The Town
of Petaluma
- Genealogy
- History of Petaluma
- The Town Today
- Places of Interest
- People of Interest
Table of
Contents
Petaluma (Miwok: Péta Lúuma) is a city in Sonoma County, California, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its population was 59,776 according to the 2020 Census. Petaluma's name comes from the Miwok village named Péta Lúuma, that was located on the banks of the Petaluma River. The modern city originates in Rancho Petaluma, granted in 1834 to famed Californio statesman Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, considered to be the founder of Petaluma. Today, Petaluma is known for its well-preserved historic center and as a local hub for the Petaluma Valley region of Sonoma County. [1]
Genealogy
Gedcom Index for Petaluma , CA. . . . Link . . . Link
Surnames: Black, Braden, Chatfield, Cornwell, Finley, Frederickson, Fregulia, Gibbs, Goebel, Good, Guest, Hiatt, Hiett, Ingerson, Jensen, Knowlton, Lowrey, Luce, Maybee, McGlinchey, Millington, Montalbano, O'Brien, Pound, Putnam, Rankin, Sorensen, Stanley, Stubblefield, Van Bebber, Wilson
GenealogyOnline: About the Town Petaluma . . . Link
Surnames: Barnes, Benjamin, Bishop, Blankenship, Blue, Bradley, Burgi, Cannon, Chaim, Corbin, Daniels, Devoy, Dow, Duncan, Duthie, Eason, Fagan, Florance, Gabbert, Geest, Goud, Griffin, Lowenberg, Moore, Nockleby, Phillips, Pound, Todd, Wacker, Withof
LDS genealogy.com: Petaluma . . . Link
Roadside Thoughts: Petaluma California . . . Link
Sonoma County Genealogical Society . . . Link
The web site "The Cockrill Family of Sonoma County" [Link] has a wonderful collection of
local genealogy including the following with ties to this
town: There are over 100 entries with
reference to Petaluma, I will not list surnames here for
this town.
History of Petaluma
For the History of Petaluma by Wikipedia, continue to the bottom of the page. Was too long to go here.
Petaluma
General
Vallejo occupied the Petaluma ranch from 1836, and built
the first house in the valley. The land on the west side
of the creek was claimed under a Mexican grant by Juan
Miranda, who settled there in 1838, and built a small
house about two miles from the present city of Petaluma.
In 1850, Dr. A. F. Heyerman had a log-cabin on what was
afterwards called the Rogers place, near Petaluma. In
October, 1850, John Lockwood came up the creek with one
or two others in a whale-boat, attracted by reports of
the abundance of game. They camped under the oaks on the
bank of the creek just above the town, on what is now
known as the Bell place. Lockwood and party hunted for
the San Francisco market, making regular trips to the
city in the Spark, an they called their
whale-boat. [2]
The next to come were Linus and Wiatt; Lockwood and Wiatt are still residents of Petaluma. Baylis and Flogdell, well known pioneers, came a week after Linus and Wiatt, and all camped near the same place, and hunted or purchased game, which they took to the San Francisco market. They gave Petaluma its first start as a shipping point. Major Singley, the agent of the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad at Petaluma, was the next arrival. Two small trading posts were started near Lockwood camp; one by Baylis & Flogdell, the other by Linus & Wiatt. The first house in the city limits proper was a warehouse built by James McReynolds, of Analy township, and his partner James Hudspeth, for storing potatoes. It stood on the bank of the creek, just below the bridge, at the foot of Washington street. In 1852 Garrett Keller took up a 158 acre claim which included the town site, and started selling lots for $10. He built a house on the creek, above the bridge, where the stone warehouse now stands. On the 3d day January, 1852, the town was first surveyed by J. A. Brewster for Mr. Keller. Tom Lockwood and Major Singley carried the chain for this survey. [2]
The first merchants of Petaluma were Kent and Smith who opened a country store in 1852 on the east side of Main street. F. H. Coe bought in the business, and the firm changed to Kent, Smith & Coe. The first families who came to the town were old man Douglas and the Hathaways. The first hotel was started by Robert Douglas and a man named Adams. The first school was kept by A. B. Bowers. The first postmaster in Petaluma county, was a W. D. Kent. He was succeeded by Dr. Brown, and Dr. Brown by S. N. Terrell. The first justice of the peace was M. G. Lewis. J. Chandler, Judge Jackson Temple and Judge J. B. Southard were the first lawyers in the town. The pioneers Zartman & Fritch started business in January, 1852, with James F. Reed, as blacksmith. [2]
In 1855, there were 481 voters and by the following year there were 801. Petaluma's first newspaper, the Sonoma County Journal began in 1855. The Argue closely followed and the two merged in the 1860's. Between 1854 and 1860, Petaluma grew faster than any other town in the county. . . . [Archived Website. Link] [2]
"Historic Businesses Defined Petaluma" [Article] . . . Link
Petaluma Argus-Courier (1855), Parent-Sorensen Mortuary (1856), Della Fattoria (1865), Rex Hardware (1907), Van Bebber Bros. Inc. (1901), Phoenix Theater (1904), Lace House Linen (1915), Hotel Petaluma (1924), Volpi’s (abt. 1925), Andresen’s (1934).
History of Petaluma [Chamber of Commerce] . . . Link
History of Petaluma
[City Page] .
. . Link
Historic Sites of Downtown Petaluma Guide [PDF] . . . Link
Historical Society . . . Link
Petaluma, California in the movies . . . Link
Petaluma Historian Blog . . . Link
Articles on: Anna Morrison Reed (1), Ardie Fortier (1), Argonaut David Wharff (1), Beau Bridges (1), Bill Soberanes (2), Christo (1), Columbus Tustin (1), Edward S. Lippitt (2), Ellen Hulett Button (1), Frederick Geers (1), Freeman Parker (1), Gary Snyder (1), George H. Keller (2), George W. Miller (2), Helen Putnam (3), Henry Chenault (1), Judge Rollie Webb (1), Karl Yoneda & Elaine Black (1), Lloyd Bridges (1), Mariano Vallejo (2), Reverend Lorenzo Waugh (1), Tom Caulfield (1), Topsy Agius (1), and many more topics.
Petaluma Today [Niche] (has a map of location) . . . Link
Take a Tour of Historic Petaluma [Images and Text]. . . Link
"The story of the true founder of Petaluma" [Article] . . . Link
Visit Petaluma: History Page . . . Link
The
Town Today
American Towns . . . Link
Petaluma Chamber of Commerce . . . Link
Petaluma Historic Districts [Text & Pics] . . . Link
“A” Street Historic District,
Oakhill-Brewster Historic District
Petaluma Historic Commercial District . . . Wikipedia
Small Places and Big Histories - Petaluma, California . . . Link
Sonoma County Life Opens Up: Petaluma. . . Link . . . 48 Hours In . . . An Evening In . . .
Town Homepage . . . Link . . . County Page Link
Visit California: Petaluma . . . Link
Visit Petaluma . . . Link
Wikipedia Page: Petaluma . . . Link
WikiVoyage: Petaluma . . . Link
Places of Interest
Cinnabar Theater History . . . Link
"The Great Petaluma Mill–a collection of buildings constructed between 1854 and 1903" [Article] . . . Link
Ken's Market (1945-1974) . . . Link
Ken's Market, a neighborhood grocery store, was opened in 1945 by Ken and Lola Johnson. It was located at the corner of Eighth and F Streets in Petaluma and operated until 1974. Anyone who lived in West Petaluma during those years probably has vivid memories of the store and its proprietor, Ken Johnson.
Mystic Theatre History (1911) . . . Link
"New Rex Hardware to incorporate quirky charm of previous, 150-year-old structure" [Article] . . . Link
Tomasini's Rex Ace Hardware & Country Store has been serving the Petaluma community since 1907, providing the kind of service grandpa demanded and got. We pride ourselves in having the most knowledgeable and helpful employees in the business.
Petaluma Adobe State Historic Park . . . Link [Parks & Rec] . . . Link [Sonoma county] . . . Link
Petaluma Trolley Museum . . . Link
People of Interest
A. B. Bowers . . . Link . . . The first school was kept by A. B. Bowers.
A. F. Heyerman, Dr. . . . Link . . . In 1850, Dr. A. F. Heyerman had a log-cabin on what was afterwards called the Rogers place, near Petaluma.
Brainerd Jones (1869-1945), [Petaluma architect] . . . Link . . . Wikipedia
The man who built Petaluma Brainerd Jones designed much of what is now the city's historic section . . . Link
WorldCat Identities: Jones, Brainerd 1869-1945 . . . Link
Dr. Brown [2nd Postmaster] . . . Link . . . The first postmaster . . was succeeded by Dr. Brown, and Dr. Brown by S. N. Terrell.
Garrett Keller . . . Link
In 1852 Garrett Keller took up a 158 acre claim which included the town site, and started selling lots for $10. He built a house on the creek, above the bridge, where the stone warehouse now stands.
Isaac Dias . . . Link
Isaac Wickersham . . . Link
[The Great Petaluma Mill] . . Isaac Wickersham, who arrived in Petaluma in 1853, used the building to store grain, potatoes and hops.
Jackson Temple, Judge . . . Link . . . J. Chandler, Judge Jackson Temple and Judge J. B. Southard were the first lawyers in the town.
James Hudspeth . . . Link
The first house in the city limits proper was a warehouse built by James McReynolds, of Analy township, and his partner James Hudspeth, for storing potatoes. It stood on the bank of the creek, just below the bridge, at the foot of Washington street.
James McReynolds . . . Link
The first house in the city limits proper was a warehouse built by James McReynolds, of Analy township, and his partner James Hudspeth, for storing potatoes. It stood on the bank of the creek, just below the bridge, at the foot of Washington street.
J. B. Southard, Judge . . . Link . . . J. Chandler, Judge Jackson Temple and Judge J. B. Southard were the first lawyers in the town.
J. Chandler . . . Link . . . J. Chandler, Judge Jackson Temple and Judge J. B. Southard were the first lawyers in the town.
John Lockwood . . . Link
In October, 1850, John Lockwood came up the creek with one or two others in a whale-boat, attracted by reports of the abundance of game. They camped under the oaks on the bank of the creek just above the town, on what is now known as the Bell place.
John & son George P. McNear . . . Link
[The Great Petaluma Mill] . . John McNear bought the mill complex in the 1890’s; his son, the George P. McNear, added an office portion at the northeast corner of B Street and Main (now Petaluma Blvd. South) in 1902, and more brick warehouses in 1919 and 1923.
John E. Olmstead . . . Link
The first official airmail flight took place in 1911, when Fred Wiseman carried a handful of mail from Petaluma to Santa Rosa, including letters from Petaluma postmaster John E. Olmstead and the mayor of Petaluma. [1]
Ken and Lola Johnson (See Ken's Market)
Kent, Smith & Coe [First Merchants] . . . Link
The first merchants of Petaluma were Kent and Smith who opened a country store in 1852 on the east side of Main street. F. H. Coe bought in the business, and the firm changed to Kent, Smith & Coe.
Lyman Byce . . . Link
Much of Petaluma’s identity is tied to the dairy and poultry industries – a heritage that the community celebrates to this day. It began in 1879, when Lyman Byce and Isaac Dias invented the first practical incubator, making it possible for eggs to hatch away from the chicken so hens could stay in constant production.
Major Singley . . . Link . . . Major Singley, the agent of the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad at Petaluma, was the next arrival. (This would have been in the 1850's)
Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo . . . Link
In 1836, Vallejo ordered construction of his Rancho Petaluma Adobe, a ranch house in Petaluma, which his family often used as a summer home, while he resided in the neighboring town of Sonoma. Vallejo's influence and Mexican control in the region began to decline after Vallejo's arrest during the Bear Flag Revolt in 1846. [1]
M. G. Lewis . . . Link . . . The first justice of the peace was M. G. Lewis.
Robert Douglas [First hotel] . . . Link . . . The first hotel was started by Robert Douglas and a man named Adams.
S. N. Terrell. [3rd Postmaster] . . . Link . . .The first postmaster ... was succeeded by Dr. Brown, and Dr. Brown by S. N. Terrell.
Thomas Bayliss . . . Link
The southeast corner (of the Great Petaluma Mill) was built by an early settler, Thomas Bayliss, in 1854 as a storage locker for one of Petaluma’s first “exports”–wild game.
W. D. Kent [1st Postmaster] . . . Link . . . The first postmaster in Petaluma county, was a W. D. Kent.
Pioneer Families Surnames: Baylis, Douglas, Flogdell, Fritch, Hathaway, Kent, Linus, Lockwood, Smith, Wiatt, Zartman
Maps
Map of Petaluma, with boundaries [BingMaps] . . . Link
Map of Petaluma [MapQuest] . . . Link
Petaluma & Environs [Permit Sonoma] . . . Link
Photos
Town, 1955 . . . Link
A Whole Lotta History
[Below History taken from Wikipedia, see source [1]]
The Coast Miwok resided throughout Marin and southern Sonoma County. The village of Péta Lúuma (Coast Miwok for "backside of the hill") was east of the Petaluma River, with a number of other Coast Miwok villages nearby: Wotoki was immediately to the south of Péta Lúuma , on the opposite side of the river; Etem, Likatiut, and Tuchayalin were near today's downtown; and Tulme and Susuli were just north of today's city limits.
The Petaluma area was part of a 66,000-acre (270 km2) 1834 Mexican land grant by Governor Jose Figueroa to Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo called Rancho Petaluma. In 1836, Vallejo ordered construction of his Rancho Petaluma Adobe, a ranch house in Petaluma, which his family often used as a summer home, while he resided in the neighboring town of Sonoma. Vallejo's influence and Mexican control in the region began to decline after Vallejo's arrest during the Bear Flag Revolt in 1846.
Pioneers moved to Petaluma from the eastern United States after James Marshall found gold in the Sierra Nevada in 1848. The town's position on the Petaluma River in the heart of productive farmland was critical to its growth during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Sailing scows, such as the scow schooner Alma (1892), and steamers plied the river between Petaluma and San Francisco, carrying agricultural produce and raw materials to the burgeoning city of San Francisco during the California Gold Rush.
There were brothels downtown along Petaluma Boulevard, which used to be the main thoroughfare until U.S. Highway 101 was constructed in the 1950s. The Petaluma Historic Commercial District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Sonoma County Bank Building was the home of the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company and the Petaluma Seed Bank until 2019. It was built in 1926.
Petaluma soon became known for its grain milling and chicken processing industries, which continue to the present as a smaller fraction of its commerce. At one time, Petaluma was known as the "Egg Capital of the World," sparking such nicknames as "Chickaluma". Petaluma hosted the only known poultry drugstore and is the place where the egg incubator was invented by Lyman Byce in 1879.
One of the largest historic chicken processing plants still stands in the central area of town; this 1930s brick building is no longer used for the chicken industry, but is being evaluated for preservation and change of use. Even though it is no longer known as the Egg Capital of the World, Petaluma maintains a strong agricultural base today with dairy farms, olive groves, vineyards, and berry and vegetable farms.
According to the Army Museum at the Presidio, San Francisco, Petaluma was relatively unharmed during the San Francisco earthquake of April 18, 1906, due to significant stable bedrock underlying the region. As one of the few communities in the region left standing after the earthquake, Petaluma was the staging point for most Sonoma County rescue and relief efforts.
Petaluma is today the location of many distinguished, well-preserved pre-1906 buildings and Victorian homes on the western side of the river. The downtown area has suffered many river floods over the years and during the Depression commerce declined. A lack of funds prevented the demolition of the old homes and buildings. In the 1960s there was a counter-culture migration out of San Francisco into Marin County and southern Sonoma County, looking for inexpensive housing in a less urban environment. The old Victorian, Queen Anne and Eastlake style houses were restored. Historic iron-front buildings in the downtown commercial district were also rescued. Traffic and new home development for the most part was rerouted to the east of downtown by the construction of the 101 freeway.
The first official airmail flight took place in 1911, when Fred Wiseman carried a handful of mail from Petaluma to Santa Rosa, including letters from Petaluma postmaster John E. Olmstead and the mayor of Petaluma. Wiseman's plane ended up in the National Air and Space Museum.
There was a substantial influx of Jewish residents to the area in the first three decades of the 20th century. Most of the settlers were secular Eastern European Jews; they founded today's B'nai Israel Jewish Center as a secular Jewish community center with no rabbi and only a small area for prayer. The community became active in the poultry industry, and some settlers joined the local labor movement and participated in leftist political organizing, leading to significant conflicts between integrationists who aimed to quietly integrate into Petaluma society and socialists who hoped to change it.
With its large stock of historic buildings, Petaluma has been used as the filming location for numerous movies set in the 1940s, '50s, and '60s. The historic McNear Building is a common film location.
In the
late 1990s, Petaluma was also known as Telecom Valley due to
the telecom startup companies that seemed to multiply from
one another, and offer great riches for early stockholders
and employees. Two success stories were that of Advanced
Fibre Communications (AFC) (now Tellabs), and Cerent, which
was purchased by Cisco. Some Cerent employees went on to
purchase the Phoenix Theater, a local entertainment venue,
which was once an opera house. . . [Whole
Section from [1]
]
Citations
[1]
Wikipedia contributors. "Petaluma,
California." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2 Sep. 2022. Web. Viewed 8
Sep. 2022. . . . Link
[2] Archived website https://web.archive.org/web/20071021085407/http://users.ap.net/~chenae/socotown.html
"The story of the true founder of Petaluma", by John Sheehy. Santa Rosa Press Democrat. 2021-02-11. Retrieved 2022-09-08.
[3] "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
[4] "Historical and Descriptive Sketch of Sonoma County, California" Robert Allan Thompson. L.H. Everts, 1877 - Sonoma County (Calif.) - 104 pages. [ ??? pp 100-101] . . . Link
[5] "History of Sonoma County: Including Its Geology, Topography, Mountains, Valleys and Streams ...."' United States, Higginson Book Company, 1880. (page ???.) . . . Link . . . Text at CAGenWeb
[6] "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
