Panama-Pacific International Exposition

Next up - Grandma (Loraine Gunzendorfer) went to the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915! 

Here's what the expo looked like in 1915.

Photo courtesy of wikimedia

And here's grandma's photo.  I sure wish they'd had telephoto lenses in 1915!

The expo was open February 20-December 4, 1915 and was held to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal. However, many felt that it was an opportunity for the city to display its recovery after the 1906 earthquake. I found it interesting that a telephone line was established to New York so that those on the other side of the continent could hear the sound of the Pacific Ocean. The buildings were intended to be temporary and were made from wood, burlap, and plaster so they would be easy to demolish. The only building to survive today is the Palace of Fine Arts which was rebuilt in the 1960's.

Photo by renedrivers

It looks like the school kids went together but didn't all come back as planned.  It seems odd that they'd write about those who decided to stay in the newspaper - looks like my grandmother's younger brother, Wilton Gunzendorfer, stayed in San Francisco.  Uh-oh, was he a rebel?  Wonder what their punishment was?

She included this railroad ticket in the scrapbook - not sure if they took the train from Monterey to San Francisco or just used the train around town.

This ticket has seen better days!

Here's a few photos that I think were taken at the Exposition, although my google search didn't come up with anything similar. 

The more I explore the scrapbook the more I've learned that Grandma didn't stay in one place long!

 

 

Will you marry me?

Look at that - the wedding announcement for my paternal grandparents, Mildred Loraine Gunzendorfer and Sigmund Levy!  I found this little gem folded in the original envelope and just ready for mailing, even if it is nearly 100 years later.

My grandmother apparently hated the name Mildred and always used her middle name - looks like she hated it enough to leave it off of her wedding announcement.

The engagement wasn't a long one as I found the newspaper article announcing their engagement in the San Francisco Chronicle, November 10, 1918.  In my treasures I've also found many, many letters of congratulations from their various friends.



I don't know the exact dates of these photos but they seem to be from about the right time period.



Loraine Gunzendorfer

Sigmund Levy

I also found some newspaper articles tossed in with the pile of photos I have.  I have no idea of the dates or the newpaper(s) they were printed in but here's a sample of one of them.

It's so fun to find these treasures - it takes me back to another time and makes the stories of my ancestors so real.

Congratulations Sig and Loraine!

Murder on the Orient Express

Okay, so it wasn't really the Murder on the Orient Express but it was a death and it was on a train.

As I mentioned earlier, when I first started on this journey I used Gunzendorfer as my first search.  I joined ancestry.com and away I went, looking at those little green leafs on each one of my Gunzendorfer family.  Why was there no death record for Bertha in California?  I knew she was alive in 1944 when Abraham died yet I couldn't find a California death record for her in later years.  Since I was new to ancestry, I hadn't really figured things out yet and it never occurred to me that she might not have died in California.  Lo and behold, there she was listed in the Oregon death records!  Klamath Falls, Oregon to be exact.  What was up with that?

After some internet searching, I found the Random Acts of Genalogical Kindness (RAOGK) organization and contacted someone in Klamath Falls to ask for some help.  A few days later the kind woman gave me my answer - Bertha had, in fact, died in Oregon on August 1, 1950 and she forwarded a copy of the obituary from the Herald and News.  While the obituary didn't have a lot of information, it did tell me that the remains were forwarded via Southern Pacific to Halstead and Company in San Francisco for burial at a later date.  What was she doing in Klamath Falls, Oregon?

I searched some more and stumbled across Halstead's mortuary records from that time frame - there she was!  Once again I read that she died in Klamath Falls, Oregon but there were no clues as to the cause of death or why she was in Klamath Falls.  The records showed that Bertha's residence was the Maryland Hotel in San Francisco.  She lived in a hotel?

I also learned that the grand total to prepare Bertha for interment was $220.98!  That was broken down as:

• Preservation and preparation of remains and professional services - $75
• Casket coach and limousine  - $36
• Flower car - $15
• Cremation - $60
• Examiner, Newspaper, Call to out of town papers - $32.98
• County taxes - $2

There were so many familiar things on this record.  The limo was used to pick up my grandparents at the Clift Hotel, which I remember fondly as their favorite hotel in San Francisco.  The bill was sent to my great uncle, Wilton Gunzendorfer.  And interment would take place at Hills of Eternity in San Francisco where I'd already found Bertha and Abe.  But what was she doing in Klamath Falls?

The next time I talked to my mom on the phone, I told her about my findings and about my curiosity as to what Bertha was doing in Klamath Falls.  "That's easy" she said.  WHAT?  You know?  In retrospect it was stupid of me not to ask her in the first place because Bertha died about a month before my parents were married so, of course, she would have known what happened.  Here's the story.....

Bertha was living at the Maryland Hotel in San Francisco after Abe died.  She and my grandparents (Bertha's daughter, Loraine, and her husband, Sig Levy) set out by train from San Francisco headed toward Victoria, Canada for vacation.  The first night on the train, Bertha died of an apparent heart attack.  The train conductor wanted to stop the train in the middle of nowhere and let my grandparents out with the body.  Thankfully, my grandfather convinced them to get them to the next town which was, in fact, Klamath Falls.  Even though all the records show that Bertha died in Klamath Falls, she may have actually died in California.  After a brief stay in Klamath Falls, Loraine and Sig got Bertha's body back on a train and headed south to San Francisco for interment at Hills of Eternity.

My mother remembers visiting with Birdie a few days before their vacation and Birdie was insistent that my mother take some little dessert forks she had as a wedding gift.  Mom suggested that she wait and get the forks after they returned and when they were all together for her wedding.  After Birdie's death she was given the forks and, I believe, she still has them today.  But she's convinced that Birdie had a premonition that they would never be together again and that she wanted to ensure my parents had the forks that were, obviously, so special to her.

This story has taught me to always ask questions and then when you think you can't ask anymore, ask again.  You never know when the question you ask will jog a new memory.

Bertha is interred with Abe in Hills of Eternity Cemetery.    Bertha's Memorial

The White House

No, not that White House :-)  Who knew there would be a store in Monterey called The White House?  Okay, my Dad knew because I remember hearing about it as a kid but honestly, I never, ever thought I'd care about that place.

In 1884, when Ferdinand returned to Monterey after several years in San Francisco and Gilroy, the White House mercantile was established.  It was known as one of the finest stores south of San Francisco.  The store was a model of neatness, very roomy, and contained everything imaginable in the way of mens and ladies goods, notions, hats, caps, boots, and shoes.  In 1889, Ferdinand purchased part of Lot 6 from the David Spence heirs for the store.  Alvarado Street was a bustling place! 


Sketch of Alvarado Street

("Resources of Monterey County, California" by Salinas Daily Journal and the Salinas Democrat, 1890, page 34).

In about 1891, Ferdinand, in connection with Mariano Malarin, erected an immense 2-story brick building on Alvarado Street where The White House moved.

 

The White House
Photo courtesy of Montery County Historical Society

I try to imagine what it would have been like to shop here.  I'm guessing it was like the store in Little House on the Prairie - everyone knew you and everyone had an account.  The patrons strolled in, visited for a bit, picked up what they needed, and out they went.  Hopefully, they paid their bills on time.  My bet is they did since this establishment was successful for many, many years.

The White House advertised, too.  In 1915, this ad was in the back of the yearbook for Monterey High School.  I wasn't surprised to see it there since my grandmother was the assistant editor of the yearbook (more on that in a future post).



Monterey High School Yearbook, 1915

What's puzzling is the establishment year which shows here as 1854 yet the biographies and information I've read state the mercantile became known as The White House in 1884.  I'm thinking the confusion stems from Ferdinand being away from Monterey from 1872 - 1884 and upon his return, the "White House" was born.  I'll need to do more research on this to confirm the dates.

Gunzendorfer

So being that I was challenged with the Gunzendorfer line, that was my first stop.  And always will be my first stop because, well, there just aren't that many of them.  Whenever I'm trying something out and want to do a quick search, I always type in Gunzendorfer.  And if the results are in English, they're one of two tribes.

My Gunzendorfer line comes from my paternal grandmother, Mildred Loraine.  Loraine was the daughter of Abraham and his wife, Bertha Schwartz.  Abe was the third of four sons of Ferdinand Gunzendorfer and Fannie Goldstein and they were a prominent family in California, primarily San Francisco and Monterey.

Loraine was quite a character and as a child I remember she was always nagging for us to do one thing or another.  As kids we spent quite a bit of time with her and Grandpa Sig, most memorably at their house in Fresno.  It was a huge house with many nooks and crannies and we loved exploring the little room off the garage with Sig.

Back to the rest of the clan.  Ferdinand came to California sometime between 1852 and 1854 from Adelsdorf, Bavaria, Germany and married a cute little Polish girl, Fannie, in 1863.  Ferdinand was a successful business owner in Monterey and owned/operated The White House, a mercantile on Alvarado Street.  With the exception of the oldest boy, Gustave, who became a lawyer, the boys (Adolph, Abe, and Jacob) followed in the family business.

What's interesting is that while searching the Gunzendorfers I found Adolph in New York.  After much research, I discovered this must be a different Adolph Gunzendorfer.  Was it really possible that there could be two Adolph Gunzendorfers born in Germany in the 1866-1867 time frame?  I've since connected with the great granddaughter of the New York Adolph Gunzendorfer and in my heart, I know we're related.  My gut tells me the New York Adolph's father, Bernhard, was the brother of my Ferdinand.  Could it be that they both came to the United States separately and both named their sons Adolph?  Maybe their father was named Adolph?  That little project is on hold for now but one day, I'll solve that mystery.

Abraham Gunzendorfer

Now on to my great grandfather, Abraham Gunzendorfer.  Abe was a native of Monterey, California and lived most of his life there.  Upon his father's death in 1907, Abe took over the White House department store until his retirement in 1941.  He was one of California's earliest amateur photographers and during a visit by President Benjamin Harrison, Abe took his photograph and later received a personal note of thanks (boy, would I love to get my hands on that document).  In 1891, Abe organized the first hook and ladder company in Monterey and was later made a lifetime member of that city's fire department.

Abe and Bertha were married September 9, 1894 and their two children (Mildred Loraine and Wilton) joined the family before the end of the century.   They raised the children in Monterey and lived for many years on Pacific Street.  When he wasn't busy running the business, he spent time collecting early-day newspapers and interesting old coins. 

His many friends were deeply shocked when they learned of his death on May 4, 1944.  His health had been poor for several years and he had been mostly confined to his home but he continued with his keen interest in local and world affairs.  He is interred at Hills of Eternity in Colma, California  Abe's Memorial

Next up - Ferdinand Gunzendorfer