http://www.ancestry.com/rd/prodredir.asp?sourceid=831&ke...

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Along Those Lines: "Welcome to San Francisco!"
by George G. Morgan
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I read a book many years ago titled "The Fire and the Gold," by
Phyllis A. Whitney. It tells the story of a child living through the
disastrous San Francisco Earthquake of 18 April 1906 and her search
for a golden statue of the goddess Kwan Yin. The images evoked in the
book captured my imagination, and I have since collected a number of
photographs, postcards, and stereographs that depict the ruins of the
city.

Ancestry.com continues adding images of ship's passenger arrival
records to its Immigration Collection, and the San Francisco,
California, passenger lists are among the newest additions.
(http://www.ancestry.com/rd/prodredir.asp?sourceid=4717&k... )
With the introduction of these images, my imagination was piqued. I
wanted to see how many ships arrived before and after the earthquake,
and I wanted to know more about the fate of some of those new
arrivals. And so, in "Along Those Lines..." this week, let's look at
two ships and two people.

JOSEPH ROSENBERG
http://content.ancestry.com/iexec/?sourceId=2524&htx=Vie...
On 5 April 1906, the "U.S.A.T. Sheridan" arrived in the San Francisco
harbor from Nagasaki, Japan, and the boarding inspector came aboard
"in stream" (before docking) at 6:40 PM. His notes on the passenger
list indicate that he "examined stowaways, released citizens of
U.S.A., served detention notice on Q. Master 'Frank J. Morrow' to
hold one alien stowaway named Joseph Rosenberg. finished at 7:20 PM."

Joseph Rosenberg, a single male, aged 28, is listed as a house
painter. His nationality was listed as Polish and he is designated as
Jewish in the Race or People column. His last residence was
identified as Warsaw, Poland. The passenger list further indicates
that he had previously been in the United States, in New York, in
1901. He had apparently stowed away on the Sheridan in Nagasaki
before its departure in March, and arrived in San Francisco in good
health and with $35.00 in his possession.

I became very curious to know what happened to Joseph. Had he been
present when the earthquake occurred and, if so, did he survive? I
visited the Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco and
specifically the "Who Perished" page
(http://www.sfmuseum.net/perished/ ). This page is a roster of names
compiled from the San Francisco newspapers of persons who died as a
direct result of injuries received either at the time of the
earthquake and fire, or during the latter half of April 1906. I do
not believe this list is complete, but Joseph Rosenberg is not among
the list of those who died.

I checked several U.S. federal censuses at Ancestry.com using several
spellings and the information from the passenger list, but without
having more information on Joseph, it would be very difficult to
distinguish him from the many Joseph Rosenbergs found in the U.S.

What happened to Joseph? He was just one of many stowaways arriving
in San Francisco that April. In fact, the majority of ships arriving
that month carried one or more stowaways and an occasional seaman who
had deserted. In his article, "Proving Family Lore on the High Seas,"
John Philip Colletta wrote that "stowaways who were discovered and
who passed the legal and medical examinations were still admitted
into the country." By 1911 stowaways had become such a problem that a
congressional inquiry was held. It was not until 1917 that more
stringent actions were taken to include stowaways as excludable
aliens. While some were refused entry and deported, still others were
admitted as refugees. (The article is available in the Ancestry.com
Library at:
http://www.ancestry.com/rd/prodredir.asp?sourceid=831&ke... ).

Joseph's story leaves a lot of questions unanswered. The passenger
list states that he had been in New York in 1901. His last residence
is listed as Warsaw, Poland, and yet he was a stowaway on a ship that
sailed from Japan. Perhaps he traveled through Russia to Asia via the
newly constructed Trans-Siberian Railway. His complete story remains
a mystery, but what an interesting story it must be.

DR. JOHN C. DURSTON
On 3 April 1906, the City of Paraguay departed the port of Ancon,
Peru, for San Francisco, arriving 27 April 1906. On board were five
passengers, including Dr. John C. Durston, a thirty-six-year-old
married English surgeon. The passenger list states that he is "In
transit to Panama via New York." His last residence is listed as the
"H.M.S. Flora." Sure enough, I found him in the 1901 census in
Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, listed as a member of the crew of the
Warspite.

Imagine the sight that met Dr. Durston and his fellow passengers as
the entered San Francisco Bay. They must have expected to see a
bustling, vital city but instead they found devastation. The quake
had tumbled buildings, but the greatest destruction came from the
fires ignited by the quake, particularly fueled by natural gas
pipelines. The fires raced through the city for three days before
they burned themselves out. The earthquake and fire killed more than
3,000 people. Approximately 25,000 buildings and 490 city blocks were
destroyed, and approximately 250,000 people were made homeless.

IMAGES AND HISTORY HELP PLACE PEOPLE IN CONTEXT
It's interesting to select an individual and to try to place him or
her into geographical, historical, and social context. I always find
that it helps bring them back to life for me.

I don't know what happened to Joseph Rosenberg and it hasn't been
possible to locate Dr. Dunston in the U.S. or the U.K. after 1906. He
does not appear in the U.S. federal censuses of 1910, 1920, or 1930,
and the British government does not permit access to census images
for 100 years. In 2011, the National Archives in the U.K. will make
those images available and I've made a note to again try to look for
him. Perhaps this will have a snapshot of two real-life people who
knew San Francisco within a few days either side of the earthquake in
1906.

Happy Hunting!
George
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George's new book, "How to Do Everything with Your Genealogy," has
been published by McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media and is the talk of the
genealogy community. Order yours today at Ancestry.com and at other
booksellers worldwide.
(http://www.ancestry.com/rd/prodredir.asp?sourceid=831&ke... )

George is president and a proud member of the International Society
of Family History Writers and Editors. Visit the ISFHWE website at
http://www.rootsweb.com/~cgc/ . Visit George's website at
http://ahaseminars.com/atl for information about speaking
engagements.

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