Family History Essay Competition 2008 Antique Fair A Success by ...

Curator’s Comments
by Curator Daniel F. Murley
Greetings from the ground floor!
When I first viewed the artifact collection on the day I
accepted the position of curator of the Museum, I was
drawn to the assemblage of framed artworks stacked in
various locations throughout the cramped storage space.
Detail, The Geysers by Maude Needham Latimer
While quickly flipping through pieces I paused and
lingered over one which caught my eye. In a matter of
moments, the attractive multi-media work was gently
dusted and hung on the wall over the desk where I have
worked for the last five years.
In preparation for the upcoming exhibit, A Brush
with the Past: The Historic Art of the Healdsburg
Museum, that lovely historic scene titled "The Geysers"
by Maude Needham Latimer has been carefully reframed
by Jill Plamann of Hammerfriar Custom Framing.
Jill Plamann with The Geysers
Jill was quite familiar with the Latimer name.
Lorenzo P. Latimer, the famous California watercolor
artist, was from Windsor and the son of Maude and
Lorenzo Dow Latimer, a well-respected local judge.
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Lorenzo P. oftentimes took time off from his work and
studio in San Francisco to visit his family on their
property along the Russian River. While an instructor at
the California School of Design in San Francisco, he
would assemble students near Healdsburg for painting
classes, En plein air in redwood groves or along creeks.
Views of the local hills and eastern mountains were
often the subjects of both Lorenzo P. and his students.
Many local women, the wives and daughters of
successful North Bay businessmen, studied under
Latimer and some of their paintings are part of
Healdsburg's collection. An opening reception for the
"Brush with the Past" exhibit will be held on
Wednesday, June 25, 2008 from 4PM to 6PM at the
Museum.
Research Report by Holly Hoods
In the past month, researchers from the Gibson,
Day, Dicke, Congelton, King, Gabney, McManus, Cook
and Mulgrew families have called, written and/or visited
the Healdsburg Museum. Several of them generously
shared their local family photos and genealogical
research, adding nicely to our historical collection.
Karen Hendricks, a Mulgrew and McManus descendant,
donated numerous Skaggs Springs post cards that she
purchased on EBay over the past few months. John
Mulgrew, her relative, managed the old Skaggs Springs
vacation resort at the turn of the 20 th century.
I especially enjoyed helping Nat and Jan Dodge
research upper Mill Creek Road and the Mill
Creek/Venado area for a family history they are
compiling. The Dodges promised to donate copies of
pictures of the area and of the Dodge and Harper
families.
Ray Owen came in recently to track down the
location of “Robber’s Rock,” a site in northern Sonoma
County where Sheriff Albert Crigler was shot and killed
by stagecoach robber Sam Allen in the 1870s. The
Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office intends to erect a
memorial plaque at each site where a sheriff was killed
in the line of duty, and Ray has been tasked with finding
the sites prior to 1900. Through microfilmed newspaper
articles in the Russian River Flag and Cloverdale: Then
and Now published history, we were able to track the
likely murder site to a location near Sulphur Creek on
Geysers Road at Pine Mountain Road. Jim Wagele of
the Cloverdale Historical Society confirmed the location
with local old timers, so Ray and I believe that we got it
right.
For my own research for an upcoming Russian
River Recorder article, I am seeking historical
photographs or stories of the old landmark redwood
trees, “Adam and Eve,” located in the hills at the east
end of Grant Avenue. I have found articles dating back
to the 1880s about these beloved trees, but surprisingly I