A CAGenWeb Project 

Sonoma County Genealogy

Jenner

(Jenner-by-the-Sea)

  • Genealogy
  • About The Town
  • People & Other Entities
  • Maps
  • Photos
  • Citations
Table of Contents

Jenner, also known as Jenner-by-the-Sea, is a small coastal town and census-designated place (CDP) in Sonoma County, California, U.S. with a population of about 122 per the 2020 census. It is located on the Pacific coast near the mouth of the Russian River. State Route 1 runs through the town and State Route 116 runs nearby, along the Russian River. Immediately south of Jenner is Goat Rock Beach, a unit within the Sonoma Coast State Beach. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP covers an area of 2.4 square miles (6.2 km2), 2.1 square miles (5.5 km2) of it land, and 0.3 square miles (0.7 km2) of it (12.00%) water. [1]



Genealogy


Roadside Thoughts: Jenner California . . . Link


Sonoma County Genealogical Society . . . Link



About The Town


Historically, Jenner was part of the Rancho Muniz. The town’s namesake, Dr. Elijah K. Jenner, was a dentist and inventor from Vermont. When his son Charles K. was born in 1846, the family was living in Wisconsin. Elijah came west in 1850 and sought his fortune in the California goldfields. Working as a miner, he designed a pump that could raise water one hundred feet (30 m) high. His patent application included a model pump made of pure gold, which is the only golden model that the Patent Office has ever received. Jenner’s family joined him in 1852. Traveling by ship from the Great Lakes to Panama, it crossed the Isthmus and sailed up the Pacific Coast. By 1854, the Jenners had settled near the mouth of the Russian River and built a house in what became known as Jenner Gulch, the site of the town. Charles K. Jenner would go on to be a prominent attorney in early Seattle, arguing several cases in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.  [1]


Stillwater Cove Regional Park, located 16 miles (26 km) north of Jenner, features picnic facilities, beach access, and a historic one-room schoolhouse. Jenner received media attention in 2004 after the bodies of Lindsay Cutshall and Jason S. Allen were discovered on Fish Head Beach just north of town. The incident became known as the Jenner, California double-murder of 2004.  [1]


Jenner
In 1867, John Rule bought 4,000 acres of the Nuniz Rancho, at the mouth of the Russian River. Charles Jenner, a literary man, came to the area a year later. Rule invited Jenner to build a house of his land, while Jenner was looking for material for his writing. The gulch where he built his home, was called Jenner Gulch and the town that grew there was named for him. . . . [Archived Website. Link]



American Towns . . . Link


Construction of the jetty at the mouth of the Russian River at Jenner, November 12, 1932 . . . Pic & Info


Explore Jenner . . . Link


"How Jenner got its name" [Press Democrat] . . . Article


Jenner Family History . . . Link


Jenner Today [Niche] (has a map of location) . . . Link (The site is currently looking for info)


Jenner Wikipedia Page . . . Link


Jenner Historical Society . . . Link


Sonoma Coast Visitor Center in Jenner (JVC) . . . Link

The Sonoma Coast Visitor Center in Jenner (JVC) is situated on the Russian River estuary in the heart of Jenner. Previously called the Jenner Boathouse, it was operated by the Jenner Community Club for many years. In 1996, the community asked Stewards to take over the staffing of the JVC.


Sonoma County Life Opens Up: Jenner . . . Link . . . 48 Hours in Jenner


Visit California: Jenner . . . Link . . . Salt Point State Park


Visit Jenner By The Sea . . . Link


Visit Sonoma Coast: Jenner-By-The-Sea. . . Link . . . Jenner Headlands park . . . Link


WikiMedia Commons: History of Jenner, California . . . Link


WikiVoyage: Jenner . . . Link



Check Sonoma Historian (SCHS) for articles about the towns. . . .  Link



People & Other Entities


Dr. Elijah K. Jenner . . . Link

The town’s namesake, Dr. Elijah K. Jenner, was a dentist and inventor from Vermont. When his son Charles K. was born in 1846, the family was living in Wisconsin. Elijah came west in 1850 and sought his fortune in the California goldfields. Working as a miner, he designed a pump that could raise water one hundred feet (30 m) high. His patent application included a model pump made of pure gold, which is the only golden model that the Patent Office has ever received. Jenner’s family joined him in 1852.


Elinor Twohy . . . Article [p. 22]


Fisk Mill Cove . . . Link


Fort Ross Vineyards . . . Link . . . History


Frederick Helmke . . . Link . . Fisk disposed of his interest in the mill in 1865 to Frederick Helmke who continued to operate a successful business.


Goat Rock beach . . . Link


James Kruse . . . Link

Between 1868-1874, 437 schooners called at Salt Point to pick up the lumber and other products. Even after James Kruse took over Helmke’s lands after he closed down the mill in 1874, the cove still remained operational well into the 20th century.


Jenner Beach . . . Link


Jenner Headlands park . . . Link . . . Link . . . Link 

Jenner Headlands is a spectacular 5,630-acre mosaic of redwood and Douglas fir forests, oak woodland, chaparral, and coastal prairie overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The property adjoins Pacific Coast Highway for two and one-half miles adjacent to Sonoma Coast State Park just north of the Russian River Estuary. Many rare and endangered species inhabit the property including the northern spotted owl, peregrine falcon, and red tree vole. Deer, bobcat, coyote, mountain lion and steelhead trout are also found on the property.


Jenner Inn . . . Link

The mill closed around 1914, but the Jenner Gulch outpost began developing into a village that grew to 50 buildings, including a schoolhouse. There are still Sonoma County residents who once attended the one room schoolhouse. In 1948, a fire destroyed the original hotel along with its pool hall and post office. Swedish ship builders rebuilt the main building and gave us the iconic Jenner by the Sea building we have today. Originally, this building served as a hotel office, post office, tavern, store, and even a fish house. Guest can still see mailboxes in the hotel office lobby. Hotel rooms were comprised of adjacent dwellings formerly used to house mill workers. The Inn continues to be a popular resting spot for fisherman and abalone divers returning from the rocky coves north of Jenner.


John C. Fisk (Fisk Brothers mill) . . . Link

Just after the Duncans wrapped up their economic activity at one end of Salt Point, John C. Fisk established his milling operation, which included chute, at the other end of the park in 1860. The Fisk Brothers mill was powered by a steam engine and had a capacity to handle twenty thousand feet of lumber per day. It is estimated in its 14 years of operations forty two million feet of lumber was cut at Frisk Mill which quickly grew into a small village with a store and a four room hotel.



Joshua Hendy . . . Link . . . In 1853, Samuel Duncan and Joshua Hendy built a steam sawmill on a ridge located above Salt Point. . . 


Lucille Armstroff Cuthill (1896-1978) . . . Link [p. 3] . . . Rites Held


Poff Ranch (formally owned by Winfield Wright, then Charlie Poff Family) . . . Mention


Salt Point State Park . . . Link . . . About . . . History


Samuel Duncan . . . Link

In 1853, Samuel Duncan and Joshua Hendy built a steam sawmill on a ridge located above Salt Point, establishing the first lumbering operation in Sonoma county, north of Russian river. The boilers powered a sixteen - horsepower engine allowing the mill to process twelve thousand feet of lumber per day.


Stump Beach, Jenner . . . Link . . . Link


Virginia Hechtmacn . . . Article of Passing [pp 22-23]



Maps


Map of Jenner, with boundaries [BingMaps] . . . Link


Map of Jenner [MapQuest] . . . Link



Photos


Alamy.Com: Jenner Stock Photo Collection . . . Link


Mouth of the Russian River, Jenner, California, 1904 . . . Pic





Citations:


[1]   Wikipedia contributors. "Jenner, California." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 27 Jul. 2022. Web. Viewed on 16 Oct. 2022.. . . . Link


[2]   "Historical and Descriptive Sketch Book of Napa, Sonoma, Lake, and Mendocino: Comprising Sketches of Their Topography, Productions, History, Scenery, and Peculiar Attractions", C.A. Menefee, 1873 . . . Link


[3]  "Historical and Descriptive Sketch of Sonoma County, California" Robert Allan Thompson. L.H. Everts, 1877 - Sonoma County (Calif.) - 104 pages. [Bodega pp 100-101]  . . . Link


[4] "History of Sonoma County: Including Its Geology, Topography, Mountains, Valleys and Streams ...." United States, Higginson Book Company, 1880. (page ???.) . . . Link . . . Text at CAGenWeb


[5]  "An Illustrated History of Sonoma County, California: Containing a History of the County of Sonoma from the Earliest Period of Its Occupancy to the Present Time", Lewis Publishing, 1889  . . . Link