Curly Gus From Third and Minna

Curly Gus From Third and Minna 

A S, O. M. Boy Who Has Made Good 

Gustave was the brother of my Grandmother's mother. A list of the family is on previous post

Gustave A. Melsing was born, the first male white child in Gold Hill, on the Comstock Lode, Nevada, the mining camp that made San Francisco the home of the Bonanza Kings and the most romantic and wonderful city in all the world. From rumors of the long, forgotten past, he came very near being born a few thousand feet under the ground in the Yellow Jacket Mine, where his mother had descended to collect a few specimens from a particular rich vein, for the collection of his father. At any rate the Hoist House was a fair enough maternity home for him to be born in. Rumors further state, that every man, woman and child, even the Piutes, celebrated this eventful occasion. All of the men and Piutes got polluted, not with "bootlegger arnica" but with the real, old, genuine hooch made out of "skunk cabbage." 

After the Civil War Gus, at the age of 3, brought his father, mother and three sisters, by Burro-Pullman, over the Divide into Grass Valley and then by easy stages back to 'Frisco where they originally came from. 

His father started and was the owner of "Humboldt Hall" on the corner of Dupont and Washington streets. This marvelous Emporium was a bakery, pool room, restaurant, first free-lunch, confectionery cafe, where the finest imported liqueurs (not liquors) would be served with the demitasse, except they called it coffee. 

Not satisfied with "North Beach", the "Mission", "Telegraph Hill" or "Russian Hill", Gus moved, with the rest of the Melsings, including two dogs, a cat, several canary birds and other necessary things like a baby brother, into the Land of Promise, "South of Market", around the year of 1877. At the corner of Minna and 3rd streets a little bakery was opened and from that time on the little shop was known as "Melsing's Bakery." 

Upon the sudden death of his father, Gus was called into action when only 17 years old and conducted the little place successfully, simply because it had to l)e done for want of funds to keep the family together until all of his sisters and his brother were married and provided for. Then and then only did he get married. Pie married Olive Blanche Bradshaw, daughter of one of the first wholesale grocers of San Francisco and the grand-daughter of Col. John W. McKenzie, the Mexican War veteran and the first Acting Chief of Police in San Francisco in 1847. 

South-of-Market-Journal to read the rest of the article

Gustave Melsing - 1826 - Prussia

Gustave Melsing - 1826 - Prussia

Gustave Melsing was a trained accountant, he also learned the confectioners trade in Germany.  They migrated in approx. 1858.

After Gustave Melsing and Elizabeth Schwerin Melsing arrived in America, they came directly to Gold Hill, Nevada where he worked as an accountant in the silver mines.   When the ore ran out and the silver mines closed down, they came with their five children to San Francisco, where he opened a confectionery shop at 3rd & Minna Sts.   It became famous for Melsing's rye bread.

Melsing children

Louisa (Lucy) Melsing

Married - Daniel Barnes Libby (1882)

Issue - Daniel, Jr & Adeline

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Mary Melsing

Married - Alfred Huddart

Issue - Emily, Lucy & Alfred

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Gustave Melsing

Married - Olive Bradshaw

Issue - Melba

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Antoinette Melsing

Unmarried

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Elizabeth Melsing

Married - James Gagen

Issue - Edward

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Dorothea Melsing (1872)

Married - George Bunker

Issue - Alpharetta (1892) (My Grandmother)

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Louis Melsing

Married and divorced

no Issue

3rd & Minna

Over the years, the land where the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts now stands has been home to a wide variety of businesses including: The Manhattan Bakery, Melsing's Bakery, a millinery store, a cabinet maker, a furniture dealer, multiple tailors, a dry goods merchant, the Doscher and Company Grocery, Howard Presbyterian Church, Mission Street Hotel, many laundries, the Ixora Dancing Hall, an undertaker, a candy shop, a tin shop, a coal yard, St. Patrick's School, Thomas Day and Co. Gas Fixtures, a pork shop, many restaurants, a stable, a wire and iron works factory, a drugstore, the Peerless Movie Theater, the West Hotel, a machine shop, a lithography shop, St. Patrick's Shelter Annex with reading room, St. Vincent du Paul Center for Servicemen, an engraving shop, and a number of pawn shops.

Secondary notes .....

Gustav Melsing was married on March 23, 1856 to Elizabeth Schwerin. 

In 1872 was employed as a baker [Columbia Bakery] at 1129 Dupont st., San Francisco [now Grant ave]

In 1878 he was living at 727 Broadway and in 1879 was living at 2126 Howard.

Gustav then listed himself as a confectioner dealing in fancy baked goods

Daughters Louisa and Maria were living with their parents at this time.

In 1880 the bakery was located at 120 3rd. st. and the family was living at 205 Minna.

The bakery was owned by August Schwerin was deeded to Gustav in late 1881. August and Elizabeth Schwerin [Gustav's wife] were brother and sister. 

In 1883 Gustav`s son Peter Henry was employed at the bakery. The son was commonly known as Harry.

In or about 1884 Gustav expired. His wife Elizabeth was running the bakery in 1885. Two other sons Gustav A [gus jr.] and Louis were also working at the bakery until 1896.

After that Gustav A was a brakeman on the cable cars. 1888 and 89 was a watchman and 1900 was a bookkeeper. son Louis was a collector for a law and collection agency. 

George Dow Bunker

GEORGE D. BUNKER is a young man of San Francisco. He is associated with the early history of Northwestern Alaska, and has been identified with mining interests of the Council District since 1897. He is the son of a pioneer business man of San Francisco, and was born in that city June 6, 1870. He attended the San Francisco public schools and subsequently Brewer's Academy, San Mateo. Mr. Bunker's grandfather was Cromwell Bunker, one of the first whalers to sail in Alaskan waters. The date of his whaling cruises was near seventy years ago. The family at that time resided in Nantucket. R. F. Bunker, father of the subject of this sketch, came to San Francisco in the early days of the Western metropolis, and engaged in the butcher business. In 1897 when Captain Libby was outfitting to go to Alaska George D. Bunker grub-staked Louis F. Melsing to accompany him. Captain Libby and Louis Melsing are both brothers-in-law of Mr. Bunker. The other members of this expedition were Harry L. Blake and A. P. Mordaunt. They were the original discoverers of gold in the Fish River country, and were prospecting in this region at the time the strike was made on Anvil Creek.

Mr. Bunker has been interested in mining in the Council District ever since the historical trip of his brothers-in-law. At one time he owned 106 mining claims in Seward Peninsula, but realizing the unwisdom of such extensive holdings in the new country, he concentrated his interests on Ophir Creek. During the past few years he has disposed of his interests in ten claims on this stream. He is now operating No. 3. above Discovery.

He was one of the first arrivals in the Nome country in the spring of 1899, being a passenger on the steamship Garonne. Mrs. Bunker accompanied him on this trip, and she was one of the first white women in Council City. Mr. Bunker has had a varied and interesting experience in the Northland. He has been with the country since the earliest days. In 1899 he set up and operated the first gasoline engine on Ophir Creek, which was probably the first engine of this character brought into the country.

Mr. Bunker was married December 18, 1890. Mrs. Bunker was formerly Miss Dora Melsing. The issue of this union is one girl, Alfarretta, twelve years old. Mr. Bunker is an energetic business man, genial companion, and a loyal friend.

Alfarretta was my grandmother

Council City - 1902

Captain D. B. Libby in Alaska

CAPTAIN D. B. LIBBY

Captain D. B. Libby first went to Alaska in 1866 and had charge of a part of the construction work of the Western Union Telegraph Company, which at that time was attempting to erect a telegraph line across Canada and Alaska to connect with a Siberian line by a cable across Bering Strait. Some of the old telegraph poles that were erected in 1866 and 1867 may still be seen in Seward Pen-insula. Captain Libby discovered gold on Ophir Creek in 1866, and always cherished a desire to go back to this country, but did not have an opportunity for its gratification until the dis-covery of gold in the Klondike country created greater interest than had hitherto been manifested in the Northland. He is a native of Maine, and was born February 3, 1844. He served as a soldier in the Union Army, and after the war went to Pike's Peak. While in Alaska in the employ of the Western Union Telegraph Company he had charge of a division of the line construction. He spent the winter in 1866 and 1867 in a camp on Grantley Harbor named Libbysville. After he returned from Alaska he was ticket agent for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, Fourth and Townsend Streets, San Francisco, for fifteen years. Failing health compelled him to resign this position, and he went to Mendocino County, California, where he fully recovered. His second journey to the Northland was made in 1897. He left San Francisco August 18, sailing on the steamer North Fork. He was accompanied by his brother-in-law, Louis Melsing, and by Harry L. Blake and A. P. Mordaunt. He spent two winters in the Fish River country. At the present time he is at the head of a prospecting expedition in the unknown and unexplored country of the Kuskokwim Valley.

Miss Louise Melsing, of San Francisco, and Captain Libby were married in 1882. They have two children, Daniel B., Jr., and Adeline E. The son is now a young man of eighteen years and an assayer. When he was fourteen years old he accompanied his father on a trip to Alaska.

Captain Libby is a prominent figure in the history of Northwestern Alaska. He has trodden many miles of the "toe-twisting tundra," and his work has been distinctively of the kind that falls to the lot of the pioneer explorer and prospector. The region he is now investigating is so far away from the direct and usual methods of communication that possibly a month or more would be required for him to send a message to the nearest postoffice or telegraph station. It is to men of this type that future generations will be indebted for a better knowledge of Alaska than we possess today. (Source: Nome & Seward Peninsula, History, Description, Biographies & Stories, by E. S. Harrison, Seattle, 1905; pages 202-203 - Submitted by Peggy Thompson)

Libby, Melsing, Kerner, Bunker, Parks Genealogy

Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915 Golden Gate Park

Family members identified from a family picture at the 1915 International Exposition at the Palace of Fine Arts - San Francisco

4th Row -- Gertrude Kerner / ? / ? / Al Shaden / Minerva Kerner / Louis Phillip Kerner / Harry Stephen Kerner

3rd Row -- Neil Uren / ? / Gertrude Uren / Aunt Grace Schaden / Louis Kerner / Aunt Nell Willianson / Harry Kerner / Dick Williamson

2nd Row -- Will Uren / Majorie Uren's mother / Great Grandfather Uren / Mrs Uren / Grandma Kerner / Grandpa Kerner

1st Row -- Boy / Janis Kerner / Marjorie Uren / ? / ? / Dorothea Williamson / Buster Kerner

San Francisco’s 1915 Pan American International Exposition to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal and to show the world it has recovered from the earthquake devastation.

The Uren family from Cornwall to Sacramento

Stephen UREN was born in Cornwall Sept 10 1837, the son of William and Bathsheba (SINCOCK/LINCOCK) UREN. His father was a blacksmith and son Stephen followed the trade. William died Aug 15 1883 and Bathsheba died Feb8 1884. Both were buried in Illogan church yard, England.

Traveling on the steamer 'Constitution' to Aspinwall, he crossed the Isthmus, sailing on the steamer 'Golden Gate' to San Francisco, arriving there on Oct 15 1858. He then went to Sacramento and worked as a blacksmith at Folsom. He went to Virginia City and then returned to Sacramento.

He married on Sep 9 1865 in Sacramento to Miss Mary WELCH. She was born in Ireland Aug 12 1844 and had come to CA in May 1863. She died Mar 14 1917.
Children:

William Stephen b Jun 18 1866 Sacramento

Edward b Mar 31 1868

Mary (Minnie) Gertrude b Mar 22 1871; d 04/19/1945 Sacramento

Stephen J. b Aug 2 1873; died 05/03/1952 San Francisco

Walter b Dec 6 1876

Grace Ella b Nov 24 1879; died 04/20/1945 Sacramento

Nellie Maude b Mar 6 1882

William S. married Miss Anna McDONALD, native of Toronto Canada
children:

Gertrude M. E. b Mar 30 1902 Sacramento

Marjorie b Oct 26 1909 San Francisco

Edward married in 1892 Miss Lulu CROMPTON
children:

Nell b Aug 9 1893 Portland OR (reared in home of grandfather)

Ruth b Mar 20 1895 San Francisco

Mary Gertrude married Oct 25 1891 L. P. KERNER (b Apr 20 1865 San Francisco)
children:

Harry S. b Sep 24 1892 San Francisco; died 5/26/1947 Solano County

LouisPhilip b Mar 3 1896 San Francisco; died 04/03/1945 San Diego

Gertrude Helen b Mar 28 1899 San Francisco

married William SWEIGERT

child: William SWEIGERT

Frances X. b Apr 6 1907 San Francisco

Stephen Joseph married Miss Annie Theresa BURKE (b Jul 29 1878 Sacramento)
children:

Raymond Steven b Nov 9 1900 Sacramento

Cleta Mary b Feb 2 1902 Sacramento

William Donald b Mar 6 1912 Sacramento

Genealogy

Born in California

This is probably a correction of the last post from someone that has studied the family a lot longer than I have. I don't know how well my mother knew her father or if he shared much of his life with her. I only remember Alpharetta's second husband so little talk of the Bunkers.

"But the census records say George was born in California and his father, Robert Fosdick Bunker, was in San Francisco by the 1860 census. Grandfather Cromwell was whaling out there in 1840 and thereafter so that is most likely why the family ended up in San Francisco. We will never know for sure unless we can find more records."

Great Register of San Francisco 1867
Bunker, Robert Fosdick Age 29 From Massachusetts is living at Jackson, n. Leavenworth June 11, 1866

George Bunker of the Bunkers

When your line of the family leans toward the 'black sheep' side it's easy to loose contact with the rest of the lineage. So it seems this happened with our side and George. George married Dorothea Melsing in 1872 and they had (issue) Alpharetta (my grandmother) in 1892 in San Francisco.

Note from my mother Nancy, daughter of Alpharetta

The family tree is interesting but we heard a different tale about the Bunker Family. As far I knew the family always lived on the east coast, well to do and George Bunker didn't adhere to the family traditions. So he was sent out to Menlo Park to a military school and continued to live in San Francisco.

Even though the Bunker Family Association knew about our side of the family their info was partially incomplete. Found them with Internet search on genealogy sites followed by an email. So I guess we will be sent a pedigree back to Roger Bunker, from about 1500 and a CD with much of the family history. Will be interesting to see how the other half has lived. Now how about all these other family names .....

Party on Third Street

The San Francisco Morning Call - October 31, 1890

Party on Third Street.

A very pleasant party was held at the Melsing residence on Third street on Wednesday last.

The evening was passed in the enjoyment of choice music. Professor MeKenzie rendered "Was It a Dream," and. for an encore, "I Was Dreaming." Miss. Elsie A. Duncan favored the company with the ballad, "The Song Which Reached My Heart," which she rendered with peculiar tenderness.

Then followed a duet by Mr. R. S. Duncan and Mrs. Jennie B. Alderton. The latter was in fine voice, and her friends were glad to welcome her back to the musical gatherings where she has been much missed of late. 'Take Back the Heart", by Mrs. Tyrell, "Love's Old Sweet Song", by Mrs. J. B. Alderton, a tenor solo by Mr. Gus Melsing, a trio in which Mrs. Jennie Alderton, Mr. Gus Melsing and Mr. Robert Duncan participated, selections on the piano from "II Trovatore", "Mikado" and. "La Travista" by Mr. Davidson, "The Galiants of England", "Loves Sorrow", "Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep", "The Two Grenadiers", which Mr. Duncan rendered in his usual successful style, ended the musical entertainment, which was followed by dancing and refreshments. The ladies present all wore evening

dress.

Among the guests were: Mrs. Melsing, Mrs. Keppler, Miss Jessie C. Duncan, Miss Nettie Melsing, Miss Elsie Duncan, Miss Lizzie Melsing, Miss Alma Rivers, Miss Dora Melsing, Miss Emily Reid of San Leandro, Messrs. R. S. Duncan, G. Melsing, J. W. Geogan (Gagen), George Bunker, L. Melsing, Mr. Detlefsen, E. Sachs, L. Keppler, Professor McKenzie, F. Quiltey, H. C. Abel, George Richt, F. Curtis.

Chronicling America

Hero of Hundred Hold-Ups - Charlie Parks

Below is an article from the Salt Lake Herald. Our family had the original which I scanned (below) but was unable to read parts of it. I emailed the Herald and they had a micro-phish copy that they sent. Charlie Parks is my Great/Great grandfather Love the flowery descriptions of the time !!

Hero of Hundred Hold-Ups is Dead In San Francisco

Charlie Parks, Intrepid Pony Express of Pioneer days, Succumbs Remembered in Salt Lake.

Special to the Herald. (March 28, 1907)

San Francisco, March 27 -- One of the picturesque characters of the pioneer days of the west passed away today when Charles E. Parks died at his home, No. 1198 O'Farrell street in this city. In the early '60's Parks was a pony express rider in Utah, Nevada and California. For a time he rode into and out of Salt Lake City. Afterwards he became a member of Wells Fargo's corp of armed messengers. As such he engaged in numerous battles with road agents and was often grievously wounded. It is said that he bore more bullet scars on his body than any other man in California. He had made San Francisco his home for half a century and was engaged in the insurance and brokerage business. He was about 70 years of age. He was survived by a widow and four daughters, Mrs. R.S. Martin, Mrs. H.C. Rickard, Charlotte Parks and Mary Parks and one son, Walter S. Parks. He had amassed a comfortable fortune during his lifetime.

"Charlie" Parks was one of the 80 pony express riders who served Salt Lake City during the early 60's. Many of the old-time residents of this city recall the name well but as Parks was on the Salt Lake division only for a short time, he is not so well remembered as some of the other lightening mail carrying heroes of those days. Captain Thomas Dobson of Centerville says he recalls the fact that Parks was regarded as one of the most capable and faithful men of the western division.. Parks work was chiefly performed in Nevada and California, where he became famous for his daring courage and loyalty.

A Famous Mail Service

The death of Parks brings to mind the stirring times when the pony express was the swiftest of all things in these regions. The first of the riders to reach Salt Lake City arrived here on April 7, 1860: he carried mail four days old from Sacramento. The first mail from the east by pony express come on April 9: the service was inaugurated on April 3 simultaneously at Sacramento an St. Joseph. Between St. Joseph and Sacramento eighty riders were constantly on the road, forty going in one direction and forty in the other. The 1,900 miles were covered in eight days, or at the rate of 250 miles per day. The stage coaches covered the distance in from fifteen to sixteen days, making between 100 and 125 miles per day. The pony express service had 400 of the swiftest horses obtainable continuously at work.

Tribute to the Riders

Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) pays a deserved tribute to the pony express riders in his delightful work on western life and the scenes in the days of the pioneers. "Roughing It." He writes: "Think of that for perishable horse and human flesh to do. The pony rider was usually a little bit of a man brim full of spirit and endurance. No matter what time of day his watch came and not matter whether winter or summer, raining, snowing, hailing or sleeting, or whether his 'beat' was a level, straight road or a crazy trail over mountain crags and precise or whether it lead through peaceful regions or regions that swarmed with hostile Indians, he must be always ready to leap into the saddle and be off like the wind. There was no idling for a pony express rider on duty. He rode fifty miles without stopping, by daylight, moonlight, starlight, or through the blackness of darkness -- just as it happened. He rode a splendid horse that was born for a racer and fed and lodged like a gentleman: kept him at his utmost speed for ten miles, and then, as he came crashing up a station where stood two men holding fast a fresh, impatient steed, the transfer of the rider and the mail bag was made in the twinkling of an eye and away flew the eager pair were out of sight before the spectator could hardly get a ghost of a look.

No Unnecessary Weight

"Both the rider and the horse went 'flying light'. The riders dress was thin and fitted close: he wore a 'roundabout' and a skull cap and tucked his pantaloons into his boots like a race rider. He carried no arms -- he carried nothing that was not absolutely necessary, for even the postage on his literary freight was worth $5 a letter. He got but little frivolous correspondence to carry -- hi bag had mostly business letters in it. His horse was stripped of unnecessary weight too. He wore a little wafer of a racing saddle and no visible blanket. He wore light shoes or none at all. The little flat mail pockets strapped under the riders thighs would each hold about the bulk of a child's primer. There they held many and many an important business chapter and newspaper letter, but these were written on paper as airy and thin as gold leaf nearly and thus bulk and weight were economized.

Past Like the Wind

In another part of his description Mr. Clemens tells of the anxiety with which a stage coach full of people awaited the coming of the pony express rider. At the cry of "Here he comes" the writer says, every neck is stretched further and every eye strained wider. Away across the the endless dead level of the prairie a black speck appears against the sky and it is plain that it moves. Well I should think so, in a second or two it becomes a horse and a rider, rising and falling, rising and falling -- sweeping towards us nearer and nearer -- growing more and more distinct -- more and more sharply defined -- nearer and still nearer, and the flutter of hoofs comes faintly to the ear -- another instance and a whoop and hurrah from our upper deck, a wave of the riders hand but no reply, and man and horse burst past our excited faces and go winging away in a belated fragment of a storm.

"So sudden is it all, and so like a flash of unreal fancy but for the flake of white foam left quivering and perishing on a mail sack after the vision had flashed by and disappeared, we might have doubted that we had seen any actual horse and man at all, maybe."

First News for Salt Lake

The first pony express rider from the east brought to Salt Lake City news of alarming and momentous import. He carried the announcement of the intended introduction in the federal senate of a bill removing the seat of government from this city and establishing it at Carson Valley; furthermore changing the name of the "Territory of Utah" to that of the "Territory of Nevada".

The pony express riders carried the rumor's of war and the internecine strife that followed. Their coming, it can be easily imagined, was eagerly awaited each day.

A Shotgun Messenger

Parks, after the abandonment of the pony express entered the employ of Wells-Fargo Express company in the capacity of a "shotgun messenger". It was the duty of these messengers to guard the treasures that were contained in the iron boxes in the boot of the coach, his seat beside the driver and his "sawed-off" weapon ever ready for use. In his encounters with road agents who abounded in the early days of placer mining in California, Parks won undying fame as a defender of the trust over which he watched. It is said that he carried to his grave more than a score of bullet wounds in token of the fact that he had done his duty well.

Sparks Genealogy