I just posted this on the facebook Davina Hurt who was the Mayor of Belmont, and is heading there again.

Meet Davina — Davina Hurt for Belmont City Council (davinaforbelmont.com)

In 2011 I was in touch with a member of the Sharon Family and a member of the Fermor-Hesketh family about reviving the Sharon Family reunion at the Palace Hotel, that was built by William Ralston ‘The Man Who Built San Francisco’. He lived in the Belmont home of Count Leonetto Cipriani, who turned down a coupe of crowns. Napoleon 111 was considering invading California and making it a French colony. My kin, John and Jessie Fremont, stopped him – and Maximilien von Habsburg. In July, the former Duke and Duchess of Sussex moved to Santa Barbara. Hence, all their titles and honors have been taken from them. I had a vision of European Royalty staying in Belmont, then taking the train to San Francisco for the Sharon Reunion. A German Prince is trying to restore the German crown. He was dating a Hesketh-Sharon who allegedly gave Harry his first kiss. In posting on the Belmont Historical Society facebook, I said Belmont is the real Disneyland. I apologize to Cynthia for thinking my posts were censored. I am a genealogist of renown. It is alleged Dan Brown and his wife eavesdropped on a Templar group I belonged to where I argued with Ian Sinclair who got me banned. Dozens of books were being published. I pointed out my own Rose Line begat by my grandmother, Mary Magdalene Rosamond. She is the only one who owns this name. Ones credibility is attacked. I have been depicted as a Mad Man – Mad John! What is in a name? ROSE PALACE. Can you see her there atop BELLE MOUNTAIN. She is asleep. Her people are…..asleep!

 https://rosamondpress.com/…/sharon-hesketh-family-of…/

After William and Augustus got married they took a stagecoach co-owned by the Janke family. That a marriage to Tevis, the owner of Wells Fargo, is in the mix, elevates the history of my family – to the stars! Royals were interested i marrying into the Tevis fortune in order to maintain their palaces.

The Belmont Accommodation Company

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Royal Rosamond Press

My great grandfather’s sons owned a stagecoach company, called The Belmont Accommodation Company. It took folks from Belmont to Half Moon Bay and back.

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Wedding in Belmont

Posted on December 4, 2014 by Royal Rosamond Press

My grandparents got married at Ralston Hall in the city of Belmont (beautiful mountain) that this family founded.

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.

I have talked to Anne Farmer-Fermor, and Patrick Sharon the second, about the renewal of the Sharon Family reunions at the Palace Hotel, that William Ralston built, that his partner, William Sharon, came to own. Anne was communicated in person with members of the Hesketh family in Britain, and is friendly with Baron Revelstoke whom she was hoping to get an invite through to William Windsor’s wedding. The Baron is kin to the founder of Baring & Brothers Co. a British banking company.

William Ralston appears to be the Grand Master of the Oddfellows, and may have invited the Oddfellows of Lodge 17 in San Francisco to come celebrate with the new Oddfellows of Belmont, in Belmont. Did he build the Palace Hotel in order to accommodate Oddfellows from all over America – and the world?

Jon Presco Copyright 2011

From: Anne Farmer y@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: SHARON To: “John Ambrose” Date: Thursday, December 23, 2010, 3:34 AM Hi John- I will call Patrick Sharon after Christmas when I return to Seattle. Today I take mother to Portland on Amtrak for Chrustmas to see some friends.  Please send me your mailing address as I am sending out my New Year’s cards- thank you. Have a great Holiday and a very Happy New Year. Kindest Regards- Anne —

On Sun, 12/5/10, John Ambrose wrote: From: John Ambrose Subject: SHARON To: @yahoo.com Date: Sunday, December 5, 2010, 5:03 PM Anne;   Here is the number   John, Thanks for all of your information. I am still trying to find the list of the California Sharon Family Reuniun. This will help me establish family connections for all of us. As I mentioned my Great grandparents were the last of our family who received the invite.Their names are Samuel and Stella Sharon of Kansas City. Lets stay in contact. Patrick Sharon II

From: Anne Farmer y@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: Withersppon To: “John Ambrose” Date: Saturday, March 6, 2010, 1:41 PM Hi Jon- These I know- the Heskeths married into my side- the Fermors so they are distant cousins of mine. The Quakers, Methodists were the Fermor side- they never owned slaves like Witherspoon  did.I had heard about the Presbyterian strong influence- and how the Calvinists were more fighters. On my side we have the lovers, not fighters. Anne PS- I was just connected via a mutual friend to look up Theresa-Mary Morton while in London, who is  Queen’s librarian.

What is truly astounding, is that Sir Thomas Hesketh married Florence Sharon at Ralston Hall, and Florence Breckenridge married their son. Florence descends from John Witherspoon,and thus is kin to the Jessie Benton Fremont, thus the Presco family, when Christine Rosamond Presco married Garth Benton.

http://www.ralstonhall.com/

http://www.ralstonhall.com/tour/default_new.html

Ralston Hall Mansion is situated on the campus of Notre Dame de Namur University, on the San Francisco Peninsula. The mansion has been built around the villa of Count Leonetto Cipriani, former owner of the estate. Taking three years to build, it was completed in 1867, when San Francisco’s leaders and first citizens had large summer homes on the Peninsula, an integral part of San Francisco high society. Architect John Painter Gaynor, who later worked with Ralston on the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, is thought to have worked on it. Several of the design elements of Ralston Hall Mansion were copied in the design of the Palace.

A history of San Francisco speaks of the palatial grandeur of Ralston Hall: “In a domed wing was the oval ballroom. Its walls were mirrored, and from the frescoed ceiling hung a great crystal chandelier whose reflected lights and sparkle filled the room. I have never seen a more effective setting for a ball.”

The Hall is a four-floor, 55,000 square foot (5,000 m²) mansion, with a stately dining room, a mirrored ballroom in the Versailles tradition, an opera box modelled after the Opéra Garnier in Paris, a grand staircase, 23 crystal chandeliers, and inlaid wood floors. Ralston greatly admired the Palace of Versailles, and incorporated several of the palace’s elements in his design of the mansion. The mansion has a number of elegant sitting rooms and parlours. The Oriental Music Room has a set of Chinese high-tea chairs and buffets. Ralston Hall houses a collection of antiques accumulated by Ralston, including some valuable Thomas Hill paintings.

The grounds of the mansion contain numerous gardens, a stoney grotto, and a garden of 150-year-old bamboo trees.

Uses of the mansion[edit]

After Ralston’s death, the estate passed to his former business partner, United States Senator from Nevada William Sharon, whose family lived in the house. Sharon’s daughter Flora’s wedding to Englishman Sir Thomas George Fermor-Hesketh, 7th Baronet, of Rufford was one of the last elaborate social events of the time, taking place in the mansion’s ballroom. After Senator Sharon’s death in 1885, the mansion became Radcliffe Hall, a girls’ finishing school. From 1900 to 1922, it was the Gardner Sanitarium.

https://rosamondpress.com/2012/08/13/the-palace/

https://rosamondpress.com/2011/09/11/sharon-family-reunion-at-palace-hotel/

Louise Tevis Breckenridge Sharon (1858-1938)

June 03, 2020 3 min read

Louise Tevis Breckenridge Sharon portrait by Julian Story, 1901

We are privileged to be able to offer [in 2005] a selection of exciting San Francisco made and retailed flatware owned by one of San Francisco’s leading 19th-century families who married into the English nobility.

Louise Tevis Breckenridge Sharon was the daughter of Lloyd Tevis, president of Wells Fargo and one of the richest men in California.  When he became president of Wells Fargo, it was an express (coach) company; when he retired it was a bank as we know it today.  Tevis was assessed by the state of California as having a fortune worth $1,590,000.00 in 1880. (1)

Louise married John Witherspoon Breckenridge, son of Congressman, Senator, Vice President, Presidential Candidate, and Confederate General John C. Breckenridge, c. 1878 and lived in San Rafael, CA. Their marriage ended in divorce and she married secondly Frederick W. Sharon.

Senator William Sharon at Cards

Frederick Sharon was the son of Senator William Sharon (above), one of California’s very richest men.  Sharon arrived in San Francisco in 1849, first investing in real estate, then also in mining and banking.  By 1880, the state of California assessed his personal fortune at $4,470,000.00 (2) and he was the largest single taxpayer in the state.  Louise and Frederick were married at Sharon’s 55,360 square foot palatial estate ‘Belmont’ in 1884 (below).
‘Belmont’ Senator William Sharon’s country estate.

William Sharon’s ‘Belmont’

In preference to William Sharon’s ‘Belmont’, Louise and Frederick Sharon lived in Paris, in New York at their mansion at 323 5th Avenue and at their Menlo Park mansion ‘Sharon Heights’ (below) after its completion in 1906.

Architectural drawing of ‘Sharon Heights’

In 1909 Florence Louise Breckenridge, Louise’s daughter by her first marriage to John W. Breckenridge, married Sir Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, 8th Baronet (elevated to the rank of Baron in 1935).  Their wedding presents included a large selection of silver from San Francisco’s famous Shreve & Co.

Easton Neston

Florence, then Lady Hesketh, lived in the Hesketh country seat, Easton Neston, one of England’s great country houses.  The silver descended in the family until 2005.

It is interesting to note that after the death of William Sharon in 1885, such was his wealth that many people claimed to be related (one even claimed to be a wife) to get a share of the fortune.  One person made a claim 30 years later, saying that records of his birth had been destroyed in the great San Francisco fire of 1906.  None of these claims ever succeeded.

Most of these pieces appear to date to the time of her first marriage to John W. Breckenridge.  Others, as noted below, are later.  Some of these items, including the Shreve & Co. Multi-colored Silver Gilt Salad Servers, the Vanderslice ‘Gargoyle’ pattern flatware service, the Gorham ‘Medallion’ tea knives, and the Gorham ‘Old Medici’ salad forks are very rare.