
It is 8:33 A.M. May 27, 2023 – and I am still in shock having discovered my grandparents are buried in the same grave! I saw TWO flags put on one gravestone. That was a half hour ago. THEN – I see another flag! There are three of my ancestors buried in the same grave! WHY? Did the caretakers conclude this was a very poor family? William Stuttmeister knew they were Belmont before he died. At great expense to himself, he moved the Jankes to Colma after they were evicted from the Odd Fellow cemetery – at great expense! This was a wealthy pioneer family whose graves keep being defiled! They were moved to the Union cemetery i 1972?
Below is a video I made after I met with LDS Sisters who wanted to meet at the genealogy center to look at these illustrious people who have a magnificent crypt in Berlin. I don’t know if I told them I was considering putting Amanda Gorman in my painting of the two pages saving our electoral votes.
John Presco
“Originally Carl abd Doretha were buried under a huge bay tree there and bodies later moved to the Union Cemetary “during the dark of night” my mother used to tell us.”

I believe the New Zion will be where the new LDS Temple is going to be built, a mile or more away from where I live. The Mormons built their cosmology on DNA and Family Trees. Deseret lies next to the Louisiana Purchase. I can now SEE all of what I saw in part. I have been called MAD by all who bonded with me. I kept a record of my Fantastic Quest! I can Baptize by the river.
Janke and Turner Abolitionists
Posted on February 24, 2021 by Royal Rosamond Press



I willbe contacting ‘Finding Your Roots’ to helpmewith the mostastounding genealogical story of all time
Awake Amongst The Liars and Sleepers
Posted on May 5, 2019 by Royal Rosamond Press
Brief Life History of Elizabeth Dorothy
When Elizabeth Dorothy Janke was born on 14 November 1844, in Hamburg, Germany, her father, Carl August Janke, was 24 and her mother, Dorothea, was 24. She had at least 1 son and 6 daughters with Amassa Parker Johnson. She lived in Belmont, San Mateo, California, United States in 1880. She died on 20 January 1929, in San Francisco, California, United States, at the age of 84, and was buried in Colma, San Mateo, California, United States.
Belmont A Capitol of German Culture
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Cemetery_(Redwood_City,_California)
Union Cemetery is a historic cemetery on Woodside Road (CA 84) near El Camino Real in Redwood City, San Mateo County, California. The cemetery was named a California Historical Landmark #816 in 1967, then added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.[4]
History[edit]
Founded in 1859, this is the site of the first American burial ground in San Mateo County, and was originally located just outside the town limits of Redwood City.[5][4] The cemetery officially closed in 1918, but it was used for many years after that for burial of the poor.[5] There are special cemetery plots for the Masonic Order, members of the International Order of Odd Fellows and the California volunteers who fought during the Civil War.[5]
Soldier statue[edit]
The life-sized metal sculpture of a civil war veteran was erected during 1889 for a Memorial Day celebration, the earliest such celebration on the Peninsula.[5] The statue was paid for by Jane Lathrop Stanford.[6] It was vandalized in 1958, 1959 and 1969, but was subsequently repaired, and in 1999 it was replaced with a replica constructed of more durable material.[5][6]
he historic Union Cemetery at 316 Woodside Road in Redwood City will host a Memorial Day event featuring music, speeches, the decorating of graves, and the traditional anvil firing as the community gathers to honor soldiers.
The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Monday, May 29.
As parking can be challenging, organizers encourage biking, walking, and carpooling to Union Cemetery. Transportation to seating area is available for folks who need assistance.
Union Cemetery is a California Historic Landmark and listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is one of the oldest burial grounds in San Mateo County. The cemetery has been closed, officially, since 1918, although Redwood City administrators used it as a paupers’ field, which is defined as a place for the burial of unknown, unclaimed or indigent people. During the Depression, those unable to afford a more prominent place continued to bury their loved ones at Union Cemetery.
Lerona Rosamond
Posted on June 5, 2016 by Royal Rosamond Press




William Oltman Stuttmeister went to the University of California and practiced dentistry in San Francisco. He bought two vacation properties in San Geronimo where he retired and died. The Maillard, Count Cipriani, Napoleon, and Prince Victor Napoleon connection is interesting. Is this the continuation of the Belmont Colony? Was this land purchased with a recovered treasure? Many have searched for the lost treasure of Sir Francis Drake near this valley overlooked by the ‘Sleeping Maiden’ mountain.
Below is a video showing Cipriani’s home inside Ralston’s additions. It was a portable house. An expert needs to compare this with the Tanforan cottages. Samples of the wood and screws need to taken and compared to the houses Janke brought around the Cape. William married Augusta Janke.
Generation No. 1
1. Dorthia Matilda5 Oltman (Jurgen4 Oltmann, Jacob3, Jurgen2, Peter1) was born September 13, 1829 in New York, NY, and died March 17, 1875 in San Francisco, CA. She married Frederick William R. Stuttmeister. He was born 1812 in Germany, and died January 29, 1877 in San Francisco, CA.
Children of Dorthia Oltman and Frederick Stuttmeister are:
2 i. Victor Rudolf6 Stuttmeister, born May 29, 1846 in New York; died January 19, 1893 in German hospital in San Francisco.
3 ii. Bertha Matilda Stuttmeister, born January 02, 1860 in Califonia; died May 07, 1931 in Merritt Hospital in Oakland, California. She married Wilham E. C. Beyer; born in Germany.
4 iii. William Oltman Stuttmeister, born 1862. He married Augusta Janke June 1888.
+ 5 iv. Alice L. Stuttmeister, born October 13, 1868 in San Francisco, CA; died February 13, 1953 in Roseville Community Hospital in Oakland, CA.
Jon Presco
http://www.historicunioncemetery.com/Person.php?person=Janke%2C+Dorette+Catherine
http://www.historicunioncemetery.com/Marker.php?markername=JANKE
| From the 1950 headstone survey — (and the current stone) 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 |
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/186938257/carl-augustus-janke
Carl Augustus Janke
BIRTH Oct 1806 Dresden, Stadtkreis Dresden, Saxony (Sachsen), Germany DEATH31 Oct 1881 (aged 74–75) Belmont, San Mateo County, California, USA BURIALUnion Cemetery Redwood City, San Mateo County, California, USA Show Map
Carl Augustus Janke
BIRTH Oct 1806 Dresden, Stadtkreis Dresden, Saxony (Sachsen), Germany DEATH31 Oct 1881 (aged 74–75) Belmont, San Mateo County, California, USA BURIALUnion Cemetery Redwood City, San Mateo County, California, USA Show MapMEMORIAL ID186938257 · View Source
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Carl Augustus Janke was a local merchant in the city of Belmont, California he founded Belmont Park in 1865 which was modeled after a German beer garden. Janke subsequently he founded a local soft drink bottling plant, the first industry for the town of Belmont.
— 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 (spelled Catherine Hendrickson on the gravestone), mother of Dorette Catherine Janke,
born in Island of Heligoland, Germany, 1781 died
in Belmont, California 1876
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/87743831/william-august-janke
William August Janke
BIRTH Dec 1841 Hamburg, Germany DEATH22 Nov 1902 (aged 60) San Francisco, San Francisco County, California, USA BURIALCypress Lawn Memorial Park Colma, San Mateo County, California, USA PLOTGarden / Section: PRIMROSE GARDEN 2 HILLSIDE
Cornelia Turk Janke
BIRTH 24 Dec 1846 Frankfurt am Main, Stadtkreis Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany DEATH27 Jul 1938 (aged 91) San Francisco, San Francisco County, California, USA BURIALCypress Lawn Memorial Park Colma, San Mateo County, California, USA
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/87743828/cornelia-janke
Minnie Janke
BIRTH Feb 1869 California, USA DEATH4 Mar 1902 (aged 33) San Francisco, San Francisco County, California, USA BURIALCypress Lawn Memorial Park Colma, San Mateo County, California, USA PLOTGarden / Section: BIRCH Lot: LOT 189 Division: DIV 5
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/87628501/augusta-d-stuttmeister
Added by E. Sweeney
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Augusta D. Janke Stuttmeister
BIRTH Sep 1866 California, USA DEATH25 Dec 1938 (aged 72) San Francisco, San Francisco County, California, USA BURIALCypress Lawn Memorial Park Colma, San Mateo County, California, USA PLOTWS-Unit 3 Tomb Rooms Lot/Section/Panel: U2 MEMORIAL ID87628501 · View Source
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Gravesite Details
Family Members
https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMKRNP
Twin Pines Park is the hub of Blemont Parks & Recreation. From Geocache GC1JB51, titled Sarsaparilla Park:
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.
Some features of Twin Pines Park are a children’s playground and the Buckeye, Redwood, or the Meadow picnic areas. Facility rentals include the Lodge, Cottage, Manor, or Twin Pines Senior & Community Center.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/186938297/anna-dorette_catherine-janke
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/186938297/anna-dorette_catherine-janke
I posted this in 2011
From the Daily Journal archives
Belmont’s party place got too wild
- By Joan Levy Daily Journal correspondent
- Apr 5, 2004 Updated Jun 28, 2019
- 0
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.
John
Royal Wedding at Belmont
Posted on September 10, 2011 by Royal Rosamond Press









Belmont means ‘Beautiful Mountain’. Many folks who aspire to being California Royalty, get married at Ralston Hall in Belmont. To envision oneself as a banking heiress whose Daddy owned gold and silver mines, and then be whisked off your feet by a Knight of the Realm who takes you to his stately home in Merry Ol England, is the Acme of good breeding!
“A REGAL WEDDING FEAST; MARRIAGE OF MISS SHARON AND SIR THOMAS HESKETH.
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 24.–The most brilliant wedding ever celebrated in California took place last evening at Belmont, the princely country seat of Senator William Sharon. Mr. Sharon’s daughter Flora, a petite brunette of 19 years, was united, in the presence of about 150 invited guests, to Sir Thomas Henry Fermor Hesketh, Baronet, of Rufford Hall, Lancashire, England.”
Louis Tevis was the daughter of Lloyd Tevis the President of Wells Fargo Bank. She married into the Breckenridge family who were not only Kentucky Bluebloods, they are kin to the Royal Stewarts as I discovered! Louis did not know this when she got a divorce, and then marries William Sharon, a partner of William Ralston President of the Bank of California! How many banks is that?
Now, all over the internet are claims there is a divine bloodline that descends from Jesus and Mary Magdalene that begat the Stewarts and the Freemasons, who in turn owned banks. Why not gold and silver mines? Surely folks kin to King Solomon would want to have a gold collection as big as this Davidic King who collected 666 talons of gold a year in taxes! Wow! How much silver was taken out of the Comstock mine that Sharon owned?
Last month I tried to communicate some doubt to a bunch of nasty Sinclair folk, that they are all what they make themselves out to be. Surely if they own God’s blood, then His Divine Will would have bid the Sinclairs to do truly wonderous things on His Green Earth – like find plenty of gold in the new world! Actually, they do make the claim the Money Pit is their doing, their Templar line finding all this gold in the ground – then putting it back where no one can spend it – not even the Sinclairs! The check is in the mail!
What was perfectly clear when Sir Thomas sailed into San Francisco Bay, he was looking for a rich heiress to marry – like so many other landed Brits before him – so he would have the monies to remodel his decaying estates. Thomas struck pay dirt when he married Louis Tevis Breckenridge at Ralston Hall, where my great grandparents were married in what may have been seen as the Oddfellow marriage of the century. Surely the Knight Templars in this Masonic-like fraternity, compared the Stuttmeister-Janke union as ordained.
Louis took no chances, and moved the Hand of Fater back into the Breckenridge-Stewart lineage, when her son married Florence Witherspoon Breckenridge, thus tying another knot that links this titled family to the Bentons and Prescos, via the marriage of the world famous artist, Christine Rosamond Benton!
My parents died without this knowlege, and the father of my niece, Garth Benton knew nothing about it. Since Christine died, I have sent letters to the Court that are filed in Rosamond’s Probate, that speak of the Grail, Knight Templars – did mention the Stewarts?
What is curious, is that the Oddfellows, and the Orange Lodge which Bennett Rosamond was the Grand Master of, beleived they were the remnants of the Royal Kings of Judea. Did I tell you that my niece, Drew Benton, descends from Colonel Thomas Hart Benton the Grand Master of the Iowa Freemasons, who saved Albert Pike’s Masonic Library, and thus the Scotish Rite? Add it all up, folks!
Gold and Silver Mines
Big Banks
Knight Templars
Freemasons
Royal Lineages
Senators
Congressmen
Signer of Constitution
Diasporic Lineages
Looks like God’s Work to me!
“The child plays
The toy boat sails across the pond
The work now has just begun
Oh child
Lokk what you have done ”
Jon Presco
Copyright 2011
Furthering the cause was the marriage of Flora’s son Thomas to another American heiress, Florence Louise Witherspoon Breckinridge. The union kept the Fermor-Heskeths in silver, at least until next week.
Flora’s branch of the Sharons does not appear to have any heirs left in the Bay Area, at least according to an online family history, and an official said there seems to be no interest in the goods at Ralston Hall — still a fine place for a wedding. Going once…….
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.
Louise Tevis Breckenridge Sharon (1858-1938)
We are privileged to be able to offer 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 18801.
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.
Frederick Sharon was the son of Senator William Sharon (right), 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 $4,470,000.002 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).
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.
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.
Florence, then Lady Hesketh, lived in the Hesketh country seat, Easton Neston, one of England’s great country houses. It is currently on the market, see here. The silver descended in the family until recently.
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 Vanderslice ‘Gargoyle’ pattern flatware service, the Gorham ‘Medallion’ tea knives and the Gorham ‘Old Medici’ salad forks are very rare.
“It’s quite clear the girls knew what they were up to,” Miller says. “They knew they had this cash, which would allow them to become objects of interest. Also, it was a passport to Europe, to a certain degree of freedom and what they saw as a more sophisticated environment. So they traded money for access to what they saw as the cream of world society.”
So Sharon — known here mostly as “Flora,” there as “Florence” or “Emily” — traded her cash for Sir Thomas’ cachet, and they were married at Ralston Hall (known as Belmont at the time) on Dec. 23, 1880
They boarded the Lancashire Witch and made their way to Japan, then zipped over to San Francisco, where Sir Thomas heard that a ship registered in Tahiti with Americans aboard had gone missing in Mexico.
Sir Thomas sent the yacht and a few of his shipmates over to search for the missing, but had the good sense to stay in San Francisco and party
.
“I was lucky enough to find a journal of this journey of 1879-1880, which was a pivotal moment in the family history,” Miller says. “It was written by someone aboard his ship, obviously a great friend, and it makes it quite clear that they were all aware of the, er, potential prospects America had to offer. So when they were in San Francisco, they knew there were pretty American girls who had ‘the needful.’ ”
The city toasted Sir Thomas for his heroic, though reportedly futile, rescue gesture, making him a member of the San Francisco yacht club and honoring him with a scroll from the Board of Trade, Miller says.
Society also feted him at parties from San Francisco’s Palace Hotel to Belmont’s Ralston Hall. By 1880, the former Nevada senator Sharon owned both, due to the suicide of his business partner, William Ralston, and had such a massive empire that he paid more taxes than any individual in California.
Here’s one of the journal entries: “I must say American girls are very pretty, dress well, have good feet, lots of fun & very sharp. Some have lots of money.”
And another: “To my astonishment Hesketh has been making love to Miss Sharon, a most charming girl, daughter of Senator Sharon. The engagement was announced in the Chronicle & Newsletter.”
No need to call Sir Thomas a cad, however.
When the new Lady Fermor-Hesketh boarded The Lancashire Witch, $2 million and a few hundred words of outrage accompanied her.
“There were lots of newspaper reports, general comments in San Francisco, saying how disgraceful it is that this money should leech out of the country,” Miller says.
The new lady of the manor quickly set out to spend some of that money when she found things not entirely to her liking. She had hoped for a “rambling, medieval” home, Miller reports, and had to work to instill those qualities in Nicholas Hawksmoor’s graceful Baroque masterpiece of architecture.
Hawksmoor’s painted oak model of the house is listed among the more precious pieces at auction, valued at more than $150,000. There are also many pieces of silver in mint condition — unused wedding presents from fine American purveyors such as Tiffany and Shreve — and a striking portrait of the lady of the house by Emile Charles Wauters.
“She’s got great style, doesn’t she?” says Miller, chuckling at the in- charge, elegantly clad image of Lady Fermor-Hesketh. “She was apparently very outspoken, too — you know, talked straight, where English girls didn’t, particularly. That’s a nice American characteristic.”
One perhaps Sir Thomas tired of, because after the birth of their two sons Flora eventually began to spend more time in London until she died in 1924.
“She seems to have had a lover who was an admiral at some point,” Miller says. “She converted her house in London to have the sash windows bricked up and put portals in to make him comfortable.”
The admiral’s comfort came at no expense to Easton Neston, which continued to be maintained by a steady flow of American dollars from San Francisco — interrupted, Miller says, only in 1906 by the great earthquake.
Furthering the cause was the marriage of Flora’s son Thomas to another American heiress, Florence Louise Witherspoon Breckinridge. The union kept the Fermor-Heskeths in silver, at least until next week.
Flora’s branch of the Sharons does not appear to have any heirs left in the Bay Area, at least according to an online family history, and an official said there seems to be no interest in the goods at Ralston Hall — still a fine place for a wedding. Going once…….
Easton Neston, built by Nicholas Hawksmoor in around 1700 in Northamptonshire, England, will open to the public for the first time for viewing Friday through Monday; the three-day auction of more than 1,500 lots of furniture, art, silver and other antiques begins on Tuesday. The full catalog is online at http://www.sothebys.com, and interested parties can call the firm’s San Francisco office for more information,
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.
http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/daughters-of-the-americanrevolution-
california-s/records-from-tombstones-in-laurel-hill-cemetery-
1853-1927-gua/page-6-records-from-tombstones-in-laurel-hillcemetery-
1853-1927-gua.shtml
http://www.ralstonhall.com/tour/video.html
Belmont Legacy of Carl Janke
Posted on September 11, 2011 by Royal Rosamond Press






Months after my sister’s death I went to the Sacramento Library and looked at microfish about a legal battle between the heirs of Carl Janke’s estate in Belmont that appeared in the San Francisco Call. I lost the copy I made of that article that I am certain mentioned William O. Stuttmeister, and the sisters of Augusta Stuttmeister-Janke. Carl’s sons did not want Minni and Cornillia, to have anything, and one brother (or cousin) took their side, and was cut out. This has to be William, or W. JANKE. “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.” When Victor Presco turned twenty-one, the the Janke spinsters offered him a moving company in San Francesco. Apparently they saw him as the heir to the Stuttmiester legacy, and the Hope of a return to former glory because they had no children. How about their brother, William? Rosemary said this; “Your father was a made man.” Two days ago, in an e-mail, my cousin Daryl Bulkley confirmed my suspicions that ‘Stuttmeister’ was not the original name of the folks from Berlin. I suspect they were a branch of the Glucksburg family who became Calvinist Evangelicals, and perhaps Rosicrucians. In the top photo we see Minni and Corniallia Janke in the family vault that William Stuttmeister purchased for $10,000 dollars to put the reains of the Jankes and Stuttmeisters in after they were evicted from the Oddfellow cemetery. That William Ralston was a Oddfellow that put up a large sum of money to establish the Oddfellows in Germany – and perhaps elsewhere – makes me wonder about his alleged suicide by plunging into the bay. I am reading articles on the internet about the Oddfellows being the founders of the Welfare State in America, where being charitable to the poor, the infirmed, and the widows, was paramount. They also paid much attention to burying their dead, which suggests they believed in a different hereafter. As a theologian I have pointed out the strange raising of the dead in Matthew 27:53 at the very moment of Jesus’ alleged death.
I suspect Judas was given thirty pieces of silver to purchase Jesus’ tomb, and Jesus was about to practice the ancient Judaic ritual called of the RESUSCITATION, where the soul of the diseased enters the body of another. I believe this is why those who take the Nazarite Vow are bid to keep their distance from the dead. That the Oddfellows titled women as Rebekahs, suggests they are Rechabites, who have been associated with the Nazarites who composed the first Christian church called “The Church of God”. That Jesus came to be seen as God “the Father” is a usurption that began with Paul of Tarsus. That the fall of the Oddfellows in the Bay Area happened overnight, and all traces of their demise, all but disappeared, tells me there was a real Judas and purge. That Daryl pointed out in her research that we knew next to nothing about the Stuttmeisters, whose tomb was lost until seven years ago, tells me William Stuttmeister retired to the Geronimo Valley a disillusioned man, who played a rare violin, and left his Stuttmeister-Janke legacy to his housekeeper. And then he is dead, his remains put in the vault that I went to visit with my daughter and grandson. Before I left for California I told my friend Joy Gall, that I wanted a AA coin to put in this tomb in honor of Christine Rosamond Benton whose funeral fell on he first sober birthday in AA. As I lined up to view my sister in her casket, I did consider the Nazarite Vow I took in 1989. As fate would have it, I ended up putting this coin in William Oltman Stuttmeisters crypt because there was an opening made by the earthquake of 1989.
On this coin is an Angel. In 1992 I began a biography of my family called ‘Bonds With Angels’. It begins with an account of the Blue Angel that appear at the foot of Christine’s bed that woke her and Vicki, who crawled into Christine’s bed and beheld her. Vicki was six years of age, and is clean and sober this day. The Nazarite Vow bids one to not ingest alcohol, not get drunk, so that the Holy Spirit may speak through you, use you as a Horn of Power to broadcast the Word of God. When I entered the tomb of my ancestors and sat down on the marble bench, I noticed the letter A made of brass lying behind the faux fern plant. I picked it up. It was the A in JANKE that had come lose in the earthquake. I looked up at the stained glass window and read; “In loving memory of my beloved wife, Augusta Stutteister,” Was Augusta the Angel that came to visit my sisters? May our bonds with Angels continue – forever more! Amen! Jon Presco 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.
http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/daughters-of-the-americanrevolution- california-s/records-from-tombstones-in-laurel-hill-cemetery- 1853-1927-gua/page-6-records-from-tombstones-in-laurel-hillcemetery- 1853-1927-gua.shtml Copyright 2011
Sharon-Hesketh Family of Piedmont
Posted on September 11, 2011 by Royal Rosamond Press












The Presco Children lived on the boundary of Oakland and Piedmont that had more millionaires per capita then any city in America. Here Sharon built a home, Roycrafters, that looks like Rufford Old Hall the seat of the Hesketh family in Britain. It is alleged Shakespeare performed a play here.
Come Saturday morning when Vic and Rosemary began their evil shout and hate match, I would get on my bicycle and ride through Piedmont, down Saint James Drive to Crocker, then to Lakeshore. I had to get away from my parents battle over lost prestige. Christine and I would lead a bunch of kids on a tour of Piedmont via the pedestrian staircases that the WPA built so The Help could get to work, and the children of the rich, make their way to school. Come Halloween we begged candy from the Piedmontese.
It was Christine’s Dream to be rich one day. Her autobiography begins with a fight we had over the last of the milk for cereal.
Vic never paid one dime for child support as ordered by the court, yet, he wanted in on the Art Game.
I noticed there is a Christmas Tree in the window of our house on San Sebastian. I think this is the one we stole from the lot on Park Blvd. above Liemert. We four boys had sewn deep pockets in our jackets, and when we went grocery shopping with Rosemary, we stole food and household items. We stole this tree by throwing it down into Dimond Canyon and retrieving it in the morning. Rosemary ordered up a flocked tree that we put red bulbs on. Then there was the precise ritual of hanging tinsel. If you did not do it right, you were shamed and replaced. It was Rosemary’s Art.
While shopping in Lucky Store in Montclair, the manager approached Rosemary and tried to shame her by saying;
“Do you know your sons are stealing us blind. I’m going to have to ask you to shop (lift) elsewhere.”
“I had no idea!”
Below is a Wikipedia article on Piedmont that may have been authored by Brad Gilbert whom I knew since he was a baby. His father, Barry Gilbert, lived below Bill Arnold on Athol Avenue. Bill painted a mural for Barry when the moved into a plush Piedmont home. Bill came to live with us when his father kicked him out. We were the Artists in Residence.
Jon Presco
Copyright 2011
Baron Hesketh, of Hesketh in the County Palatine of Lancaster, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1935 for Sir Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, 8th Baronet, who had previously briefly represented Enfield in the House of Commons as a Conservative. As of 2010 the titles are held by his grandson, the third Baron, who succeeded his father in 1955. Lord Hesketh held junior ministerial positions in the Conservative administrations of Margaret Thatcher and John Major. However, he lost his seat in the House of Lords after the House of Lords Act 1999 removed the automatic right of hereditary peers to sit in the upper chamber of Parliament.
The Hesketh Baronetcy, of Rufford in the County Palatine of Lancaster, was created in the Baronetage of Great Britain in 1761 for Thomas Hesketh, with special remainder to his brother Robert, who succeeded him as second Baronet. The latter’s great-great-grandson, the fifth Baronet, sat as a Conservative Member of Parliament for Preston. His grandson, the eighth Baronet, was elevated to the peerage as Baron Hesketh in 1935.
The former seat of the Barons Hesketh was Easton Neston in Northamptonshire. The house was previously the seat of the Fermor family (Earls of Pomfret since 1721), and came into the Hesketh family through the marriage in 1846 of Sir Thomas George Hesketh, 5th Baronet, to Lady Anna Maria Isabella Fermor, sister and heiress of George Richard William Fermor, 5th and last Earl of Pomfret. However, the house was sold by the current Baron in 2005.
The original seat of the Hesketh family was Rufford Old Hall in the village of Rufford in Lancashire. This house was sold to the National Trust by the first Baron Hesketh in 1936.
The hall is reputedly haunted by a grey lady, Queen Elizabeth I and a man in Elizabethan clothing.[6] The figure of a man floating above the canal at the rear of the building has also been reported.[7] On 20 February 2010, the crew of the paranormal television series Most Haunted filmed at the hall.
Piedmont is a small, affluent[2] city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is surrounded by the city of Oakland. The population was 10,667 at the 2010 census. Piedmont was incorporated in 1907 and was developed significantly in the 1920s and 1930s. Piedmont was one of the “25 Top-Earning Towns” in CNN Money Magazine’s list of ‘The Best Places to Live in 2007, and was also named one of the “Best Places To Live-Urban Enclaves” in the United States in 2007 by Forbes.[3]
Residents originally sought incorporation in 1907. Two elections were held among the citizens of Piedmont in 1907, both of which narrowly upheld the decision for Piedmont to become a separate city, rather than become a neighborhood within the city of Oakland.
By the Roaring Twenties, Piedmont was known as the “City of Millionaires” because it had the most resident millionaires per square mile of any city in the United States. Many of these millionaires built mansions that still stand, notably on Sea View Avenue and Sotelo Avenue/Glen Alpine Road in upper Piedmont. Piedmont became a charter city under the laws of the State of California on December 18, 1922. On February 27, 1923, voters adopted the charter, which can only be changed by another vote of the people.
Piedmont celebrated the year 2007 as its Centennial Anniversary since incorporation. The Centennial Committee hosted celebratory events along a trail that runs through downtown Piedmont and denoted historical landmarks in the city. The Committee also created a float for the city’s Fourth of July parade.[5]
The historical exhibit “A Deluxe Autonomy: Piedmont’s First 100 Years” was on display in the Oakland Public Library from January 5 to March 31, 2007.[6]
Notable residents
[edit] Current
Piedmont is home to a number of somewhat prominent figures in the political, business, sports, and academic communities, including: ex-Major League Baseball player Dave McCarty, ex-National Football League player Bubba Paris, San Francisco 49ers, ex-National Football League player Bill Romanowski, Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis, Ambassador to Australia Jeff Bleich, and Peter Docter, director of Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. and Up and co-writer of WALL-E and AFJR, extra in the Santa Claus 3, and Billie Joe Armstrong of the rock band Green Day.
[edit] Past
Author Jack London lived in Piedmont, and John F. Kennedy’s Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara grew up in Piedmont, where his family lived on Annerley Road.[12] Clint Eastwood resided in Piedmont and attended Piedmont schools. Country Joe McDonald resided in Piedmont in the 1970s. Actors Dean Butler (Little House on the Prairie) and Austin Tichenor (Reduced Shakespeare Company) also grew up in Piedmont. Further, notable tennis player and coach Brad Gilbert, grew up in Piedmont. Charles R. Schwab, founder of the discount stock brokerage firm bearing his name, and his family also lived in Piedmont in the early 1980s, as did Dean Witter, founder of Dean Witter Reynolds brokerage, in the 1940s.
Brad Gilbert (born August 9, 1961), is an American tennis coach, a television tennis commentator, and former professional tennis player. He was born in Oakland, California and graduated from Piedmont High School (California).
As a player, Gilbert’s career-high singles ranking was World No. 4, which he reached in January 1990. Since retiring from the tour, he has coached several top players including Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray.
Sharon Family Reunion at Palace Hotel
Posted on September 11, 2011 by Royal Rosamond Press












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.
James Cecil Baring, 6th Baron Revelstoke (born 16 August 1938) is a British peer. A son of Rupert Baring, the 4th Baron, and Flora Fermor-Hesketh, daughter of the 1st Baron Hesketh, he was educated at Eton College. He married Aneta Laline Dennis Fisher in 1968. They had two sons, Alexander Rupert Baring, born 9 April 1970, and Thomas James Baring, born 4 December 1971. He married Sarah Stubbs in 1983. They had two daughters, Flora Aksinia Baring, born 17 July 1983, and Miranda Louise Baring, born 1 May 1987. He succeeded his brother, John Baring, 5th Baron Revelstoke, born 2 December 1934, in 2003. His half-sisters, by a later marriage of his mother to Lt.-Cdr. Derek Lawson, are Arabella Ann Spurrier (née Lawson), born 14 August 1946, and Caroline Flora Turner (née Lawson), born 23 September 1953.
http://revelstoke.org.uk/fam/1stLordR.html Barings Bank was founded in 1762 as the John and Francis Baring Company by Francis Baring, with his older brother John as a mostly silent partner.[2] They were sons of John (né Johan) Baring, wool trader of Exeter, born in Bremen, Germany. The company began in offices off Cheapside and within a few years moved to larger quarters in Mincing Lane.[3] Barings gradually diversified from wool into many other commodities, providing financial services necessary for the rapid growth of international trade. By 1790, Barings had greatly expanded its resources, both through Francis’ efforts in London and by association with leading Amsterdam bankers Hope & Co. In 1793, the increased business necessitated a move to larger quarters in Devonshire Square. Francis and his family lived upstairs, above the offices.
pened on October 2, 1875, the original Palace Hotelwas the glorious final “gift” of the colorful — but ill-fated —
William Chapman Ralston to his adopted home city of San Francisco. Born in Ohio on January 12, 1826, Ralston, an agent — and sometimes even last minute captain — of Gold Rush steamersthat ferried thousands of gold-seekers to California from Panama, was 28 when he finally settled himself in the still wild young city by the Bay in 1854. By the time he co-founded the Bank of Californiathere a decade later in 1864, the energetic and innovative Ralston was already on his way to becoming one of the city’s — and the West’s — wealthiest and most important men. The same year that he opened the bank, Ralston also began building a magnificent summer home called “Ralston Hall” on his recently purchased 14-acre estate named “Belmont” located twenty-five miles south of the city. (The magnificent four-story, eighty-room, 55,360 square foot mansionthat resulted still stands there today as a glorious example of this golden era.) Many of Ralston Hall’s magnificent architectural features such as its stately dining room, a 28′ x 61′ mirrored “Versailles” ballroom, an “opera box” galleryencircling the grand staircase leading to the second floor modeled after the Paris Opera House, and the classic columns and crystal chandeliers in its foyer all presaged the design of similar features incorporated into the design of the Palace Hotel a decade later. http://thepalacehotel.org/ There were two main Sharon families in California after 1850. The first and most prominent was that of William Sharon, son of William Sharon and Susannah Kirk. He left Illinois and made a fortune in the gold, silver, banking and hotel business in California and in Nevada. He became the fourth United States Senator from Nevada. The other family was that of William Evans Sharon, son of Smiley Sharon and Sarah Ann Hurford. Smiley Sharon was a brother of William mentioned above. William Evans Sharon went west to work with his Uncle and his family line is in the San Francisco area today. This section covers these two families. SENATOR WILLLIAM SHARON William Sharon was the second son born to William Sharon and Susanna Kirk Sharon. He was born in Smithfield, Jefferson County, Ohio on January 9th, 1821. William’s mother died when he was twelve years old and he was raised by his father and the older children. He attended local schools and then at the age of sixteen attended Franklin College in Athens, Ohio nearby in Harrison County. He returned home after college in 1840 and tried farming but did not find it to his liking. He then went to Steubenville, Ohio to study and read law with Edwin M. Stanton. Stanton was later to become Secretary of War under President Abraham Lincoln. William Sharon was admitted to the bar in Steubenville in the early 1840s. After a brief stint at both the law in Steubenville and some merchandising on the Ohio River, he travelled to St. Louis, Missouri to establish a law practice. His elder brother, Dr. John Kirk Sharon had moved to nearby Carrollton, Illinois in 1843 and had established a growing merchandising concern there. About 1846, William moved to Carrollton and joined his brother in the business. In 1849 the news of Gold in California arrived. William had not established roots yet in Illinois and the lure of fortunes offered a great inducement to head west. The Mexican War was over and California was now part of the United States. William Sharon was twenty-eight at the time. According to an article in the CARROLLTON (Illinois) GAZETTE, William and five other men left Carrollton on March 30, 1849 for the gold fields. One of the men was J. D. Frey who was to be a lifelong friend and associate of William Sharon. According to most articles that I have read, William Sharon was a small man, slight of build and not of good health as a young man. While it seemed he could not stand the rigors of the law and left it for merchandising, the cross country treck of some five months seemed to strengthen him and instill the strength that was to support him through life. In late July they reached the Sierras and passed through Placerville and the Mount Davidson area of Nevada where later the famous Comstock Lode was discovered and it was here that Sharon later made his fame and fortune. They pushed on to California and arrived in Yerba Buena in August of 1849. Yerba Buena was a hide trading post that was to grow rapidly into what is now San Francisco. William Sharon proceeded to Sacramento, but quickly gave up the search for gold and opened a store to supply the miners. He saw the future of the City and the area was to offer greater rewards than were the gold fields. Sharon invested the profits of merchandising in real estate and speculating in mining stocks. He rapidly amassed a fair size fortune and owned a great deal of real estate that was soon to become downtown San Francisco. In 1850 he was elected to the City Council and was instrumental in the formation of the city. By 1852 the area had swelled to some 40,000 people and families as well as fortune seekers arrived daily. Among these families came a young lady, Maria Malloy, an eighteen year old Canadian girl from Quebec. Her father was a sea captain before he died and she arrived with her mother and stepfather, a Mr. Murphy. Later in 1852, she was to become the wife of William Sharon and was to bear him five children before her death in 1875. For the next decade, William Sharon developed real estate and land development and became quite wealthy and influential. During this period his family was born and the Sharons were a very prominent family. Also during this period of growth, he met and became associated with William C. Ralston who had formed the Bank of California and was another key figure in the growth of San Francisco. By 1859 the gold was running out in the hills and miners were drifting eastwards in search of new deposits. One of these men, Henry Comstock, discovered silver in the same Mount Davidson area Sharon had passed through ten years earlier on his way to California. The new silver mines around Virginia City, Nevada caused a new rush of mining and speculation. William Sharon had made his small fortune in real estate and not in mining, yet in 1860 he became involved in the silver mines and by 1862 had lost most everything he had made in the past ten years. The growth and expansion of the mines was rapid and by 1864, William Ralston had opened a branch of the Bank of California in Virginia City and had placed William Sharon in charge of its operations. Within a few years, the mines began to peter out and it looked like even worse disasters were facing Sharon. Bill Sharon, however, felt that the greatest profits were yet to come. He foreclosed on most of the milling operations and brought them under the control of the Bank. He then forced the mine operators to use his mills for production and rapidly had the Bank as the controlling factor in Virginia City. He felt that the real lode lay deeper in the ground and speculated that by deepening the existing mines, huge deposits would be found. He was correct. By 1868 the Bank was a virtual monopoly in the greatest silver discovery in history. Ralston and Sharon then set up their own company, the Union Mill and Mining Corporation and `relieved’ the bank of its holdings for their own use. They made millions. By the early 1870s, Ralston and Sharon were perhaps the two wealthiest men in the west. Ralston had invested great sums in building the Grand Hotel in San Francisco and a palatial home in Belmont. He was undertaking the construction of a new hotel, the Palace, which was to be the largest and grandest in the west. Backtracking a bit… During the waning years of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, in 1864, needed one more state vote to insure passage of the amendment to abolish slavery. Rather than continue the costly war, he agreed to admit Nevada as a state as it would generate the additional vote needed. You must realize that at the time, California and Oregon were the only two states west of Kansas. The rest was simply ‘The West.’ Nevada was admitted and the Civil War came to an end the following year. In 1874 William Sharon was perhaps the most influential man in Nevada and was being pressed by friends to run for the United States Senate. He spent some $600,000 to `buy’ the vote and was handily elected to a six year term from 1875 to 1881. However in 1875, Sharon and the Bank of California were having problems and he did not even go to Washington for his first year in office and afterwards made only token appearances. He certainly wanted the prestige of being a United States Senator, but never was really interested in the job part of the deal. Needless to say he did not even bother to run for reelection. In mid 1875, the Bank of California found it had over extended itself and was on the verge of collapse and could very well bring down the entire economy of California. There seemed to be no hope, and on August 26, 1875, William Ralston committed suicide. William Sharon was the administrator and recipient of the estate of William Ralston. To protect his own interests, Sharon virtually took over control of the Bank which had now closed. He raised new capital by re-issuing stock and on October 2, 1875 the Bank of California reopened
its doors stronger than ever. On the following day, October 3rd, the Palace Hotel, now owned by Sharon through Ralston’s estate, opened its doors to the public. On October 14th, 1875, the official opening came in the way of a banquet for General Phillip Sheridan, freshly returned from the Franco Prussian War. William Sharon’s wife, Maria had died that Spring, on May 20, 1875. Now William Sharon had only his business dealings to keep him occupied. Depending on which side you listen to, Sharon either could not attend Senate sessions in Washington due to the potential disasters at home or simply because he had total disinterest in politics. Probably it was both. By the early 1880s, William Sharon’s real estate empire had grown to the extent that he was the largest single tax payer in California. His payment to the City of San Francisco represented a full two percent of the City’s total income. As his fortunes seemed to increase by themselves, William Sharon spent a great deal of time relaxing and entertaining. His business interests were being looked after by his son, Frederick Sharon, and his son-in-law, Francis Newlands. His other daughter, Flora, had married an English nobleman and was doing just fine by herself. In 1883, a woman named Sarah Althea Hill, claimed she was his true second wife and claimed a portion of his estate. She was most likely his mistress, as she had lived with him, but was never his wife. The trials took away the health of William Sharon. The court ruled in favor of Miss Hill and on November 13, 1885, William Sharon passed away at his home in San Francisco after a fairly long illness. It was not until after his death that the California Supreme Court ruled in his favor and left Sarah Hill without any claim on his fortune. Even in death, William Sharon eventually won. Many cousins and relatives had gone to California to become part of his vast empire and he made them all fairly well off. From a somewhat sickly childhood, William Sharon had shown strength in both body and in convictions. Like most of the men that formed America, he was both a visionary and a robber baron, but he was of the ilk that made America what it is today. I have an old family photograph taken about 1870 showing the young William, Maria and their first two daughters. They made quite the handsome family. William and Maria Sharon had five children. Two died as infants and the following three grew to live interesting lives. Clara Adelaide Sharon Clara was the eldest child. She was born in San Francisco in 1854. On November 20, 1874 she married Francis Griffith Newlands. According to an article in the Carrollton, Illinois GAZETTE, she received one million dollars as a marriage gift from her father. The Newlands had three daughters before Clara died in childbirth in San Francisco on February 17, 1882. The son was a son Sharon Newlands born and died on February 17th. Francis Newlands married again on September 4, 1888 to Edith McAllister and they had one son, Hall McAllister Newlands in 1890. This second wedding took place in England at the Estate of his brother and sister-in-law, Sir Thomas and Lady Hesketh. They had two sons who both died in infancy. Francis Newlands died in San Francisco in 1917. The children were: Edith Newlands Edith was born on May 17, 1876. She married H. L. Johnston in about 1903. They had two sons: FRANCIS NEWLANDS JOHNSTON was born March 8,1904. He married Janine Schladenhoffen in Le Harve, France on October 25, 1935. He died October 15, 1996. They had four children: Nancy Anne Johnston born September 9, 1936 in Lausanne, Switzerland. She married Donald Church McNear May 2, 1959. Francis Andrew Johnston born June 16, 1939 in Washington, D.C. He married Barbara Stegemerten December 9, 1966. Frederick Robert Johnston born in Washington, D.C. on December 20, 1940. Sandia Janine Johnston born in Washington on January 10, 1942. She married Lewis Emery Pugh on July 6, 1968. ALAN LADD JOHNSTON born in 1906 and died May 2, 1968. Janet Newlands Janet was born in January of 1878. She married William Barnard Johnston. She died on January 29, 1965 in Washington DC. William was born in 1876 and died in 1948. They had two children: JANET SHARON JOHNSTON born July 31, 1904. She married William Sharon Farr on August 29, 1936. He was born April 7, 1903 (see his listing later on in this section). WILLIAM WARING JOHNSTON born August 27, 1907 and died as a youth on December 18, 1920. Frances Clara Newlands Frances was born November 21 1880 and died August 21, 1907. She married Leopold Waldemar Von Bredow. They had one daughter before her early death: FRIEDERIKE VON BREDOW who married Alexander Graf Strachwitz. Hall McAllister Newlands He was born February 17, 1890 and at age two. John Cutler Newlands He was born December 2, 1893 and died the next day. Florence Emily Sharon Flora Sharon was born in San Francisco in 1858 or 1859. On December 23, 1886 after the death of her father, she married Sir Thomas George Fermor-Hesketh of England in her home in San Francisco. As she was single at the time of her father’s death in 1885, she was left the bulk of his estate. This marriage was a merger of sorts. She moved to England and they had two sons, Frederick and Thomas. Flora remained in England and died at her London home on September 25, 1924. The two sons were: Frederick Fermor-Hesketh When Frederick was only twenty-six years old and in the service, he took a one week leave to visit Ireland and simply disappeared from the face of the earth. A little foul play it would seem. Thomas Fermor-Hesketh Thomas married Florence Breckenridge, a daughter of Louise Tevis Breckenridge Sharon. Louise was the widow of John Witherspoon Breckenridge prior to marrying Frederick W. Sharon. This was a marriage of step cousins of sorts. Thomas was made the first Baron Hesketh in 1935. He died in 1935. They had five children: THOMAS FERMOR HESKETH LOUISE FERMER HESKETH who married Sir Edmond Stockdale. FREDERICK FERMER HESKETH the next Lord Hesketh. He married Christine McEwen. They had three sons: Alexander Hesketh the next Lord at age 19 in 1970. Robert Hesketh John Hesketh FLORA FERMER HESKETH who first married Lord Revelstoke and then later married Derick Lawson. JOHN FERMER HESKETH twice married. First to a Patricia and then to a Lorelei. Don’t have any last names. Frederick W. Sharon Frederick Sharon was born in 1862 in San Francisco and in 1884 he married a widow, Louise Tevis Breckenridge in San Francisco. Louise was the daughter of Lloyd Tevis and Susan Saunders. She had been married to John Witherspoon Breckenridge. There were three children in her first marriage. They had one child, Henry William Tevis Sharon. Frederick Sharon died in July 1915 and touched off yet another hotly contested Will controversy as mentioned earlier. The following article is taken from an article on the life and home of Frederick W. Sharon, son of Senator Sharon, printed in the Fall 1977 issue of the JOURNAL OF THE SAN MATEO COUNTY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION: The death of Frederick W. Sharon (in July of 1915) was to produce a legal drama not too unlike that of his father and the claims of Sarah Hill. After a very lengthy probate, a final distribution of the estate was about to be made, when out of nowhere appeared a young gentleman by the name of Fred Sharon. Flanked by a battery of attorneys, young Fred, a publisher from Tacoma, claimed to be the adopted son of Frederick Sharon and was entitled to one half of the multi-million dollar estate. Fred was, in reality, a son of John Sharon, a nephew of Senator William Sharon. Frederick W. Sharon had indeed befriended the boy as a child but had never adopted him or even seen him for years. Young Fred appeared in court with witnesses that claimed to have seen some adoption papers, which, they also claimed, had been destroyed in the holocaust of 1906. The jury ruled in favor of young Fred. The Supreme Court, however, as in the case of the Senator and Sarah Althea Hill, overturned the lower court decision and the young scamp got nothing. Oh well, just another valiant attempt to grab at the Sharon Fortune that went down the old drain. The only child was: Henry William Tevis Sharon I have no information on Henry Sharon other than he died at a young age. WILLIAM EVANS SHARON A complete story of William Evans Sharon life is found in THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, published by the American Historical Society in 1932, volume 21, pages 53-57. William Evans Sharon was a son of Smiley Sharon and Sarah Ann Hurford. He was born in Smithfield, Jefferson County, Ohio on March 22, 1852. He grew up on his parents’ farm and attended the local public schools. In 1872 at the age of twenty, he traveled to California. Initially he lived with his uncle, William Sharon, and attended a business college. He accompanied his uncle to the silver fields of Virginia City, Nevada and managed several of the famous Comstock Lode Mines. He served for two years in the Nevada State Senate representing Storey County. On December 25th, 1876 in Virginia City, William Evans Sharon married Lillian Mygatt. Lillian was born in Iowa City, Iowa on January 16, 1858. Her family originally came from England to Boston in 1633, and were the founders of Hartford, Connecticut in 1639. There is a complete genealogy of the Mygatt Family in the Sharon Biography in the above mentioned book. In 1890 the Sharons moved back to Oakland, California and in 1898 built their home Roycrofters at 37 Sharon Avenue in Piedmont. In 1915 when Frederick Sharon (see the story of Senator William Sharon) died, William Evans Sharon took over the control of the Sharon Estate and their vast holdings in California. William Evans Sharon died at his Piedmont home on January 26, 1926. I do not know when Lillian died. William and Lillian had ten children, seven of whom lived to adulthood. They were: Claude Summer Sharon Claude was born in Virginia City, Storey County, Nevada on November 1, 1877. He was twice married. First to Ivy Evans of Reno, Nevada and then he married a widow, Mrs. Edith Logan. Claude died in Oakland, Alameda County, California on February 22, 1965. There was one daughter in the second marriage: Leslie Sharon I have no information on Leslie Sharon. Florence Emma Sharon Florence Emma was born in Virginia City, Nevada July 12, 1879. She was married five times. She first married a violinist and composer, Peter Coole Allen, on May 2, 1900. Peter died at the family home, Roycrofters, July 29, 1904. There were two children, Frances Lillian Allen and Willette Allen. Florence then married Herbert Hamilton Brown of San Francisco on June 2, 1907. They had three more children before they were divorced. Herbert died in 1922. She married Jerome Johnstone who was in the Army. They lived in Carmel, California and were later divorced. Her forth husband was a Colonel in the Russian Imperial Army, Ilya Mihielovich Jadovskoy. They opened the Russian Tea Room in Carmel. Again they were divorced. I do not have the name of husband number five but he died. Florence was in a nursing home in Marin County, California from about 1960 until her death about 1980. The children were: Frances Lillian Allen Frances was born in Oakland on April 10, 1901. She was first married to Steven Glassell who died in 1928. She then married James Cooper Doud in about 1929-1930. They lived in Carmel California and had a place in Hawaii as well. James was born in 1902 and died in 1983. Frances died in May 1993 in Carmel, California. There were three children: LOUISE FRANCESCA (GLASSELL) DOUD born January 14, 1922. She married Robert Warren. She was alive in 2006, and living in Falmouth here on Cape Cod. They had: Valerie Warren born December 22, 1949. She married a Stricland and lives in Woodstock New York. Barbara Warren born in 1950 and married to Paul Holden. They live in Colorado. Diana Warren born April 8, 1952. She married David Wald and lives in Falmouth on the Cape. James Warren born about 1954, is married and lives in New Hampshire. TOLAND SHARON (GLASSELL) DOUD born in 1925. His wife is Beverly Jean Dowgiallo. They were married June 19, 1950. He was a dentist in Carmel. They were both alive in 2006. They had 5 children. Melinda Margaret Doud born March 20, 1952. She married Patrick Scott McGibney April 28, 1974. They had no children. Lindi was the one who supplied this info in 2006. Thanks. Laurie Jean Doud born June 22, 1953 and died May 9, 1985. She married Mark Kintz in 1978 and they divorced 2 years later. She then married Norman K. Green in 1981. They had one daughter. Marian Jeanette Doud born January 26, 1957. She married John Plastini June 26, 1985. They have two children. Frances Sharon Doud born December 22, 1967. Unmarried as of 2006. Toland Thomas Doud born September 24, 1971. Unmarried as of 2006. STEPHANIE DOUD born in 1928. She first married Budd Archer, and later married Jean Paillard. She died in 2002. Willette Allen Willette was born in Oakland on November 27, 1904. She married Robert Fitch and died in Texas in 1954. I have no information on children, if any. Hamilton Brown Hamilton was born about 1910 in California. His wife was Charlotte. They had two children: PETER BROWN CHRISTOPHER BROWN William B. Brown William was born about 1912 and died in Carmel in 1986. His wife was Muriel. He later married Carol Henning. Carol was the first wife of the author John Steinbeck. There was one child in the first marriage: SHARON ELIZABETH BROWN married to Lawrence Bacon. Florence Edith Brown Florence was born September 10, 1916 in Oakland, California and died in Stamford, Connecticut in 1975. She married and later divorced John Bennett Geisen. She then married Robert Franklin Hart. Children were: JOHN BENNETT GEISEN III killed in Viet Nam in 1967. LEE GEISEN born January 20, 1943. MARTHA JACOBS HART born October 10, 1953. She married Walter LeRoy Wensel on June 26, 1982. GUY WILLIAM HART born February 2, 1956. He married Donna Marie Louis on July 9, 1989. Blanche Sharon Blanche was born in Virginia City June 23, 1881. She married Harold St. Lawrence Farr in Oakland in 1902. Blanche died November 23, 1923. I do not know when Harold died. There were two sons: William Sharon Farr William was born in Oakland on April 7, 1903. He married a cousin, Janet Sharon Johnston in 1936. Janet was born July 31, 1904. She was a daughter of William Johnston and Janet Newlands. Janet Newlands was a daughter of Francis Newlands and Clara Sharon, daughter of Senator William Sharon. William died on February 23, 1992. Janet was still living in Chevy Chase, Maryland in 1993. Their children, all living in 1990, were: WILLIAM SHARON FARR JR. born August 12, 1937. He married Mary Fullerton and was later divorced. He remarried to Katy Kearns in 1978. He had two children in the first marriage: Sheila Ford Farr born July 13, 1964. Mark William Farr born December 23, 1965. JANET MARION FARR born January 3, 1939. She married J. Raymond Ewing Nelson in 1964. They were divorced. She had four children: Emma Farr Nelson a twin born March 4, 1966. Charlotte Ewing Nelson the other twin. She married Charles William Malcolm Moyle on July 21, 1990. They had daughters India Charlotte Farr Moyle born February 27, 1992 and Iona Mary Wharton Moyle born December 17, 1994. Charlotte and Charles were divorced. She will marry Jonathan Hardy Hall on August 5, 2005. James William Ewing Nelson born July 12, 1967. He married Sakae Nakamura on December 16, 1994. They have two children as of 2004: Ako Nakamura Nelson born July 21, 199 and Sam Nakamura Nelson born July 23, 2003. Thomas Newlands Campbell Nelson born May 26, 1972. He married Marjorie Robertson June 3, 2000. They have as of 2004: Asha Janet MacMillan Nelson born January 8, 2001 and Jack Angus Ewing Nelson born April 25, 2002. SHEILA LADD FARR born August 31, 1940. She married John Erich Christian Nielsen in 1969. He died in 2000, Sheila was in Mill Valley, California as of 2003. They had two children: Dinantha Janet Nielsen born November 18, 1972. Galen Theodore Nielsen born May 18, 1975. GAVIN MALLOY FARR born December 8, 1942. He married Cathleen Hiser Smith. They have two children: Sarah Malloy Farr born June 19, 1976. Emily Newlands Farr born June 22, 1978. Frederick Sharon Farr Frederick was born in Piedmont, California August 2, 1910. He married Janet Haskins and then later married Dee Tombs on November 29, 1969. Both were living in Monterey, California in 1990. There were three children: SAMUEL HASKINS FARR born July 4, 1941. He married Sharon Alexa Baldwin on August 30, 1968. He was a California State Legislator and they are living in Carmel, California. He is now (1993) a United States Congressman from California. They have one child: Jessiica Farr born June 27, 1978. FRANCESCA FARR born in Washington, D.C. on October 30, 1942. She married Prescott S. Bush III (nephew of President George Bush) in 1970. They were divorced in the first year. She was living in San Francisco as of 1990. NANCY FARR was born in San Francisco January 4, 1948. She died in a horse riding accident in August 1965. She was still single. Robert Alexander Sharon Robert Sharon was born in Oakland, California on March 26, 1890. He married Hazel Ingels June 1, 1915. He may have later married to an Olive. Hazel was born August 31, 1891 and died October 11, 1981. Robert Sharon died in Oakland on September 1, 1963. They had one son: WILLIAM W. SHARON born March 29, 1921. He was still living in 1999 in Moraga, California. He was previously married to a Ruth and they divorced. His second wife was Betty Unger who died in 2001. He died in March 2008. He and Ruth had three sons: William David Sharon He had two children: Elise J. Sharon born August 7, 1967. She is single and lives on Maui in Hawaii. Richard D. Sharon born September 23, 1971. He is single and lives in Seattle. Richard Sharon He never married. Robert Sharon He never married either. Ruth Coralie Sharon Ruth was born in Virginia City April 20, 1892. She married Alberto A. DeGrassi on March 25, 1917. He was a native of Italy who came to America at the outbreak of World War I. Albert was still living in California in 1990, but Ruth had died in 1930. There were two children: ALBERTO H. DEGRASSI born 1919 and died 1988. He married Helen Virginia Anderson. She died in 2005. ROBERT ANDREA DEGRASSI born 1924 and married to Elizabeth Delany. Both are alive in 2005. They had: Milo Alessandro de Grassi born August 3, 1954. Andrea Louise de Grassi born March 10, 1958. Ann Maria de Grassi born January 3, 1960. Esther Lillian Sharon Esther Sharon was born in Nevada April 8, 1895. She married Lucius G. Norris. Lucius was born March 2, 1895 and died November 3, 1973. I do not know when Esther died. They had four children: WESTRICK NORRIS born July 10, 1927. He married Sandy Dickey on March 19, 1949. SHARON NORRIS born April 5, 1929. His wife was Alberta Jo. In 1990 they were living in Bakersfield, California. LUCIUS NORRIS died at age fifteen. ELISE NORRIS died at age six. Hurford Clarence Sharon He was born in Oakland, Alameda County, California on April 17, 1898. He also worked in the Sharon family business. He married Narcissa Cerini in the early 1920s. Narcissa died very early on June 17, 1927. Hurford remarried in 1928 to Evelyn Reyland. He died March 16, 1979. Evelyn Sharon died in 1985. There were two children: William F. Sharon William was born in Oakland on June 24, 1924. He married Carol Booth in Oakland on September 2, 1951. They were divorced. Bill is a lawyer in Oakland and lives in Piedmont, California. Their children are: JOHN SHARON born July 8, 1952. He married Ann Fazio in June 1992. He died in 2001. CAROLYN SHARON born August 27, 1954. She has been married twice. She is now married to Gaylen Heyder, and they have a daughter: Nichole Heyder JANET SHARON born September 25, 1961. She e-mailed me in May 2003. Said she married Brian Patrick Maher June 9, 2001. They presently live on the island of Maui in Hawaii. John Hurford Sharon John Sharon was born in Oakland on March 5, 1927. He first married Ruth Corsini in May of 1955. He later married Frances Virgin in 1968. He moved to Washington, D.C. and was a lawyer there. He served as an advisor to Adali Stevenson and later to John F. Kennedy both before and during his Presidency. John H. Sharon died in Washington on June 10, 1980. There were three children in each marriage: LISA FARR SHARON born August 9, 1958. She married Hugh Drescher in May of 1987 and they were divorced in 1991. LAURA MYGATT SHARON born June 15, 1961. JOHN HURFORD SHARON 3rd born February 25, 1964. He married Amy E. Grotevant in June 1992. He is an administrator at the Maret School in Washington. He and Amy visited here at the Inn in 1993 and he supplied much of this information. In the second marriage were: BARCLAY NEWLANDS SHARON born June 10, 1970. WILLIAM WADSWORTH SHARON born December 2, 1971 and died in June 1973. EDWARD VIRGIN SHARON born May 11, 1974. MISCELLANEOUS CALIFORNIA SHARONS In the 1900 California Census I find this family headed by WILLIAM SHARON age 34 born in Pennsylvania in April 1866. His wife, LOUISA, is 30 born in California in September 1869. They have a daughter, ALICE SHARON, age 7 born August 1892. Also there is Louisa’s brother, Henry BALTIC age 38 also from California. This family was living at 36 Victor Street in San Francisco. The only Sharons that I believe were still in Pennsylvania were the families descended from Samuel Sharron in Perry County. I feel William Sharon is related to us, but I have no connection at this time.
http://www.historicunioncemetery.com/Person.php?person=Janke%2C+Dorette+Catherine
http://www.historicunioncemetery.com/Marker.php?markername=JANKE
| From the 1950 headstone survey — (and the current stone) 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 |
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/186938257/carl-augustus-janke
Carl Augustus Janke
BIRTH Oct 1806 Dresden, Stadtkreis Dresden, Saxony (Sachsen), Germany DEATH31 Oct 1881 (aged 74–75) Belmont, San Mateo County, California, USA BURIALUnion Cemetery Redwood City, San Mateo County, California, USA Show Map
Carl Augustus Janke
BIRTH Oct 1806 Dresden, Stadtkreis Dresden, Saxony (Sachsen), Germany DEATH31 Oct 1881 (aged 74–75) Belmont, San Mateo County, California, USA BURIALUnion Cemetery Redwood City, San Mateo County, California, USA Show MapMEMORIAL ID186938257 · View Source
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Carl Augustus Janke was a local merchant in the city of Belmont, California he founded Belmont Park in 1865 which was modeled after a German beer garden. Janke subsequently he founded a local soft drink bottling plant, the first industry for the town of Belmont.
— 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 (spelled Catherine Hendrickson on the gravestone), mother of Dorette Catherine Janke,
born in Island of Heligoland, Germany, 1781 died
in Belmont, California 1876
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/87743831/william-august-janke
William August Janke
BIRTH Dec 1841 Hamburg, Germany DEATH22 Nov 1902 (aged 60) San Francisco, San Francisco County, California, USA BURIALCypress Lawn Memorial Park Colma, San Mateo County, California, USA PLOTGarden / Section: PRIMROSE GARDEN 2 HILLSIDE
Cornelia Turk Janke
BIRTH 24 Dec 1846 Frankfurt am Main, Stadtkreis Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany DEATH27 Jul 1938 (aged 91) San Francisco, San Francisco County, California, USA BURIALCypress Lawn Memorial Park Colma, San Mateo County, California, USA
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/87743828/cornelia-janke
Minnie Janke
BIRTH Feb 1869 California, USA DEATH4 Mar 1902 (aged 33) San Francisco, San Francisco County, California, USA BURIALCypress Lawn Memorial Park Colma, San Mateo County, California, USA PLOTGarden / Section: BIRCH Lot: LOT 189 Division: DIV 5
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/87628501/augusta-d-stuttmeister
Added by E. Sweeney
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Augusta D. Janke Stuttmeister
BIRTH Sep 1866 California, USA DEATH25 Dec 1938 (aged 72) San Francisco, San Francisco County, California, USA BURIALCypress Lawn Memorial Park Colma, San Mateo County, California, USA PLOTWS-Unit 3 Tomb Rooms Lot/Section/Panel: U2 MEMORIAL ID87628501 · View Source
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Gravesite Details
Family Members
https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMKRNP
Twin Pines Park is the hub of Blemont Parks & Recreation. From Geocache GC1JB51, titled Sarsaparilla Park:
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.
Some features of Twin Pines Park are a children’s playground and the Buckeye, Redwood, or the Meadow picnic areas. Facility rentals include the Lodge, Cottage, Manor, or Twin Pines Senior & Community Center.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/186938297/anna-dorette_catherine-janke

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