Person: Holman, Mayremna O.
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The Bates Family Celebrates Christmas 1912
In December 1912, the Santa Ana Register ran an article describing a Christmas celebration at the home of my grandparents, Gilbert and Beatrice [Lockwood] Bates. Of the twenty-two attendees, at least twenty-one were close family members who had moved from Michigan to California.
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A Memorial Book By Otto S. Lewis
This article is about a book written by Otto S. Lewis after his wife and two children perished in the shipwreck of the SS Columbia in 1907. Titled ‘In Memory of My Beloved Wife Mabel B. Lewis and Children Florence and Ray’, it is one of those rare finds that provide both an in-depth look…
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The Shipwreck Of The SS Columbia
In this article, I take a look at events surrounding the 1907 shipwreck and sinking of the SS Columbia as reported in various newspapers of the time. Stories of the disaster claimed the front pages of West Coast newspapers for several days as details of the event became known. Particular attention is paid to the…
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A Biographical Album… and a Train Robbery!
One of my early searches for family members on my grandmother’s side turned up an unexpected biography of her father and his family. In this article, I take a look at a biographical album that contains a profile of Franklin J. Holman, and a reference to a train robbery.
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Gilbert Bates Buys a Paige “36” Touring Car
On the second page of my dad’s baby book, my grandmother pasted a postcard photograph of the Bates family as it existed in 1914, sitting in an automobile. In this post, I describe details about the photograph and how I found that the automobile was a brand new Paige “36”.
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Migration – From Michigan to California
Around 1906, my grandparents and great grandparents moved from Michigan to California. This included all my grandfather’s siblings except one, as well as most of my grandmother’s family. All told, there were at least 21 family members, possibly more, so I’ll call it a migration. I think that the Bates moved out together, but I…