On July 15, 2024 I believe I found what members of the Belmont Historical Society, did not want me to see. Above is a statue of Saint Francis with outstretched arms, which is a WELCOME sign. In the background is Ralston Hall where William Stuttmeister got married to Augustus Janke, the daughter of Carl Janke. I see them climbing the stairs to Their Dream! The future – is theirs! I stare at the broken cement caused by believers kneeling……and praying. There is a plaque. Inside this mansion is one of the homes that Carl brought around the Cape.
I was not WELCOMED with open arms and given the Keys to the City of Belmont – that I deserved! I believe the Dark Keepers read about my families Divine Relationship with the Order of Saint Francis, and the founding of Briarcliff College! Why do I suspect Francis has been marginalized? Will his image be carted off when Stanford moves in?
I wrote a letter to Russel A. Estep twenty four years ago. Estep was a member of the Belmont Historical Society and was present when it was suggested a plaque honoring the Jankes be placed on a Bay tree. He wrote a history of Belmont
“Carlmont History. History of Belmont” Russel writes about developers. “Speculators made money”
Did the BHS know that William and Augustus Stuttmeister were developers, and bought property in Woodacre? They bought property in Oakland and built an appartment building in San Francisco. I want the Governor of California to launch a complete investigation. I want the Recorder of Deeds to help. I wonder if the Stuttmeister owned any property in Belmont.
Here is the home movie that Marsh Lewis put together for Rosemary Rita Rosamond, the woman he almost married. Rosemary died knowing very little of the history her four children came own. She kept saying she should have married Marsh, and told us, cruelly, we would have grown up riding horses, and have an endless amount of money. The only ambition my mother had for me, was to be a Franciscan Monk. What if I became a THE Franciscan Monk of Belmont? What if I climb the stairs in my white steed, dressed in the armor of God that I would cast aside, and put on the brown robe?
1888: From the Daily Alta, an article on the marriage of Dr. William O. Stuttmeister and Augusta D. Janke. 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,
Searles Francis Tally, grandson of rancher Joseph Lewis, died in his Los Angeles home on Tues., Oct. 31 at the age of 86.
Tally was born May 21, 1920 to Terrence Francis Tally and Lula Lewis. His grandfather Joseph Lewis owned an 8,200-acre farm on land where California State University at Channel Islands is now located.
The Lewis family was known for helping introduce the lima bean to Southern California agriculture. Around 1900, Joseph Lewis moved to Pleasant Valley from Carpinteria and bought what would quickly become one of the largest ranches in Ventura County. In addition to the lima bean crops, Lewis’ holdings included vast hayfields and extensive walnut groves.
In 1916, the Lewis family finished construction on a series of buildings along Ventura Boulevard in what is now Old Town Camarillo. The J.F. Lewis and Sons building has housed a long list of businesses, including the Stein and Tally department store co-owned by Tally’s father and Fred Stein.
COMPETITOR-Searles Tally easily clears the crossbar while competing in the high jump as an athlete at the University of Southern California in the early 1930s. Tally, a Camarillo native and grandson of Joseph Lewis, died last month at the age of 86. Services were held in Hollywood Hills.
Although the Lewis family had amassed a small fortune in farming and real estate, much of their holdings were lost during the Great Depression. The reversal of fortune had a devastating effect on the Tally family, said Terrence Tally, Searles Tally’s son.
In 1933, Tally, his brother Bob and their parents moved into a small back room of the family’s building on Ventura Boulevard.
“They would still go out in the evenings because they were known as the upper-crust of Camarillo in those days,” Terrence Tally said. “My grandmother still would dress up, and they’d go to a movie . . . even though they had lost everything, they had to hold their heads high and pretend they were still doing okay.”
Soon after, the Tally family moved to Los Angeles. Tally graduated from Los Angeles High School, where he excelled at the high jump.
He earned a full scholarship to the University of Southern California in track and field.
While at USC, Tally met JoNell Rogers. The two were married in 1943 and were together for 42 years until JoNell’s death in 1985.
Toward the end of World War II, Tally enlisted in the Navy and was stationed in the South Pacific. He helped supply Navy boats, ending his military career in 1945 as a lieutenant.
Following the war, Tally earned a business degree from USC and went to work in the paint and manufacturing industry in the Los Angeles area. He owned a painting contracting company, retiring in 1985.
Private services were held at Forest Lawn Memorial-Park, Hollywood Hills.
Tally was preceded in death by his brother Robert.
He is survived by his daughter of Reno, Nev.; son, Terrence Tally of Tujunga; grandsons Ryan Miller and Jason Miller of Reno; granddaughter Lindsey Tally of Tujunga, and greatgrandchild Davis Miller of Reno.
When I first saw the massive doors to the Stuttmeister crypt, I understood that the person responsible for them is into doing things that are substantial. This morning I discovered the Tolmad building that is probably where William Stuttmeister went to Dental College. That building was built to last, but was destroyed in the earthquake fire. Dr. Stuttmeisters had a dental office near SF city hall, that was also destroyed in the fire. Then, his loved ones are dug up and out out the Oddfellow graveyard. I believe he was at the Broderick farm below Joaquin Miller, the moved to Woodacre.
My great grandfather owned the same uphill fight – that is even more substantial – now that I have proven we are kin to the Getty family, who may not have come into their money – in such an honest way! The Stuttmiesters are registered as a San Francisco Pioneer family, and thus they – ground us all! William was married at Ralston Hall. Consider the two arched doors that William entered at the beginning of his life, and at the end.
I was going to add – William is eternally grateful for me being born. In looking at the graves in Redwood, it says there was – another stone? Did the original grave belong to Mutter Heinrich, the mother of Anna? Did Carl and Anna go to visit Mutter, which is the custom of Oddfellows. Was there a agreement with the City of Belmont to inter the founders in Twin Pines Park – forever? Was the new marker bought in 1972, when Mutter’s grave was opened – and Carl and Anna – were dumped in?
I demand a thorough investigation!
Somethings are bigger than us. I understood this when at twelve I flipped a coin (in my mind) whether to be an architect, or an artist. I never counted on being an historian – and now a playwright of operas? William was one the twelve who graduated and were treated to the overture of the ‘Pique Dame’ at Metropolitan Hall. How impressed The Twelve were. They knew they were Argonauts setting sail on a great endeavor, to yank the pain from your mouth, the thorn from the paw of the lion. Consider the movies ‘San Francisco’ and ‘The Phantom of The Opera’. William, is there, in the deep cavern of our souls, bidding us to pick up the gauntlet. Alas…..The Great Example!
Here lies the hoarded love the key To All the treasure that shall be Come fated heart the gift to take And smite the sleeping world awake.”
Here is a video that contains a photo of Mother Mary Dominica Wieneke, Major Superior of the Sisters of Saint Francis of Dubuque. Her cousin, Mary Magdalene Wieneke-Rosamond, was my grandmother, the mother of Rosemary Rosamond.
Above is an amazing photo of the groundbreaking ceremony for Briar Cliff College that is located on the Missouri River overlooking the states of South Dakota and Nebraska. I might do a painting of this scene because more than likely there are more than twenty of my kindred in it. My grandmother Mary is above in white.
Look at those beautiful children who want their shot at life even though they know they are crippled. They are filled with hope. How can anyone who claims they are a Christian, talk about taking away hope from any child who suffers?
Jon Presco
In March 1929, Mother Mary Dominica Wieneke, Major Superior of the Sisters of Saint Francis of Dubuque, along with the Most Rev. Edmond Heelan, Bishop of the Sioux City Diocese, co-founded Briar Cliff College after meeting with members of the Sioux City community, who committed to raising $25,000 to support the establishment of a Catholic women’s college in Sioux City. The twelve foundresses of the College were carefully chosen by Mother Dominica. They were led by Sister Mary Servatius Greenen, who was named the first president.[2]
Congregation with Motherhouse at St. Francis’s Convent, Dubuque, Iowa. Founded in 1876 by Mother Xaveria Termehr and Sisters from the House of Bethlehem, Herford, Germany, who, on account of the infamous “May laws”, were compelled to leave Germany. Sisters, 399; novices, 34; postulants, 20; orphan asylums, 2; industrial school, 1; academy, 1; home for aged, 1; schools, 43; pupils, 6829.
The Diocese of Sioux City was inducted into Briar Cliff University’s Mother Dominica Society this past weekend. The induction took place during the Alumni Awards Dinner at the St. Francis Center at the university. The Mother Dominica Society is a group that recognizes the top lifetime benefactors of Briar Cliff University. The society is named for the founder of Briar Cliff University, Mother Mary Dominica Wieneke.
I am considering authoring a biography of my great, great grandfather, William Oltman Stuttmeister. But, I do see a serial, a Black Mask treatment……
Doctor Stuttmeister
Yesterday I found a image of an appartment building William built on McCallister street in 1910 four years after the earthquake. My great, great, grandfather helped rebuild San Francisco. This morning I found an old photo of the Dental College he attended in San Francisco that became a part of the University of California. That these apartments are named ‘Laurel’ goes with my theory that William built around forty homes in the Laurel District – that could have been named by him. William, who helped build Oakland, is a pioneer in the field of Dentistry, and is labeled such by Redwood City. The Stuttmeisters lived in Fruit Vale, and their kin, the Jankes, founded the City of Belmont. They are listed as Pioneers of San Francisco.
In contrast, is my father’s father, Victor Hugo Presco. He was a gambler in the Barbary Coast made famous in a couple of movies. I can write a Grasshopper and the Ant tale about two men whose grandfather’s immigrated from Germany. One is a Bohemian fair-thee-well, and the other is a ambitious student at the University of California. William is a Humphry Van Wayden type whose seed will give birth to Captain Victor von Wolf Presco, real estate pirate, and father of a famous female artist and hippie spiritualist egghead a.k.a. ‘Blacky’. My father told me he raised his two sons using Wolf Larsen as a model. He made a loan to Jack London’s daughter. Jack worked in Belmont at a boys school doing laundry. It is evident the family mythos is based on real people.
My real father, Victor William Presco, played violin at Oakland High, and William played violin for the Oakland Symphony Orchestra. Did he hear the ‘Pique Dame’ as an honored Alumni?
P.S. What is going on?!! I just googled ‘Pique Dame’. She is the Queen of Spades! Last night I watched ‘Cloud Atlas’. The music at the end of my life – has been found!
My Broderick cousin who lives in Berlin has been helping me compile some of our family history that my natal family knew very little about, especially Christine Rosamond Benton. Therefor, our history could not be sold to outsiders. I am not alone. Others are appalled at what they have read. The Carmel Art Feeding Frenzy resembles the denuding of our forests that concerned Robert Lewis Stevenson, a Carmel Pioneer.
I will be sending out a three page synopsis of my story that will begin with me having my mother call up Sydney Morris to find out what was going on. Morris told Rosemary he and Stacey Pierrot had emptied her daughters home of everything but a large box of family photographs.
“Do you want them?” Morris asked.
“Of course….I want them!” answered the mother of a world famous woman artist, who is demonized and accused of crimes by Pierrot’s book that Robert Buck blessed.
“While convalescing in mountains overlooking Carmel Valley, he presciently critiqued the region’s logging industry: “It is man in his short-sighted greed that robs the country of the nobler redwood. Yet a little while and perhaps all the hills of seaboard California may be as bald as Tamalpais.”
Under his “hand and seal,” the first British Governor of New York, Richard Nicolls, gave to our forebears in the faith, the early Lutheran settlers and founders of the Congregation of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession of Faith on the island of Manhattan, the right to “freely and publicly exercise divine worship according to their consciences.” This notable event, almost 150 years after the birth of the Lutheran Reformation on October 31, 1517, is a testimony to the truth of the enduring Word of scripture, as is written in the closing verses of Psalm 90: Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!
The members of St. Matthew are the spiritual descendants of those first Lutherans in the Dutch colony on the island of Manhattan and of each succeeding generation, as it is with all the baptized the world over who sing of the faith of our mothers and fathers that has been passed down to us from the apostolic church. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Matthew is the oldest Lutheran congregation in America. Soli Deo Gloria – to God alone be the glory!
(This historic charter is in the custody of the New York Public Library, Schwarzman Building, Fifth Ave, New York. Click HERE to see an image of the Charter)
My Stuttmeister ancestors came to New York and lived on Liberty Street where the Trade Towers once stood. I now suspect they were Ministers. They came to Chili, also. Thirteen year old Victor Rudolph Stuttmeister applied for a passport when he was thirteen years of age. He had a high forehead, an aquiline nose, a large mouth, a sharp chin, brown hair, and blue eyes. Rudolph had six children and was a New York City Physician. Phillip, Mary, and Lizzie are born in New York City. Bertha is the first child to be married in California. This family were pioneers in San Francisco, Belmont, and Lagunitas in Marine County where Beryl and Leonard Buck moved after living in Oakland for many years.
Jon Presco
6 1006 __21 Stuttmeister Rudolph 57 M W Physician 12,000 6,000 Germany X X 7 1006 __21 Stuttmeister Matilda 42 F W Keeping House New York X X 8 1006 __21 Stuttmeister Victor 24 M W New York X X 9 1006 __21 Stuttmeister Bertha 10 F W California X X 10 1006 __21 Stuttmeister Willie 8 M W California X X 11 1006 __21 Stuttmeister Alice 3 F W California X 12 1006 __21 Stuttmeister Mary 16 F W New York X 13 1006 __21 Stuttmeister Lizzie 14 F W New York X 14 1006 __21 Stuttmeister Phillip 18 M W New York
Name:Rudolph Stuttmeister Arrival Date:12 Jul 1843 Age:27Gender:M (Male)Port of Arrival: New York Port of Departure: Hamburg, Germany Place of Origin: Deutschland Ship: Stephani
There is a rifle and a black wreath in the tree above William Broderick that I suspect belonged to William Janke, whose remains were dug up and evicted from the Oddfellow cemetery. Someone at Cypress Lawn is going to call me back about the defilement of Carl Janke.
You must study the History of the Franks, also called Francia. Jacob Grimm worked with the naming of the German tribe that became the rulers of France.
John Jankw
The Franks (Latin: Franci or gens Francorum; French: Francs) were a Germanic people[1] who were first mentioned by name in 3rd-century Roman sources, living near the Lower Rhine, on the northern frontier of the Roman Empire.[2] Later, Romanized Frankish dynasties based within the collapsing Western Roman Empire became the rulers of the whole region between the rivers Loire and Rhine. They subsequently imposed power over many other post-Roman kingdoms both inside and outside the old empire. Beginning with Charlemagne in 800, Frankish rulers were given recognition by the Catholic Church as successors to the old emperors.[3][4][5]
Laurel Street may have been developed by William Stuttmeister. Rosemary told me they gave the names of trees to the new streets of Fruit Vale. I found the streetcar line that Melba took with her infant son sitting on Joaquin Miller’s lap. There is a street fair in Laurel Village.
The Fruit Vale steetcar would end at the Oakland Ferry that Melba would board to go see the father of her son who was living in the Barbary Cost. This is right out of Steinbeck.
Captain Gregory
And how many people crossing Fruitvale Avenue at MacArthur Boulevard in the Dimond District know that a streetcar line, the Highland Park & Fruit Vale, crossed there with its passengers from the old town of Brooklyn at the foot of today’s 13th Avenue?
Developers like E. C. Sessions in the Dimond District and the Realty Syndicate’s Francis Marion “Borax” Smith in the Laurel created streetcar lines like these to carry potential customers to see the property they had for sale.
(Sessions’ line stretches back to 1875. Smith and his Key System were relative latecomers to the game.) Sessions and Smith succeeded in bringing people out to these Oakland suburbs to purchase property and settle in. Before long, stores and shops (and in the Dimond’s case, beer gardens) sprouted up near the ends of these lines. Over time these shops and gardens became shopping centers.
The streetcar line blossomed along with the districts, and by 1915 Laurel and Dimond residents could catch a streetcar to downtown Oakland. They could also ride these lines to the Southern Pacific train station at 12th and Webster streets or, for a time, to the 16th Street Depot in West Oakland.
Tomorrow my new neighborhood of Dimond is hosting their third annual Oaktoberfest (note spelling) to celebrate the district’s German heritage with good ol’ fashioned beer drinking. Yay!
The East Bay Express has a nice write-up in A Shining Dimond District by Ellen Cushing so I’m not going to repeat it all here. But in a bottle cap, the central Dimond District was dense with a number of popular German-styled beer gardens from the 1890’s through the early 20th century, until Prohibition effectively shut them all down. The most famous was Charlie Tepper’s Hotel which featured music and dancing every Sunday and was located on Hopkins Street (now MacArthur Blvd) just west of Fruitvale Avenue. [photos below] The building still stands today at 2030-C MacArthur Blvd.
photo courtesy Oakland Tribune
The sign in front that read “Take Diamond Cars” referred to the old streetcar line that used to run from downtown Oakland (13th and Washington) up to Fruitvale and MacArthur. Oh how I long for that streetcar now…
photo courtesy DimondOakland
Other establishments included the Hermitage (actually French), Neckhaus, and Bauerhofer’s. These family friendly destinations attracted not only local residents – apparently Dimond has a high concentration of German descendants – but also vacationers from San Francisco, Marin County, San Jose, and as far as Sacramento. See Dimond’s Beer Gardens for more info and great historical photos.
Come check out Dimond Oaktoberfest tomorrow. Festivities run from 11am to 6pm, centered around the Fruitvale and MacArthur intersection. There’ll be something for everyone… music, art, food, and of course, beer.
My mother told us the Stuttmeisters were Teutonic Knights who are associates with the Prussians. I was born on Berlin Way that was in the Fruit Vale, a separate city of German People that became a part of Oakland.
It looks like the Stuttmeister home and orchard was on Peralta Creek that has it’s source near Joaquin Miller’s house in the Hights. Rosemary said Maple St. was one of the streets William Stuttmeister and his kin, William Beyer, built over forty homes. This land looks like it belonged to the Peralta family. This creek is being restored and seen as a historic site. Oakland is a young city. It grew fast. Now, as it ages, historians are going back and cleaning up after these history. My family will be seen as Pioneers, folks who built Oakland, and contributed to its Arts.
n 1842, apparently believing it was time to settle his estate, eighty-three-year-old Luís María Peralta journeyed to the rancho in order to divide the rancho land among…
Rosamond Press 
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