There are certainly parts of a city’s history that every city wants to forget and the San Francisco Pesthouse is certainly one of those places for the California Bay Area. Smallpox and Leprosy were the two main ailments seen at the pesthouse, although malaria patients were also housed here. The pesthouse was a building adjacent to the hospital in San Francisco. In late 1896 the existing Twenty-Sixth Street Pesthouse had been condemned, but by 1899 plans had been put together for a new pesthouse to be build between Twenty-Sixth and Army Streets, Army Street is now Cesar Chavez Street.
Although many objected to it, it was seen as necessary with San Francisco being a primary port of entry and so many arriving with smallpox or leprosy. As evidenced by the 1900 US Census while many had objected the Twenty-Sixth Street Pesthouse was rebuild and housed a little over 40 patients. A previously selected location, South of Market Street, had the community rally together and amassed a stockpile of dynamite with the threat to blow it up if the Pesthouse was built there.
However, by 1908 citizens were up in arms to have it removed and during the second Bubonic Plague outbreak that year it was burned to the ground.
For those interested, the California Digital Newspaper Index has many articles relating to the San Francisco Pesthouse, available from their digitized collection of the San Francisco Call newspaper. What sparked my interest was both the people who spent their last years at the pesthouse and the woman who was the matron, caring for the patients who are often also referred to as prisoners or inmates of the pesthouse.
There are articles from 1907 where Miss Sarah R Fry the matron is asking the community to come together to provide Christmas presents for “these unfortunates”. There is “Little Joe, 12 years old, combines necessities and luxuries in wishing for a pair of felt shoes, an air rifle, two blue flannel nightshirts, a white shirt and a watch.” There are few referred to by first and last name; one of the few is Ramon Penelaus who is included in another Christmas request looking for “Any one who wants to give away a set of Dumas’ works will find a grateful recipient in Ramon Penelaus, who is an ardent admirer of the French master, and who reads to the other patients, most of them being blind.”
Considering the hatred towards the pesthouse it is important to see that care and concern that were shown by the community towards what were terminally ill patients. So much so that Miss Fry requested gifts of cash rather than actual presents for most patients as the year before the city had been so generous they ended up with many duplicate gifts.
The 1900 US Census for the Twenty-Sixth Street Hospital provides some information on who was there and where they were from. While the news reports would imply most of the patients were primarily lower class citizens, the Census shows most could read and write so the reports may have been more aimed at getting rid of the pesthouse than factual reporting on those who were being cared for at the hospital.
Patients
- Frederick Blacker 68 widowed from Ohio
- Lennard Garrison 29 single from Finland
- Peter Wise 70 widowed from Germany
- John Hayes 69 single from Scotland
- Wright Nye 65 widowed from Massachusettes
- Philip Riland 76 married from Germany
- James Burke 42 single from Ireland
- Laurence Walter 19 single from California
- Henry Stellges 28 single from Germany
- Westly Fuller 58 single from Masachusettes
- Martin Morris 36 single from New York
- James Reed 54 single from Pennsylvania
- Harry Alberg 16 single from California
- John Berryman 54 single from England
- William Felt 33 single from Kansas
- Adaline Frisbee 22 single from California
- Bridge Salmon 55 married from Ireland
- Lydia Neil 27 married from California
- Lottie Ellis 34 married from California
- Annie Adams 45 married from Massachusettes
- Bessie Morris 44 married from New York
- Victoria Gublini 39 married from California
- Lizabeth McKay 50 widowed from Maryland
- Emma Dennanburg 23 single from New Jersey
- Jennie Teadwell 40 single from California
- Ethel Palmer 24 single from California
- Herbert Lorden 2 single from California
- Wordoch Wolf 29 single from Canada
- Joseph Schmitz 24 single from California
- Max Homfeldt 58 married from Germany
- Nellie Vera 39 married from Massachusettes
- Edward Mason 27 married from California
- Maria Costa 20 married from Portugal
- Minnie Dudly 29 single from California
- Dora Loga 19 married from California
- John Hundley 65 single from Virginia
- Jessie Colwell 25 single from Canada (English)
- Lily Cook 50 married from England
- Minnie Roland 23 married from California
- Sophia Grant 24 single from California
- Feeman Taylor 75 widowed from Vermont
- Lara B Gillespi 84 widowed from the West Indies
- John Riordan 66 widowed from Ireland
Medical Staff Listed as Residing at the Hospital
- Lyda Bell 21 single from England – Nurse
- Margaret Roberto 22 single from New Mexico – Nurse
- Lucy Garret 26 married from California – Nurse
- Catherine Duff 39 widowed from England – Matron
- Bertha Walker 19 single from England – Maid
- Ling Yee 34 married from China – Cook
- Ling Ar 27 single from China – Cook
- Sam Ar 44 married from China – Cook
- Min Ar 16 single from China – Cook
- Kate Brannan 40 widowed from Ireland – Maid
- Jim Ar 27 single from China – Laundry Man
- Sing Ar 42 married from China – Laundry Man
- Mon Ar 40 married from China – Laundry Man
- Wong Ar 38 married from China – Cook
- Margaret Weyer 29 single from California – Nurse
- Margaret Cockenton 29 single from California – Nurse
- Oscar Anderson 40 single from Norway – Porter
- James McDonnell 39 single from Canada (English) – Porter
- William D Moore 22 single from California – Physician
- John M McDunn 31 single from Scotland – Orderly
While it is clearly shown on the building drawings and in newspaper records that Chinese were patients here they are not shown on the 1900 US Census. It is possible the Chinese were both patients and workers at the hospital. The alternative is the Chinese patients were left off of the Census. As most of the records burned in 1908 it may never be clearly known.
Miss Sarah R Fry, the matron in the 1907 Christmas request articles, is an interesting woman. One could wonder what brings a woman to want to care for those who are so reviled by most of society. While I couldn’t find much of Sarah’s story I did find some interesting tidbits. Sarah was born about 1862 in Texas to John M and Harriet W Fry. By the 1880 US Census in Corsicana, Navarro County, Texas Sarah is shown as living with her parents, but that she was sick with Rheumatism.
While it is purely speculation it was often found in the late 19th century that the search for health brought people out west and that may very well be the case for Miss Sarah R Fry and could easily be seen as the reason she showed such compassion to those suffering at the Twenty-Sixth Street Hospital. Sarah passed away December 9, 1948 in San Mateo California, never married, no children and having shown great care for those who were dying.
That is why I choose to finish this article with Sarah. Genealogy is about more than a person’s direct tree. It’s about their family, their lives and those around them. The descendants of Ramon Penelaus’s siblings (correctly spelled Peñuelas) didn’t even know Ramon existed. He lived and died at a time when leprosy was a disease that carried a great stigmatism, but Sarah knew him and cared for him. Sarah came from a big family, she was undoubtedly someone’s aunt, likely several someone’s. Perhaps one day a great niece or nephew will come upon this when trying to find out what happened to that sister, sick in Texas but became a great caregiver in California.
