Volume 78 - October, 2006
QUARTERLY POTLUCK GENERAL MEETING - 10/24/06, 6:00 pm
7997 California Avenue
Please remember to bring a casserole, salad, or dessert to share with others.
Editors: Susan Burmaster & Marilyn Pearce
Publisher: Jim Pearce
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Volume 78 - October, 2006
QUARTERLY POTLUCK GENERAL MEETING - 10/24/06, 6:00 pm 7997 California Avenue Please remember to bring a casserole, salad, or dessert to share with others. Editors: Susan Burmaster & Marilyn Pearce Publisher: Jim Pearce |
President's Message: 
Things are going along just fine. I apologize for not being at the October meeting. Janet and I will be vacationing in Oregon. You will be voting on the proposed changes to the Bylaws at this meeting. The changes are included in this newsletter. Please look at them carefully as the committee feels they would help the Society run more efficiently.
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As President I have been looking at some ideas for raising funds. Looking ahead to our future
needs associated with moving the History Center, we will need to increase
the size of our treasury. Two of my ideas are to participate in the Spring FORPD
Community Garage Sale and, secondly, to possibily sponsoring a SOUP dinner which could
be held at the Community Clubhouse. I am very open to your ideas and plan a discussion
on fundraising at the January meeting.
Have a great fall season! Warren
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Ray Burmaster, chair, is standing with the logo submissions.
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Janet McWilliams holding Historical Society t-shirt used
at the first F.O. Chricken Festival.
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Miriam Ober won our logo contest with her entry above. She will receive a $50
gift certificate for a Slocum House Brunch. Miriam wrote of her design, "The shape
and design elements should put one in mind of an antique picture frame or a
commerative plate. The banner element dispays the Historical Society Mission while
providing a "resting place" for the Oak Tree, symbolic of Fair Oaks. The banner could
also be seen as the "container" in which the commerative plate rests."
Vice-President's Message:
Program: October 2006
George Alpert, a docent from the Sacramento Railroad Museum will be our guest
to share the rich history of the railroad. Mr. Alpert will discuss the
importance that Sacramento played in the race to complete the transcontinental
railroad across the United States. Other subjects he will share include
the role the railroad played in settling California and stabilizing it as a prosperous
agricultural state plus what you will see on a visit to one of Sacramento’s major history museums.
A Recap of July’s 2006’s Program:
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Retired Captain Bill Brown for bringing
in many Fair Oaks Fire Department historical items, some of his personal collection,
and sharing his rich history and knowledge of the department.
Tony Sestito went above the call of duty for driving over old Fair Oaks engine #11 from
for our membership to view. It was so nice to see a symbol
of Fair Oaks’ pride and rich history.
To the left, note Bill's series of badges over the years displayed on the
poker table Bill's dad built for firehouse recreation.
If you have an idea or suggestion for a future program topic please let me know. I
want to bring historical topics of interest to all of you. You can call me
at (916) 944-4812 or e-mail me at sherrywood1949@yahoo.com.
Sales of Images of America FAIR OAKS
The society has sold many copies of the 2006 Fair Oaks pictorial book. Copies
will be available at the July meeting for $20.00.
Sacramento’s Railroad History and Museum
A special thank you goes to Retired Captain Mike Williamson for bringing
in a box of old pictures that depicted how it was to be a member
of a small town fire department and sharing some of his experiences as a fire fighter.
Both Bill and Mike come from fire fighter families. Bill’s father, William Brown Sr.,
served in the FOFD as did Mike Williamson's father, David. I am sure their fathers
were proud to have their sons follow in their footsteps.
I would also like to thank Captain Randy Wooton from the Sacramento Metropolitan FD
for providing the FOHS with pictures and written history. These pictures were
shared at July’s meeting and will be added to the Society's collection.
Docent's Report:
On September 10, "Book Day" was held at the History Center
featuring Blanche Rosevear's personal scrapbook of the
Fair Oaks Fire Protection District from 1934 to 1994.
Visitors also viewed a complete collection of yearbooks
from San Juan High School, the newly closed John Holst School
and the Fair Oaks Centennial yearbook of 1995.
PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDAR and save December 10th.for our annual Christmas
Open House at the History Center. It will be from 1-4 p.m. Hot cider and punch
will be served. Please bring some cookies to share.
The following people have been docents this year:
Diana Lennon, Lois Frazier, Meg & Larry Smart, Gordon & JoAn Heidt,
June Melvin, Warren & Janet McWilliams, RoseAnne Lamb,
Fran Sargent, Sherry Wood and Ione Radonich. Diana Lennon and
Bob Barrett will be docents in November. Thank You -
If you would like to be a docent please call Lois Frazier 967-2967.
September 19, 2006
To: Warren McWilliams
The following are the nominations of the officers for the Fair Oaks Historical Society for 2007:
President: Warren McWilliams
Respectfully submitted by the FOHS nominating committee.
New Lifetime Members:
We welcome William and Kathryn Miller who were voted into membership at the April meeting.
Nominating Committee:
President, Fair Oaks Historical Society
From: The Fair Oaks Historical Society Nominating
Committee;
Lois Frazier, Bob Brugger, Pete White
Vice President: Sherry Woods
Treasurer: RoseAnne Lamb
Secretary Janet McWilliams
Attached to this newsletter are the proposed revisions to the Society's Bylaws. There is also a one sheet SUMMARY of the changes. The changes are identified with a vertical line to the right of the paragraphs. Additions are underlined and deletions are shown as strike-throughs. The proposed revisions will be presented, discussed and voted on at the upcoming meeting.
From the Webmaster:
From time to time, we get some mail in the FOHS e-mail box. I'll share two notes with
you.
"Dear Fair Oaks Historical Society and Chamber of Commerce:
I have just been informed by the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places and
the California State Historic Preservation Office that the Old Fair Oaks Bridge has been
listed on the National Register of Historic Places as of September 25, 2006. I thought
that those with a stake in the community and its rich history should be made aware of this
wonderful news.
Best, Paul J. P. Sandul"
"Hello there,
My name is Betsy Mitchell Shepherd and I was born and raised in the Fair
Oaks area, as was my family back to 1860. I am doing some genealogical
family research and I believe that one of my ancestors was Florin
Kohlbaker. He was listed in the 1860 census in the Center Township with
"hotelkeeper" entered as his occupation. I am curious to know if there was
a hotel in the area that might have been owned or run by him. He lived
north of Greenback Lane between Sunrise and what is now Fair Oaks Blvd. He
had come from Germany, and could have been a hotelkeeper there and just
listed it as his occupation here. I am not sure. If you have any
information on hotelkeepers in the area in 1860, I would appreciate it.
Thanks again - Betsy Shepherd"
I did some research on the Kohlbaker family and had several subsequent e-mail
exchanges with Betsy. In several publications we find Florin Kohlbaker listed as a large
landowner in the area of Antelope and Ben Ali area. We know that there were hotels on
the Old Auburn Road near where Florin Kohlbaker lived, but we haven't been able to pin
him down as a hotel owner or hotelkeeper. If any of the FOHS members have historical
information on this subject, please let me know. Thanks, Jim
2005
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In Memory of Fred Easterday |
B.A. McArthur, M. Smart, V. Snyder) In Memory of Iva Langness |
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In Memory of Maxine Evans
The Frazier Family. JoAn and Gordon Heidt
Bridge Club, (J. Applegate, M. Hecht, |
Bridge Club, (J. Applegate. M. Hecht,
Lois Frazier, Betty Lazier
RoseAnne Lamb, Larry and Meg Smart, Lois Frazier |
July 17,2006
Susan Burmaster and Marilyn Pearce
Dear Editors:
I just received our July Newsletter and must respond by pointing out
a significant error on Page 7, "Old Homes of Fair Oaks." In that
article you list the date of construction of the house at 2956 Villa
Court as 1934. The true date of construction was nearly a decade
earlier.
My grandparents, Clarence and Kathleen Wilson, built the house
starting in 1924 and completing it in 1925. The target date of 1925
was very important because the house was being built in order to
have a suitable venue for my mother's wedding. My mother, Lorane
Wilson, married my father, William L. "Bob" Dupen, in the 2956 Villa
Court home in 1925.
While the "big house" was being built, my grandparents and my
mother resided in an earlier small house toward the rear of the
property. The last time I looked, part of that building was still
standing. My grand uncle - my grandmother's brother - William
Caulfeild lived with the family but in a small studio cottage just next
door. The family privy lay between the two structures. The last time I
looked, the cottage - and the privy -- had been torn down.)
During the first ten years of my life I spent alternate weekends with
my grandparents on Villa Court. My brother and I would explore the
dirt road past the Women's Clubhouse to downtown, the dirt road -
now Pennsylvania Avenue - down to the town dump and the hovel
of Pegleg Pete, and the dirt road to the bluff. My grandparents'
house, and the Popovich house across the street (now gone), were the
last two houses on Villa Court. It was fully wild east to the bluff.
My grandmother became ill in 1940 and my grandparents sold their
house to the Quackenbushes (yes) and moved to Sacramento to live
with my Mom and Dad and my brother and me.
The "mother-in-law's quarters/' an annex to my grandparents house,
was added to the building, long after my grandparents departed, by
a later owner unknown to me.
I hope you don't mind my correction to your story. I am sort of a nut
on this kind of stuff, (n fact, if you'll look back to one of the Fair
Oaks Newsletters of late 1997 or early 1998, you will find a complete
exposition of my family's history with Fair Oaks, dating back to the
19th century.
If you'd like to highlight a really old home of Fair Oaks in a later
issue, you might look at the house my grandmother's parents,
Charles and Eliza Caulfeild, built in the mid-1890's on the east side
of Minnesota Avenue just north of Campoy Street. That house later
became the home of the Berg family and then the home of our Leigh
Landis' daughter Carol Baker
Good luck to the society, the Newsletter, and you.
Sincerely yours,
Douglas Dupen
FOHS NEWSLETTER EDITORS
8150 Toyon Avenue
Fair Oaks, CA 95628
28 Peter Coutts Circle
Stanford, CA 94305
2006
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L to R - Carol Landes, Jane Landes,
Leigh Landes, Clara Bartlett Landes,
Eva Runyon, Claude Runyon
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Leigh Landes, Carol's mother in 1957+
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Previous Owners: Charles and Eliza Caulfield Bergh Family
Leigh Landes: 1957
Present Owner: Carol Baker
This adorable house was built in three stages. Originally, the front portion was built. The kitchen at that time was a separate building behind the house. It was probably built separately for safety reasons. The dining room was added on later and the existing kitchen was a miner’s shack that was brought up from the river and attached. The old kitchen is no longer there. Bob Massey and Elmer Bergh rebuilt the fireplace and relocated it on the opposite side of the living room. Other remodeling went on from time to time but the house remains very much as it was years ago.
This 2 story house has 4 bedrooms and 2 baths, and a formal dinning room. It sits on 4 acres consisting of yard, pasture, and garden. Carol’s pasture pet, Mr.P., a retired endurance running horse, is both handsome and friendly. Carol’s sister loved horses and there was always a horse in the pasture. When Carol and her son moved into the house after her parents died, she adopted Mr. P. so there would be a resident horse.
Carol’s father worked for Blake Moore Equipment Company and was branch manager in Sacramento. Carol is an employee of the San Juan Unified School District. She is an active quilter and enjoys gardening. It was delightful visiting this home. Thanks Carol for letting us in and sharing your warm, lovely home.