credit of having been the first to revive the almost forgotten technique of fresco painting.
Biography [edit]

Veit was born in Berlin, Prussia. He was the son of a banker Simon Veit and his wife Dorothea, daughter of Moses Mendelssohn, who subsequently left him to marry Friedrich Schlegel. Veit received his first art education in Dresden, where he was taught by Caspar David Friedrich,[1] and Vienna. Although a prodigious talent when it came to drawing, Veit was not comfortable with oil painting. Therefore, in Vienna he took to working with watercolor. In Vienna, he made the acquaintance of Schlegel, and through him came to know several Viennese Romantics, one of whom was the poet and novelist Joseph von Eichendorff.[1] He was strongly influenced by, and joined, the Nazarene movement in Rome, where he worked for some years before moving to Frankfurt.
Veit participated in the struggle against Napoleon in 1813-14, returning to Berlin for a short period. In 1815, he finished the Virgin with Christ and St John, a votive painting for the church of St James in Heiligenstadt, Vienna. The painting was inspired by the style of Pietro Perugino and Raphael.[1]
In Frankfurt, where his most important works are preserved at the Städel, he was active from 1830 to 1843 as director of the art collections and as professor of painting. From 1853 till his death in 1877 he held the post of director of the municipal gallery in Mainz. Like his fellow Nazarenes he was more draughtsman than painter, and though his sense of colour was stronger than that of Overbeck or Cornelius, his works are generally more of the nature of coloured cartoons than of paintings in the modern sense.
Veit’s principal work is the large fresco of The Introduction of Christianity into Germany by St Boniface, at the Städel. In the Frankfurt Cathedral is his Assumption, while the Alte Nationalgalerie of Berlin has his painting of The Two Marys at the Sepulchre. An example of his romantic work is Germania, a national personification of Germany, located in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum of Nuremberg.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazarene_movement

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Raphaelite

Moses Mendelssohn (6 September 1729[1] – 4 January 1786) was a German Jewish philosopher to whose ideas the Haskalah (the ‘Jewish enlightenment’ of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries) is indebted. Although himself a practicing orthodox Jew, he has been referred to as the father of Reform Judaism.[2]

http://www.ci.springfield.or.us/dsd/Planning/hcommission/Site%26Bldgs/Washburne.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rancho_Buri_Buri

Tanforan Racetrack in San Bruno, California was a thoroughbred horse racing facility that operated from September 4, 1899 to July 31, 1964. Tanforan was constructed to serve a clientele from the nearby city of San Francisco. The facility was named after Toribio Tanforan, the grandson-in-law of Jose Antonio Sanchez, the grantee of Rancho Buri Buri. [1] [2]

TANFORAN, Toribio
San Francisco Call, 5 April 1884, page 4
TANFORAN – In this city, April 4, Toribio TANFORAN, a native of Chile, South America, aged 54 years. Friends and acquaintances are respectfully invited to attend the funeral Monday, April 7, at 8:30 o’clock A. M., from his late residence, Wells avenue, between Fifteenth and Sixteenth, Dolores and Church streets; thence to Mission Dolores Church, where a solemn requiem mass will be celebrated for the repose of his soul, commencing at 9 o’clock.
Submitted by: Julia Christy

TANFORAN, Maria de los Angeles Valencia
San Francisco Morning Call, 15 October 1884, page 4
TANFORAN – In this city, October 12, Mary, relict of the late Torivio Tanforan, a native of San Francisco, California, aged 52 years. Friends and acquaintances are respectfully invited to attend the funeral TO-DAY (Wednesday), at 8:30 o’clock A.M. , from her late residence, 3 Well street, thence to Mission Dolores Church, where a solemn requiem mass will be celebrated for the repose of her soul, commencing at 9 o’clock.

Hugo Stuttmeister
Birth:
year
Departure:
date – location
Arrival:
Boulogne; Leixoes; Lissabon; Madeira; Nordbrasilien

In 1850 Vallejo purchased some acreage at the foot of the hills half-a-mile west and north of Sonoma’s central plaza. The land surrounded a spring that the Indians had called Chiucuyem (crying mountain). Vallejo translated it into Latin, Lachryma Montis ( mountain tear).

In 1851 and 1852 the main house was built. It was a two story, wood-frame house built in the carpenter’s gothic Victorian style. Along with several pavilions and other outbuildings, Vallejo’s estate included a large barn and warehouse.

Vallejo and his wife lived at Lachryma Montis for more than 35 years, although as time went by they were forced to live quietly and unpretentiously as the General suffered one economic setback after another.

In 1933 the Vallejo Home and some 20 acres of Lachryma Montis were acquired by the State.

RAISING OF THE BEAR FLAG
At dawn on June 14, 1846, thirty-three heavily-armed Americans gathered at the fortified adobe home of General Mariano Vallejo, on the north side of Sonoma’s Plaza. These men — some from the Grigsby-Ide party of settlers, some mountain men and explorers, but all displeased with Mexican rule — pounded on the adobe door and loudly demanded the General come out and surrender the little fortress to them. Vallejo quickly donned his dress uniform, then opened the door and invited three representatives of the group in for breakfast and wine. The General’s military bearing and immaculate uniform must have contrasted starkly with the clothing of his “visitors.” Some of the Americans wore buckskins, others wore their work clothes, still others wore only what rags they had picked up or made during their travels. Robert Semple, a member of the group, later noted in his memoirs that the party “was as rough a looking set of men as one could imagine.”
Because Vallejo realized that Mexican rule was inadequate to manage an area as large and rich as California, he had been hoping the United States would annex the region. He told the Americans that morning to consider him one of them. The group was wary; they respectfully informed him he was under arrest and sent him to Sutter’s Fort for safeguarding. Vallejo would eventually return to Sonoma after the U.S. took control of California. He would go on to serve as a delegate to the California Constitutional Convention, and later as a State Senator.
Having won such a surprising and effortless victory, the Americans, (now twenty-four strong), were at a temporary loss. Some suggested looting the adobe, which was also an arsenal, but William Ide made an impassioned plea for restraint, “Choose ye this day what you will be! We are robbers, or we must be conquerors!”
To legitimize their conquest, the rebels decided to raise a new flag over the plaza. By most accounts, the making of this flag was overseen by William L. Todd, a nephew of Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of the future president. A Californio woman donated a rectangular piece of very light brown muslin. The wife of John Sears, one of the Grigsby-Ide party, tore a four-inch wide strip from a red petticoat and sewed it to the muslin, making a stripe along the bottom reminiscent of the stripes on the American flag. Todd then drew a star in the upper left corner (some say in solidarity with Texas, then also fighting a war with Mexico) and a crude rendition of a grizzly bear next to it, using for both a brownish mixture of brick dust, linseed oil, and Venetian Red paint. The words CALIFORNIA REPUBLIC were written in black in the middle, to the right of the star.
Why a grizzly bear? Some historians say the choice was made to enrage and intimidate the Californios, who feared the grizzly more than any other predator. Others accounts say the mountain men favored the grizzley because it was the fiercest and most determined fighter in the animal kingdom. Whatever the reasons behind its choosing, the grizzly quickly became the symbol of the new Republic — also known, then, as the Bear Flag Republic. The grizzly remains the symbol of California to this day.
In his memoirs, the Recuerdos (Recollections), General Vallejo calls the flag’s design “strange” and says “the bear looked more like a pig than a bear.” No one is sure exactly what the original Bear Flag looked like, as it was destroyed in the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906. While there are extensive contemporary descriptions of flags of that period, many differ with each other as to the actual designs.
The Bear Flag was adopted as the official flag of California in 1911. The current design is the result of several makeovers, the last by prominent California historian and artist Donald Kelley in 1953.

http://www.militarymuseum.org/fremont.html

The American Civil War, 1861-1865, was the most fateful episode in the history of the United States. Therefore, it’s not surprising that countless thousands of books and articles have been written on virtually every aspect of the conflict.
A substantial portion of these publications naturally deal with the prominent military men on both sides. One individual who has received much attention from historians and Civil War buffs, even though his service in the war was rather brief, is the charismatic John C. Fremont.
On the eve of the Civil War Fremont was one of the best-known and most popular figures in America. His explorations in the Far West had earned him the sobriquet of “Pathfinder.” In 1856 he ran for president on the Republican ticket. He had been asked to be the Democratic presidential candidate, but declined because that party supported slavery.

Although Fremont lost the election, he garnered a substantial portion of the popular and electoral vote. His wife, the intrepid Jessie Benton, was the daughter of the powerful Missouri politician Thomas Hart Benton. In the minds of many Americans, Fremont seemed to embody the spirit of the nation.

A persistent accusation leveled against Fremont was that he surrounded himself with foreign officers – Germans, Hungarians, Italians, and French – and actually preferred foreigners to Americans. Furthermore, the critics charged, these officers exaggerated their military experiences, strutted about in gaudy uniforms of their own design, bestowed sonorous and absurd titles upon themselves, and could give Fremont little practical counsel in a situation full of political difficulties.

http://www.sk-szeged.hu/statikus_html/vasvary/newsletter/03dec/beszedits.html

The first California Volunteer Militia was organized by, the man historical writings refer to as “The Pathfinder. This same individual later became one of the State’s first Senators and was appointed a Major General in the Union Army during the Civil War.

This man was Captain John Charles Fremont, U.S. Army topographer, explorer, and trail blazer. Captain Fremont began his treks westward into United States trerritory and beyond in 1842. It was during his third expedition (1845-1846) that he assisted in turning the course of history in California.

In December 1845, Captain Fremont, and a force of sixty men, entered into the Mexican province of Alta California ostensibly to map the west coast area. Although he officially made contact with Mexican authorities, his movements around the province was a point of consternation to Mexico’s Northern Regional Commander, General Jose Castro. In particular, the latter did not care for Fremont’s contact and sympathy for American settlers and emigrants.

The Fremont Party having traversed the territory as far north as Klamath on the California/Oregon border, turned south upon hearing that a proclamation had been issued by General Castro, aimed at driving out foreigners from the province. Fremont, though sympathetic could not commit U.S. Forces to aid the settlers. Nevertheless, he did decide to stay and advise those who chose to confront the Mexican authorities. Captain Fremont established his base camp at the base of four buttes (Sutter Buttes) in the Sacramento Valley a few miles north of John Sutter’s Fort.

Word of the camp reached a group of settlers who were most vociferous in their dislike of the province’s government. Leader of this group calling themselves Osos (Spanish for Bears), was Ezekiel “Stuttering” Merritt. Merritt was well known in the territory, and the west, for having been a fur trapper in the Rocky Mountains. Captain Fremont gladly accepted the twenty Osos, and went so far as to appoint Zeke Merritt a lieutenant of the irregulars.

Fremont remained in the background of events, not wishing to involve the United States in any altercations the Osos might be involved in; however, he and his force had already been branded “bandits” by General Castro, after an alleged horse stealing episode near Salinas during May 1846. Hence, in early June, Captain Fremont gave advice to capture the Northern Headquarters of General Mariano Vallejo at Sonoma. On June 14, the Osos took the town of Sonoma in the early dawn light without firing a shot. And with the acceptance of General Vallejo’s surrender the Osos declared California a Republic, and raised the Bear Flag over the plaza.

Captain Fremont saluted the Bear Flaggers, whose force now numbered ninety, when both the flag of the United States and California Republic were raised on July 4, 1846, in celebration of United States and California Independence.

Following the celebration, Captain Fremont proposed that a unified force be organized, under his command. A discussion was held July 5, with William Brown Ide (Grigsby-Ide emigrant party of 1845), who the Bear Flaggers had elected as their Commander-in-Chief. A compact was drawn up for all volunteers to sign, which in part read: Not to violate the chastity of Women; conduct their revolution honorably; and pledge obedience to their officers. With the signatures or marks of the men, the California Battalion was formed. Fremont appointed a Marine Corps Officer, Captain Archibald H. Gillespie, his Adjutant. Captain Gillespie had joined Fremont when the latter was at the Oregon Border. Gillespie had crossed the Mexican nation and entered California about the time hostilities broke out with the opening of the Mexican War, May 1846. Fremont requested the Battalion’s volunteers to elect their officers from the ranks. Chosen were: Richard Owens, John Grigsby, Granville P. Swift, and Henry L. Ford.

The California Battalion was given further legitimacy when on July 23, it was recognized by the American military leader in California, Commodore Robert Field Stockton, Commander of U.S. Naval Forces in the Pacific. J.C. Fremont was promoted to Major by Commodore Stockton, and given command of all Volunteer Militia. Major Fremont and the California Battalion eventually came under the command of Brigadier General Stephen Watt Kearney. Following this command change the Battalion came into prominence when in January 1847 they accepted the surrender of the Californios, thereby ending the conflict in California

June 1888 STUTTMEISTER-JANKE. One of the most enjoyable weddings of the past week took place at Belmont, Wednesday morning last, the contracting parties being Miss Augusta Janke, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. August Janke of Belmont,
and Dr. Wm. Stuttmeister of San Francisco. The house was handsomely decorated with a rich profusion of ferns and flowers, and at the appointed hour was filled with the relatives and intimate friends
of the contracting parties. At 11 o’clock the wedding march was played and the bridal party entered the parlor. The bride was attended by Miss Alice Stuttmeister, a sister of the groom, and Miss Minnie Janke, a sister of the bride, as bridesmaids, and Dr. Muldownado and Wm. Janke, a cousin of the bride, were groomsmen. The Rev. A. L. Brewer
of San Mateo performed the beautiful and impressive ceremony under an arch composed of flowers and greens very prettily arranged, after which the guests pressed forward and offered their congratulations. The bride was attired in a very pretty and becoming costume of the crushed strawberry shade, and wore a corsage bouquet of orange
blossoms. She carried a handsome bouquet of white flowers. After the guests had paid their compliments the bride and groom led the way to the dining-room, where the wedding dinner was served and the health
of the newly married pair was pledged. The feast over, the guests joined in the dance, and the hours sped right merrily, interspersed with music singing and recitations, until the bride and groom took their departure amid a shower of rice and good wishes. Many beautiful presents were received. Dr. and Mrs. Stuttmeister left Thursday morning for Santa Cruz and Monterey, where they will spend the honeymoon. On their return they will make their home in Belmont. 1911: Dr. Willian O. Stuttmeister was practicing dentistry in Redwood City, CA. (Reference: University of California, Directory of Graduates,
1864-1910, page 133).
Records from Tombstones in Laurel Hill Cemetery, 1853-1927 – Janke
– Stuttmeister
Mina Maria Janke, daughter of William A, & Cornelia Janke, born
February 2, 1869, died March 1902.
William August Janke, native of Hamburg, Germany, born Dec. 25,
1642, died Nov. 22, 1902, son of Carl August & Dorette Catherine Janke. Frederick William R. Stuttmeister, native of Berlin, Germany, born
1612, died January 29, 1877.
Mrs. Matilda Stuttmeister, wife of Frederick W.R. Stuttmeister, born
1829, died March 17, 1875, native of New York.
Victor Rudolph Stuttmeister, son of Frederick W.R. & Matilda
Stuttmeister, born May 29, 1846, died Jan. 19, 1893, native of New
York.

https://rosamondpress.wordpress.com/2011/09/11/belmont-legacy-of-carl-janke/

https://rosamondpress.wordpress.com/2011/09/09/stuttmeister-janke-wedding-at-ralston-hall/

http://www.historicunioncemetery.com/Person.php?person=Janke,%20Dorette%20Catherine

Carl and Dorothea Janke
By: John Edmonds
Carl August Janke was a native of Hamburg, Germany, as was Dorothea; they left Germany in late 1848 and sailed to San Francisco arriving in 1860 following a brief trip to the gold country. They spent little time in San Francisco, finding the climate more to their liking in Belmont, San Mateo County.
Carl built the well known Belmont Picnic Grounds in the vicinity of today’s Twin Pines Park. The grounds became well known in San Francisco and when the railroad became well established in the mid 1860s the well intentioned and sometimes the not so well intentioned citizens of the great city took the train to Belmont. Good citizens of San Mateo County also enjoyed the good imported German beer and the dancing to the German band.
One of the problems for the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad that serviced Belmont and the San Mateo County Peninsula was that the trip back to the city often resulted in a great number of broken windows. The railroad solved that problem by increasing the toll for the trip to Belmont to cover the cost of replacing the windows. Thus everybody had to pay for the misdeeds a few.
The Belmont Picnic Grounds
On one occasion one of the less than gentlemanly males from San Francisco, thinking himself a playboy, took affection to a teen age young lady from Belmont. After a dance or two he took her for a walk in the nearby field and raped her.
The young lady reported the incident to her mother who, in turn, reported it to the Sheriff’s Office. The rapist, of course, disappeared in the crowed but the Deputy along with others took the young lady, one to the front of the train and the other to the back of the train and they worked their way toward each other until they located the suspect who was arrested and taken to the Jail in Redwood City.
A trial was held in the courtroom in Redwood City and during the process of that trial the suspect rose and walked forward to testify. The father of the victim rose and fired two shots into the suspect killing him instantly. The newspapers were blatant about the suspect got what he deserved and the father pleaded he went crazy after the rape. Several people testified to that fact. The father, having regained his sanity while waiting for his day in court, walked out of court a free man. This seems to fully agree with the newspapers, it’s nice to see justice served.
This is the only murder in a San Mateo County courtroom.

http://www.historicunioncemetery.com/Person.php?person=Janke,%20Dorette%20Catherine

http://www.historicunioncemetery.com/Person.php?person=Janke, Carl August

JANKE

ANNA D
Died Feb 16, 1877
CARL A.
Died Oct. 31, 1881
CATHERINE HENDRICKSON

— From the 1937 headstone survey — (apparently there was a different stone)
Carl August Janke, born in Dresden, Germany Oct. 1806,
died Belmont, Calif. Sept. 2, 1881
Dorette Catherine, wife of Carl August Janke,
born in Hamburg, Germany, July 21, 1813,
died in Belmont, California, Feb 16, 1877
Mutter Heinrich, mother of Dorette Catherine Janke,
born in Island of Heligoland, Germany, 1781 died
in Belmont, California 1876

NOTE: In 1937 the Daughters of the American Revolution recorded all the headstones.

In San Francisco, February 11, 1877.
JANKE – STUTTI-EISTER

Mina Maria Janke, daughter of William A, & Cornelia Janke,

born February 2, 1869, died March 1902.
William August Janke, native of Hamburg, Germany, born Dec. 25,
1642, died Nov. 22,1902, son of Carl August & Dorette
Catherine Janke.
Frederick William R. Stuttmeister, netlve of Berlin, G-ermany,

born 1612, died January 29, 1877.
Mrs. Matilda Stuttmelster, wife of Frederick W.R.Stuttmeister,

born 1829, died March 17, 1875, native of New York.
Victor Rudolph Stuttmelster, son of Frederick W.R. & Matilda
Stuttmelster, born May 29, 1846, died Jan. 19, 1893, native of
New York.

http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/daughters-of-the-american-revolution-california-s/records-from-tombstones-in-laurel-hill-cemetery-1853-1927-gua/page-6-records-from-tombstones-in-laurel-hill-cemetery-1853-1927-gua.shtml

Today’s Twin Pines Park in Belmont, a refuge for kids, families and the arts, conceals a rowdy past. Here’s an easy cache to introduce its history.

In the 1870s, Belmont was a whistle stop on the Southern Pacific railroad, an aspiring suburb to San Francisco and a base for tycoons like William Ralston who had built country mansions in the canyons and hills to the west. In 1876, two German immigrants brought some industry to town. Carl Augustus Janke and his son Carl Ferdinand founded the Belmont Soda Works just north of The Corners (now Ralston and El Camino). The Jankes manufactured a variety of fizzy drinks, most notably sarsaparilla, and delivered them to San Francisco and points south along the railroad.

The Jankes turned out to be entertainment entrepreneurs as well. They bought up a dozen acres on the south side of Belmont Creek and established Belmont Park and picnic grounds. Patterned after the beer gardens of their German heritage, it offered a 300 person dance pavilion, a carousel, a running track and walking trails, an ice cream parlor, plenty of picnicking space and of course drinks – beer and plenty of sarsaparilla (which might have been spiked with cocaine in that era). The Jankes made a mutually profitable deal with the Southern Pacific to run weekend picnic special trains from the city to Belmont Park. The place often hosted large crowds, with one notable affair being 8,000 people for an Odd Fellows fraternal gathering.

With drink and crowds came trouble. Drunken brawls were not uncommon, and on one occasion a shoot-out between gangs left a man dead (some modern problems are not new.) A private jail was installed at the park, beneath the dance hall floor, and the Southern Pacific put special police on its excursion trains. But as Belmont and other Peninsula settlements grew, the weekly influx of rowdies was seen as a problem that outweighed their commercial benefits. Under pressure from the locals, the railroad cancelled its party train specials by 1900. Belmont Park went into a quick decline, and was mostly subdivided for other uses. The present park and the civic center are part of its remains, with little to show of its checkered past.

Belmont’s party place got too wild
By Joan Levy, Daily Journal correspondent

Belmont Park was started to be a German biergarten, but it turned out to be a picnic ground in a more American style. Carl Janke bought ex-governor McDougal’s place in Belmont. He envisioned a bucolic spot where gentlemen could take their leisure, sip beer and talk. The 12-acre wooded strip along Belmont Creek seemed perfectly suited for this. Janke was born in Hamburg, Germany about 1814, came to California in 1850 and to the Peninsula in 1859. He wanted a home in Belmont.

The park opened around 1866 and soon was popular with people from San Francisco. It was not to be the typical biergarten that Janke envisioned. It attracted small American-style family picnics and huge organizational celebrations. Janke juggled his diverse clientele on the three days a week the park was open. Wednesday was the day for quiet Sunday School picnics. Sunday was for the bigger and more boisterous crowds. That was when they hired the bands and tapped the kegs.

The main entrance to Belmont Park was on Ralston Avenue near 6th Avenue. At the large white gate a fee was collected for the use of the grounds. Up Ralston Avenue was the carriage entrance and stables. To the South was Janke’s home.

Along the creek there was an amusement park with a merry-go-round. A dance pavilion that could accommodate 300 was built around a tree trunk. There was a bar at one end and an ice cream parlor at the other.

There was also a dining hall and some refreshment stands. Janke had a track built for foot racing and pony cart racing. There was a shooting gallery for sharpshooters.

Other early German immigrants to the Peninsula had started breweries to produce their favorite beverage, but Janke and his partner Henry Carstans manufactured soda. Their plant was located on Old County Road near Ralston Avenue in Belmont. They started the operation in 1875 and had a ready market at Janke’s place. They produced sarsaparilla of several different varieties.

Steamers brought people by way of Ralston’s pier at Belmont. At night they could return to the city by special train. One Sunday in 1876, a party of 8,000 members of the Odd Fellows Lodge made the trek in 75 railroad cars. Over time, the crowds became more unruly. It was the scene of a kidnapping, when little Annie Mooney disappeared and was never found. Then in 1880, there was a shoot-out between rival San Francisco gangs during which Dave Condon killed Jerry Stanton. Janke installed a private jail under the dance pavilion, and the Southern Pacific hired special police to monitor the excursion trains. Still, violence and vandalism plagued the peaceful picnickers.

Janke retired, and the management of the park fell to his sons.

Finally, the railroad refused to carry the picnic groups to or from Belmont due to their uncontrollable behavior. This contributed to the demise of the enterprise in the late 1890s.

The park closed and the land was converted to other purposes. In 1906, George L. Center built a sturdy home on the grounds. Later it became the site of a sanitarium for treating nervous disorders and alcoholism.

Now, Twin Pines Park marks the location of Janke’s dream for a biergarten.

Rediscovering the Peninsula appears in the Monday edition of the Daily Journal. For more information on this or related topics, visit the San Mateo County History Museum, 777 Hamilton St., Redwood City.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McDougall_(California_politician)

McDougall died in San Francisco on March 30, 1866, at the age of 48. Along with J. Neely Johnson, McDougall is one of the youngest governors to die after leaving office. He was buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery in San Francisco, sharing a plot with his brother David McDougal. When this cemetery was removed from San Francisco, his remains were moved to the Laurel Hill Mound of the Cypress Lawn Cemetery in Colma, California.

History of Belmont, California
From: The Story of San Mateo County, California
By: Roy W. Cloud
The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company.
Chicago, Ill 1928
Discover what research has already been done for YOUR family tree at OneGreatFamily
BELMONT
Belmont, located twenty three miles from San Francisco and on the Southern Pacific Railroad and the state highway, is one of the most attractive sections of San Mateo County. The name Belmont is taken from the French (Belle Mont-beautiful hill) and the hills to the west of town certainly entitle the settlement to its name. Steinburger and Beard settled there in 1851 and owned large tracts of land which they purchased from the Pulgas owners. The first settler so far as records go was one Angelo who in 1850 built a hotel known as Angelo’s Hotel and it was in this building that the first seat of government for our county was located, and here Hon. Benj. F. Fox, judge of the county court heard the cases which decided the election of the first county officials and also decided the contest as to the site of the future county seat. (Belmont did not make any fight for the location of the county seat, and after the court decision calmly accepted what had been decided and passed uneventfully along its quiet way.) Angelo kept his hotel for several years, going from here to Victoria, British Columbia, where shortly after his arrival he was arrested as a defaulter, but after trial was acquitted on the crime of which he was charged.

Mr. S. M. Mezes who had charge of the Pulgas estate and was one of the owners made his home in the Canada Diablo just back of the town proper. Others who lived there in the early days were Governor John McDougal, and Col. Cipriani who left California in 1859 to take part in the war for independence in Italy and who commanded a brigade there with great distinction and afterwards returned to Belmont.

The hill from which the community got its name early became the property of Mr. Fonda who for years resided in the section and one of whose sons is now a resident of Redwood City. Mr. William C. Ralston, probably the best known financier of San Francisco, purchased a large holding in the Canada Diablo and there erected one of the show places of San Mateo County and to this home he drove from San Francisco nightly, having relays of horses along the way, changing his team at intervals when the animals which he was driving became exhausted, because it is recorded that Mr. Ralston was a very rapid driver. Mr. Ralston was probably one of the greatest entertainers that the county has ever known and his home was the scene of great gaiety practically every week end. A bon vivante and a man who desired the good will and respect of all who knew him, Mr. Ralston was unable to face his friends after the failure of the bank of which he was an official, and committed suicide.

The Sharon home, property of Ex-Senator Sharon, was also located in this section. The home which Governor McDougal occupied became known as Belmont Park and here on Sundays and holidays the picnickers from San Francisco with their brass bands and their barreled lager beer made merry throughout the summer. The Park was the property of Mr. A. Janke and it was from this park that Annie Mooney, the heroine of the most celebrated kidnapping case of California wandered or was carried away and no trace of her was ever found. A. F. Waltermyer was the proprietor of the Hotel Belmont for years and had most of the hostelry business until the advent of Mr. H. Rowell, who opened a hotel there which was conducted for many years by his widow and his son John, and his daughter Elizabeth, who were probably as well known as any residents of San Mateo County because of the popularity of their place. The first general merchandise establishment was conducted by Janke & Carston. This continued for years and later W. A. Emmett conducted the store, Mr. Emmett being succeeded by his son Walter Emmett who is now actively engaged in the management of the business. J. N. Oliver and H. Hammersen were the village blacksmiths and M. J. O’Neal conducted for a time the livery stable of the community, afterwards engaging in the store business, which business was taken over by Eugene O’Neal, who is still a resident of Belmont. For years the soft drinks of the county were furnished by William Janke in his Belmont soda works which was opened in 1875. Of the pioneer residents of the community Mr. Flashner, Adam Castor, Michael Daley, Peter Faber, David Barre, C. C. Bollinger, Steven Powell, H. Schaberg, Frank Yount, H. Newhall, John Schmoll, and H. Elmes were well known throughout the section. In 1892 Mr. William T. Reid was commissioned by the Congregational Church of California to open a school for boys with money which had been contributed for the proposition by Mr. Moses Hopkins. Mr. Reid selected Belmont as the scene of his activity and purchased a large tract of land just across the highway from the old Mezes home. Here he established the Belmont School, a semi military institution from which many of the prominent business men of California were graduated. This school because of the expense of tuition and board was patronized only by the very wealthy and long had a very high standard, the graduates being admitted to the universities of the east and west without examination. After the death of Mr. Reid his wife and son, William, who until he came into the management of the school was the athletic director of Harvard University, took over the management and Rev. W. A. McDougal, son of Governor McDougal, acted as principal. Upon the death of his mother William Reid, Jr., desiring to enter into the brokerage business in New York, discontinued the school, the property being sold to the Roman Catholic archbishop of San Francisco who shortly thereafter reopened the school as a Catholic boarding school, and Father John Ryan is now in charge of the institution. The old Ralston home passed through several hands and finally came into the possession of Dr. Gardener who opened a hospital there for mental cases which he continued with great success for several years. Upon the death of Doctor Gardener which occurred eight years ago (1919), the institution was continued with varying success until four years ago when the property was sold to the Sisters of the Notre Dame and the old Ralston home has since been turned into a day and boarding school under the management of that religious order. Just back of the old Reid school property Doctors Rothchild and Warren opened sanitariums, and the California Sanitarium for tubercular patients is one of the largest in this section of California. Part of the old picnic ground, which for a time belonged to Sheriff Robert M. Chatham was sold to Miss Alexander, who has built there a large and well equipped sanitarium for mental cases.
Among those who have been in Belmont for a considerable period of time, and who may almost be rated as old timers there, are the Penningtons, Roussels, Shermans, Hansens, Centers, Riches, Vanniers, Johnsons, Bottos, McGowans, Smiths, DeRoachs, Burdettes, Spivalos, Hacketts, and DeNivernais. R. H. McGowan is postmaster and the post office is located on the highway in the central section of the village.

A petition for the incorporation of Belmont was filed with the supervisors of San Mateo County, September 7, 1926. Finding that the petition was in order and that the required signatures to the same had been secured, an election was called for October 18, 1926, and on the official tally being made it was shown that there were 126 for and 72 against the proposition. The returns were made to the Supervisors and October 25, 1926, Belmont became a city of the sixth class.

The officers elected were: Trustees, Henry C. Warren, C. J. Jordan, Columbus Messner, Lewis C. Vannier, and Thomas Pennington; clerk, D. W. Callan; treasurer, S. J. Cook. The appointed officers were, chief of police, Clayton Caldwell; city engineer, George A. Kneese.

Shortly after the incorporation, John W. Burdette, the owner of thirty acres of agricultural land within the boundaries of the incorporation, who had not given his consent to the inclusion of his property within the municipality, brought suit to have the whole proceedings declared void. He accordingly brought the suit for disincorporation before the superior court, Judge John L. Hudner, of San Benito County, presiding. The matter was submitted on briefs and on Friday, September 15, Judge Hudner declared that the incorporators had exceeded their rights in the matter of the inclusion of agricultural lands and declared the town disincorporated.

Just adjoining Belmont, and taking in all of the waterfront and marsh lands a new project called the Port of San Francisco has recently begun operations. Dredgers have been at work digging canals to deep water, factory sites have been sold and spur tracks laid and claims are made that this section will in a few years be the chief industrial section of San Mateo County.

http://history.rays-place.com/ca/sm-belmont.htm

http://www.belmontchamber.org/history/

German Immigration in Chile

(Photos: Typical German home in Chile. German province. German
family.)

“The first German Jews to emigrate were mostly young men. They
entered thinly scattered networks which consisted of relatives and
neighbors from the same European communities. The second group came
after the failed German revolution (1848).”

The men in the bottom photograph look a bit like my father, Victor
William (Wilhelm) and my uncle, Frederick Borderick (left). This
could be a Prussian family. You will find a Stuttmeister family in
this genaology, thus we are connected to the Zionist movement. Do we
have Jewish blood?

http://www.genealog.cl/Alemanes/W/Wilhelm/ReunionFamiliarWilhelm.html

Jewish Forty-Eighters also immigrated to Chile.

Jon Presco

“German immigrants arrived in Chile following the failure of the
liberal revolutions of 1848 in Germany. They settled the rainy and,
until then, largely unimproved provinces south of the Biobío River.
This region had remained largely controlled until the mid-19th
century by the indigenous Araucanians. The German settlers
introduced small industries and farming and in the lake district
established resorts that remain popular with tourists. Small groups
of settlers from Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, and Yugoslavia
also came in the mid-19th century. Most of them settled in the same
area as the Germans.

The first German Jews to emigrate were mostly young men. They
entered thinly scattered networks which consisted of relatives and
neighbors from the same European communities. The second group came
after the failed German revolution (1848). They were somewhat older
than the first and more educated. These German Jews often went into
peddling and petty trade, endeavors calling for small outlays of
capital. From small starts, many went on to build substantial
businesses andy were absorbed into the American middle class. These
immigrants came to America in search of democracy. This is reflected
in their overall concern for Jewish communal conditions. Religious,
philanthropic and fraternal organizations were founded during this
period. Many German-Jewish immigrants were part of the Reform
Movement and the religious life of American Jews was colored by that
connection. Founded in Hamburg, Reform Judaism aimed at winning
civic equality and social acceptance in the modern world.

http://www.jewishmuseum.net/American.htm

German colonization (1850-1910) Presentation Valdivia and Llanquihue
The two last decades of century XIX, were the period of greater
splendor of the seated German community in the regions of Valdivia
and Llanquihue. Although never they added more of 5% of the
population of those places, constituted a nucleus of industrial
development that gravitated on national scale. In Valdivia, one
constituted an industrial sector dedicated to the elaboration of
beer, tanneries, shipyards and sawmills; in the borders of the
Llanquihue lake and in the level ones of Osorno, the farming
activities were developed based on the supplying of insumos for the
valdiviano enclave; in addition, in Montt Port it prospered the
commerce with Hamburg, which formidably extended the demand for the
production of the colonos German. The first colonos arrived at a
region that, towards 1840, was separated of the rest of the country
by the territory mapuche and was slowst of Chile. The national
authorities had measures stimulus to the establishment of foreign
immigrants and entrusted to Bernardine Eunom Philippi the pick up of
colonos in Germany and the demarcation of the lands in which they
would settle down. In spite of the objections interposed by catholic
sectors, in 1846 Philippi it managed to seat to the first group of
colonos around the fluvial system of the Valdivia river and, with
the aid of his Rodulfo brother Loving, it explored the river basin
of the Llanquihue lake with the intention of qualifying new earth
for the interested ones. In October of 1850, Vicente Perez Rosales
replaced to Philippi like agent of colonization in Europe and, two
years later, he disembarked in Montt Port with tens of German
families who settled to borders of the Llanquihue lake.

This new big wave of immigrants had to transform the natural
landscape of the territory to dedicate itself to the agriculture,
whose production was complemented harmonically with the
manufacturing and commercial activities that their been compatriots
made in Valdivia. Towards 1870, the project of German colonization
in the south of Chile was everything a success. The region showed
the greater economic dynamism of the country and the new citizens
were an example of laboriosidad, honesty and enterprising spirit for
the rest of the Chileans. Nevertheless, with the coming of century
XX, a steep end of that prosperity took place. Between the main
causes of the decay, they appear the depreciation of the national
currency, the promulgation of the Alcohol Law of 1902 and the
adoption in 1907, of protectionistic measures in Germany against the
elaborated article import. Paradoxicalally, the defense of the
industry in Germany, buried to the German industry in Chile.

http://www.genealog.cl/Alemanes/

The minister in charge, Vicente Perez Rosales, consulted a friend
who was at that time Chilean Consul in Hamburg. His friend insisted
on inviting Germans who were already in an emigration mood
especially in areas such as Baden-Württemberg and the Black Forest,
as the landscape of southern Chile with its lakes, rivers and
forests would be an attractive and familiar enviroment similar to
the one to which they were accustomed.

Massive emigration is usually triggered by poor living conditions in
the homeland. Migrants therefore are usually mostly poor and
unskilled. This is also the case of the Spaniards of Galicia and the
Italians from Southern Italy who emigrated in large numbers to
Argentina, as well as the Irish, Poles, Mecklenburgian Germans who
did so to the United States. However, the migration of Germans to
Chile was less important in terms of quantity than of quality.
The first German colonisation was at the Llanquihue lake and in the
Frontera. Encouraged by these first successes in 1846 by Philippi,
thirty settlers from Hessen were recruited for Bella Vista.

A further 1,000 Germans followed in 1848, mostly inspired by the
events of the revolution to begin a new life overseas; besides
craftsmen, many university graduates were involved. Arriving in
1851, their numbers were supplemented by skilled workers (beer-
brewers, tanners, furniture makers) and included academics such as
pharmacists, professors and scientific investigators. In 1852
Germans founded Deutsche Player Maiten, Volcan and Puerto Octay, as
well as in 1853, Puerto Montt. Llanquihue, Frutillar and Puerto
Varas were settled with Germans in the same year. Between 1872-75,
Nordboehmer Quilanto, lot Bajos, El Carril, Linea Plantanosa and new
Braunau started. To the settlement of Germans in Valdivia Fritz
Kindermann and Karl Anwandter contributed much. In the Frontera
(area between the rivers Biobio and Tolten) were settled primarily
colonists from Brandenburg, Pomerania and Switzerland. Many Germans
moved also into the cities Valparaiso, Santiago, Temuco, Conception,
Ancud and Magellanes. They had to endure hard times during the first
years in the wilderness, but with determination they gradually
became prominent and a most respected segment of Chilean society.

Pablo Neruda, Nobel-prize winner and arguably Chile’s greatest poet,
wrote of frontier life in Chile during the 19-teens:

No one had any money, and yet printing presses, hotels,
slaughterhouses burgeoned … In time, everything crumbled and
everyone was left as poor as before. Only the Germans kept a
stubborn hold on their assets, and that singled them out in the
hinterlands. (Memoirs, p. 13)
Historical Literature

The history of German migration to Chile is well-documented, and
compiled especially in the lifelong studies of the authority in the
field: Mrs. Ingeborg Schmalz. Mrs. Schmalz is today (1999) in her
80’s and not familiar with computers. Much of her work and also
other bibliographic material is today being archived by the
Biblioteca y Archivo Histórico de la Inmigración Alemaná which in
turn is maintained by the Deutsch-Chilenischer Bund.

http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/WELT/chile.html

Passenger Lists

View Image

Preview
Name:
Hugo Stuttmeister

Port of Arrival:
Lissabon; Brasilien (Brazil)

There’s more to see
A picture of the original document

And things like
Departure Date
Destination
Estimated Birth Year
Age Year
Gender
Residence
Occupation
Ship Name
Captain
Shipping Line
Ship Type
Accommodation
Ship Flag
Port of Departure
Volume
Page
Microfilm Roll Number

Name:
Hugo Stuttmeister
Birth:
year
Departure:
date – location
Arrival:
Lissabon; Brasilien (Brazil)

Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1850-1934 (in German)
Passenger Lists

View Image

Name:
Hugo Stuttmeister
Birth:
year
Departure:
date – location
Arrival:
Boulogne; Leixoes; Lissabon; Madeira; Nordbrasilien

U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925
Border Crossings & Passports

View Image

Name:
Victor Rudolph Stuttmeister
Birth:
date – location
Civil:
date

U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925
Border Crossings & Passports

View Image

Name:
Mr Rudolph Stuttmeister
Civil:
date

England, Alien Arrivals, 1810-1811, 1826-1869
Passenger Lists

View Image

Name:
Fredk Wm Rudolph Stuttmeister
Arrival:
date – London, England
Residence:
location