Eureka, c. 1940

Eureka, C. 1940

 

If you click to zoom, you’ll see the Vance Hotel on the right, which will help to orient you.

It is also good to note the number of window panes on the old buildings.  The more (and smaller the) panes, the older the building likely is –though some folks, like the ones who added on to our old farmhouse, recycled windows, making it harder to date the structures.

When Old Town Eureka Had a Boardwalk

2nd Street looking west from H Street, Eureka

 

Note the Humboldt Times building on the far right. 

The large 4-story building (also on the right) is the Vance Hotel.

Find A Grave And Information

My ancestors, photo courtesy of Wes Keat and Debbie Davis

When I was eleven years old, I met Tom Hawbaker .  Our parents were friends, enjoying bar-b-cues and game nights,  and Tom and I were stuck together.  Fortunately we shared a fondness for Stephen King books and philosophical conversations.  Oh, and cemeteries.  I think hanging out among the dead was where we really bonded.

Seems were weren’t alone in our affection for graveyards.

My new friend and co-worker,  Wes Keat,  is an amazing researcher and genealogist.  He also surveys local cemeteries and takes photos of the markers.  He then uploads them to findagrave.com where descendants all over the world can “virtually” visit their ancestors and learn more about them from the information inscribed on grey marble and concrete slabs.

Wes also helps connect folks like me with other find-a-grave volunteers living elsewhere, so that we can see the graves of our ancestors buried long ago in far off places (like the one above in New Jersey).

Wes is generously allowing me to share his email: weskeat@prodigy.net.  He’s inviting folks to get in touch if they want help finding an ancestor’s grave.  He will also continue to survey the local cemeteries as time and weather permits and if you know of any tiny, tucked away cemetery he can photograph (or even better, family cemeteries on private land), please let him know. 

~L

Price Creek near Ferndale

Edeline Place, Price Creek, c. 1900

 

There are a lot of great things going on in this photo, but I thought I would focus on that house….

Price Creek Road is off of Blue Slide Road, which is a beautiful drive between Rio Dell (where I grew up) and Ferndale.

You take Belleview Avenue in Rio Dell and keep going or Grizzly Bluff Road in Ferndale and do the same (I think).  Unfortunately it has been a while since I’ve taken either route.

Once, when I was twelve, my friend Cecilia Viegas and I rode our bikes all the way to Ferndale from Rio Dell, which is close to 20 miles, give or take.  We were so proud. 

My mother didn’t know we were going –though to be fair, I don’t think Celia and I knew our destination either.  It was kind of a ”let’s just try that next hill” sort of exercise until, suddenly, we were in the Ferndale bottoms–and well at that point it would have been just silly to turn around and tackle those hills again and so we kept pedaling to Ferndale.

Unfortunately my mother was not thrilled to come and fetch me i(it was close to dark by then and we were tired) and the day did not end as well as it began.  Still a great memory and a great bicycle ride if one has the time and inclination.  Warning: there are hills.  Big ones…

Blue Lake, c. 1880

Blue Lake, c. 1880

Eureka, c.1929

Postcard:Eureka, c. 1929 (Antich)

This doesn’t even look like Eureka (looks more like San Francisco before the big quake).

There is definitely a lot going on here… and if anyone can place the location, I’d love to hear it.

California Pioneer Home

Depiction of California Pioneer Home, c. 1867

 

So I thought I’d stick with the pioneer image theme  for one more post.

The standard trick of multiple clicks doesn’t seem to work on the source site, but you can always increase the magnification of your browser window to see more detail.

The  illustration  offers a great comparison to this “home”   .

SoHum Pioneers

Undated photo-likely Southern Humboldt

This provides a good reminder to put names, dates and locations on your photos.  Someone a hundred years from now will be dying to know who in the hell they’re looking at !  And (this is just a personal recommendation) print hard copies of your photos.  Digital stuff is temporary, whether it seems that way or not.   Give your descendants something tangible to stick in a shoe box somewhere…