Mrs. August Stuttmeister made the list of Who’s Who Among The Women of California. She is the daughter of William August Janke, a co-owner of the Belmont Soda Works, and grandchild of Carl August and Dorette Catherine Janke. August married my great grandfather, William Oltman Stuttmeister at the Ralston Estate in Belmont California. Dr. Stuttmeister graduated from the University of California Berkeley where he studied Dentistry. His father-in-law owned one of the first Theme Parks in California. Carl Janke’s great great granddaughter, Christine Rosamond Benton, married into the Benton Family, and owned two galleries in Carmel that carried the name of her grandfather, the author and poet, Royal Rosamond, whose work was published in Out West Magazine.
https://archive.org/details/whoswhoamongwom00wilsgoog
What is curious, the California Woman of the Future appears to be a black girl sitting at a school desk. Did Californian Women consider the Civil Rights Work of Jessie Benton Fremont. Rosamond rendered a portrait of Lena and her sisters. Lena helped raise us when our mother, Rosemary Rosamond Presco, became a working mother who may be considered one of the first Women’s Liberationist in modern times. How she raised four children by herself, and how two of her creative children helped change California history, as members of the Counter Culture, will be made public record in my novels.
The Rosamond family owned plantations in South Carolina where the ancestors of The First Lady were brought and sold as slaves. The image of the black girl in Who’s Who is extremely prophetic. Jessie Benton did not become the First Lady as the wife of the President, or the Governor of California, but she took a great risk, and her impossible dream came true. I will put Michele Obama and Jessie Fremont side by side in my book.
Jon Presco
President: Royal Rosamond Press

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Obama
http://governors.library.ca.gov/firstladies/
First Ladies of California
This section is dedicated to the women who acted as First Lady from the birth of the State of California in 1849 to the present.
Although the role of First Lady has changed and become increasingly more active, a glance back into history proves that First Ladies have always played an important role in the service of California citizens. From the beginning of California’s statehood to present day, they have balanced the demanding responsibilities of their prestigious position while enduring hardships, tragedies, and the daily difficulties of life and a family.
This section contains pictures of the First Ladies along with passages excerpted from “The First Ladies of California” which provide a small glimpse into the lives of these courageous women. These women not only played an important role in the history and success of California, but made history of their own.
This site is constantly being updated as more information about the First Ladies is found. Please check back often to learn more fascinating tidbits about California’s First Ladies.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~npmelton/women/whoimg.html
Obama was born Michelle LaVaughn Robinson on January 17, 1964, in Chicago, Illinois, to Fraser Robinson III,[3] a city water plant employee and Democratic precinct captain, and Marian (née Shields), a secretary at Spiegel’s catalog store.[4] Her mother was a full-time homemaker until Michelle entered high school.[5] The Robinson and Shields families can trace their roots to pre-Civil War African Americans in the American South.[3] On her father’s side she is descended from the Gullah people of South Carolina’s Low Country region.[6] Her paternal great-great grandfather, Jim Robinson, was a slave on Friendfield Plantation in the state of South Carolina,[7][8] the state where some of her paternal family still reside.[9][10] Her grandfather Fraser Robinson, Jr. had built his own house in South Carolina, and he and his wife LaVaughn (née Johnson) returned to the Low Country after retirement.[7]
Daily Alta California, Volume 42, Number 14175, 24 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.
Atherton, CA.
The third most expensive zip code in America, and one of the wealthiest towns in the world (median household income: Over $200,000).
‘O. O: F. Cemetery. • STUTTMEISTER -In the German Hospital. January 19. 1833. Victor R. brother of Dr. W. O. and . Alice Stuttmelster and Mrs. Bertha Beyer, a native of New York City, aged 40 year, five months and 10 days. *_The funeral will take place TO-MORROW ” (Saturday), at 2 o’clock r. w.. from the parlors or Halsted .1 Co.. 916 Mission street Interment Laurel Hill Cemetery. .-•’
John C. Frémont served from September 9, 1850, to March 3, 1851, as a Senator from California. Their third child, John C. Frémont, Jr., was born on April 19, 1851, at Las Mariposas, California. While the couple was visiting Paris, France, their fourth child, Anne Beverly Frémont, was born on February 1, 1853. Anne died five months later, on July 11, in Washington, D.C. Their fifth and final child, Francis Preston Frémont, was born on May 17, 1855, in Washington.
In 1856, Frémont’s antislavery position was instrumental in his being chosen as the first-ever Republican candidate for President. Jessie played an extremely active role in the campaign, rallying support for her husband. One particular campaign slogan read, “Frémont and Jessie too.” Her father, however, a lifelong Democrat, refused to endorse her husband’s bid for the presidency. This did not stop the supporters of Frémont from continuing to refer to her as the “first lady in the land,” a title her admirers continued to use throughout her life [3]
Frémont garnered many Northern votes, but ultimately lost the election to James Buchanan, though he did surpass the American Party candidate, Millard Fillmore. Frémont was unable to carry the state of California. If he had taken the state of Pennsylvania he would have won.
In the years following, the couple moved several times, living in California, St. Louis, and New York. Some historians [4] suggest that she played an active role in the anti-Secession movement in California in 1861, but others[5] suggest her influence was less important than other anti-secessionist and anti-slavery speakers at the time, such as Harriet Beecher Stowe. When Lincoln appointed Frémont as the Commander of the Department of the West in 1861, they returned to St. Louis.
Jessie Frémont served as her husband’s unofficial aide and closest adviser. The two shared the belief that St. Louis was unprepared for war and needed reinforcements and supplies, and both pressured Washington to send more supplies and troops. She threw herself into the war effort, helping to organize a Soldier’s Relief Society in St. Louis, and becoming very active in the Western Sanitary Commission, which provided medicine and nursing to soldiers injured in the war.
One of the most impressive feats of her political career came shortly after Frémont lost his position during the Civil War for issuing his own edict of emancipation, summarily freeing all of the slaves in Missouri, which antedated Lincoln’s own Emancipation Proclamation. Jessie actually traveled to Washington and pleaded with Lincoln on behalf of her husband, but to no avail.[6]





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