Henry Frank Strain

GEDCOM Note

Henry Strain's life Posted 09 May 2011 by Byardsearcher Google book search: http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ca/marin/history/1880/historyo... History of Marin County, California : including its geography, geology, topography and climatography : together with a ... record of the Mexican grants ... names of ... pioneers ... a complete political history ... and biographical sketches of its early ... settlers and representative men : also an historical sketch of the state of California, in which is embodied the raising of the bear flag. Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : Alley, Bowen, 1880, by J. P. Munro-Fraser, p. 427 "Henry Strain. The subject of this sketch, whose portrait will be found in this volume, was born in the county Monaghan, Ireland, in the year 1826, and there resided until he reached sixteen years of age. At this time he emigrated to America and settled in New York City, where he worked at the hatter's trade for three years; he then went to Connecticut and found employment in the Smithfield Cotton Manufacturing Company until he embarked for California. On March 5, 1852, he sailed in the steamer " Prometheus " for Nicaragua; thence per sailing vessel to the Isthmus. In Panama he was detained three months from an attack of fever, which, having departed, he sailed for San Francisco, where he arrived in the month of July. Mr. Strain at once proceeded to Hangtown, now Placerville, but on account of ill-health only worked in the mines for one month; seceding from this occupation he commenced that of prospecting, which he continued till he left the district." "On March 17, 1853, he arrived in Bolinas, and after teaming for something like two years for the mill company, he began running the steamboat " Union." Mr. Strain next returned to Bolinas and was variously employed for about two years, when, in 1857, he purchased a portion of his present farm, and began cutting alder trees for tire-wood, which he prosecuted for two more years. From these small beginnings Mr. Strain gradually worked himself into the dairying business, until he is now the possessor of a fine farm of two hundred and fifty-eight acres and forty milch cows. In 1868 he was elected Justice of the Peace for Bolinas township, and is at present one of the Trustees of the Bolinas School District. Married in August, 1851, Marcella Roche, by whom he has eight living children: -Henry Frank, William, Winfield Scott, Henrietta, Ella, Robert Everett, Lillie and Anna Louise." My notes: In the 1900 census for Bolinas, Henry is shown with his wife, "Louise," which must have been Marcella's middle name or perhaps a nickname, as they were shown to have been married 49 years.
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http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:BrfAtfef9n8J:www.spn.usace.arm... My notes: For descendants of the McCurdy, Wilkins, Strain, McMullin and Bourne families, this is a great article (above) on the history of these familes as farmers, produce growers, wood cutters, etc. in early Marin County but in the Bolinas area in particular. Here are a few extracts from the article: "Olema was described as being the center of a rich farming country, with Upper Bolinas at Gregorio Briones´ ranch identified as being in the very "midst of a rich agricultural country, thickly populated" (MJ, May 6, 1865). Great quantities of grains were shipped, along with wood and dairy products from the port of Bolinas to San Francisco in the late 1860s (MJ, September 26, 1868)." "Agricultural census records of 1870 indicate low numbers for livestock on the Wilkins and McCurdy ranches. That year McCurdy and his partner McMullin owned only 16 milk cows and 24 oxen; Wilkins owned 150 head of cattle and eight horses and colts." "By 1870 (Henry) Strain was producing 1,000 bushels of potatoes, while his neighbors McCurdy and McMullin produced 400 bushels. Closer to the lagoon, Stephen McGovern produced 50 bushels of winter wheat, 200 of oats, 300 of barley and 700 of potatoes (1870 census). In 1880 McMullin reported 18 acres of tilled land, Strain 25, McCurdy ten acres (1880 census)." For much, much more information read the article to get a sense of what life was like in early Bolinas and the surrounding area, including what the 1906 earthquake did to the region!

Farmers and Adventurers Posted 10 Mar 2014 by Byardsearcher The original URL (web address) is no longer active so I used the wayback machine to find the articles that used to accompany the dead URL and I found it: http://web.archive.org/web/20090110154735/http://www.spn.usace.army... (Note that Ancestry saves this URL with a space between u and se in the word "landuse" and the web page won't open unless you take out the space) HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF BOLINAS LAGOON WATERSHED FOR THE BOLINAS LAGOON ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION FEASIBILITY PROJECT, March 2001 Prepared by: Tetra Tech, Inc., 180 Howard Street, Suite 250, San Francisco, California 94105 Use the Find key (press Control & F at the same time) to find names or places. My notes: For descendants of the McCurdy, Wilkins, Strain, McMullin and Bourne families, there's great information on the history of these families as farmers, produce growers, wood cutters, etc. in early Marin County, but in the Bolinas area in particular. Here are a few extracts from the article and note that MJ stands for Marin Journal: "Olema was described as being the center of a rich farming country, with Upper Bolinas at Gregorio Briones´ ranch identified as being in the very "midst of a rich agricultural country, thickly populated" (MJ, May 6, 1865). Great quantities of grains were shipped, along with wood and dairy products from the port of Bolinas to San Francisco in the late 1860s (MJ, September 26, 1868)." "Agricultural census records of 1870 indicate low numbers for livestock on the Wilkins and McCurdy ranches. That year McCurdy and his partner McMullin owned only 16 milk cows and 24 oxen; Wilkins owned 150 head of cattle and eight horses and colts." "By 1870 (Henry) Strain was producing 1,000 bushels of potatoes, while his neighbors McCurdy and McMullin produced 400 bushels. Closer to the lagoon, Stephen McGovern produced 50 bushels of winter wheat, 200 of oats, 300 of barley and 700 of potatoes (1870 census). In 1880 McMullin reported 18 acres of tilled land, Strain 25, McCurdy ten acres (1880 census)." For much, much more information read the article to get a sense of what life was like in early Bolinas and the surrounding area, including what the 1906 earthquake did to the region!

History of Marin County - Munro-Fraser, 1880 Posted 13 Mar 2014 by Byardsearcher http://books.google.com/books?id=bRUVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA273&dq=%22woodvi... Munro-Fraser, J. P. 1880. History of Marin County, California. Alley, Bowen & Co., San Francisco, California. Page 427 - There's a very interesting biography of Henry's life, up to the year the book was published in 1880.

Dogtown - Woodville - Dogtown (an audio history) Posted 16 Mar 2014 by Byardsearcher I just discovered two fascinating interviews with the Assistant Director of the Bolinas museum, Elia Haworth. Elia talks about the actual first "town" in the Bolinas area. I'd assumed the town of Bolinas was established early-on where it's now located. Not true. And it explains why so many of the early families settled close to the Bolinas Lagoon (also called Bolinas Bay by some authors). That part of Bolinas, next to the ocean and just around the corner from the present town of Bolinas, was referred to as the point or Bolinas point. So, in the mid-1800s, a resident of Dogtown/Woodville would say that he was riding down to the point later because supplies were coming in by schooner. Finally I think I'm beginning to understand the wonderful (but at times confusing) history of Marin county. I'm adding this to the off-spring of Hugh and Mary Ingram since this history was also part of their lives. The Source: the dog days of Dogtown http://kalwnews.org/audio/2010/08/25/source-dog-days-dogtown_549457... The Source: Bolinas: a hidden town with history http://kalwnews.org/audio/2010/09/01/bolinas-hidden-town-history_56...

A bit more about early Dogtown Posted 17 Mar 2014 by Byardsearcher A Good Life: DAIRY FARMING IN THE OLEMA VALLEY History of the Dairy and Beef Ranches of the Olema Valley and Lagunitas Canyon by D. S. (Dewey) Livingston, Historian, Golden Gate National Recreation Area - Point Reyes National Seashore, Pub. in San Francisco, 1995 https://archive.org/stream/goodlifedairyfar00livirich#page/73/mode/1up Pages 73 thru' 75 In 1849, Gregorio Briones and his brother-in-law, Rafael Garcia, sold timber rights to a party of '49ers to cut down, mill and "make use" of all the timber on Rancho las Baulines for ten years. When the contract expired, they promised to leave behind "at least one good saw mill and one good dwelling house." These men could also graze their cattle and horses and, of course, they would need to keep oxen for the heavy work of hauling lumber to Bolinas Lagoon for lightering them down to the head of the lagoon where sailing vessel could load them and sail them over to San Francisco. The contract was signed on October 12 and the men, led by James Hough, began construction of their sawmill on a "flat above what would become Dogtown." The Hough contract ended, three years later in 1852 but some of the men involved in this business endeavor never left what would become Marin County, such as Capt. Joseph Almy, Hiram Nott (he married Rosaria Briones), Charles Lauff, Bart Henderson and Ben Winslow, who founded the town of Olema in 1857 where he had a ranch and built the first hotel there. Pablo Briones found other men who continued to lease the land that was part of Rancho las Baulines but eventually Pablo lost almost everything he'd had since, apparently, he'd never heard the Native American phrase "White man speak with forked tongue." Because of the growing population in this area, the little village of Dogtown expanded with a blacksmith shop, a store (probably a general merchandise and grocery store) and eventually a near-by school. Farms and then dairy farms began to develop and in the 1860s, copper mines were being dug. The future must have looked bright for everyone. And it was, for almost everyone.

McKenney's District Directory for 1878-9 Posted 17 Apr 2014 by Byardsearcher MARIN COUNTY - BOLINAS Henry Strain - 258 acres McKenney's District Directory for 1878-9, of Yolo, Solano, Napa, Lake, Marin and Sonoma Counties, published by L. M. McKenney, 543 Clay St., San Francisco "Every resident land owner appears with the number of acres owned & post office address" http://www.cagenweb.com/marin/research-aids/kings-county-e-books/

Newspaper notices of Robert's death Posted 02 Feb 2017 by Byardsearcher https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=MJ18971202.2.20.1&srpos=1&e... Marin Journal, Volume 37, Number 39, 2 December 1897 Died: STRAIN - In Bolinas, November 26th. Robert Strain, a native of Ireland, aged 58 years.
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https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=MCT18971204.2.8&srpos=2&e=0... Marin County Tocsin, Volume 19, Number 32, 4 December 1897 "Robert Strain, an old resident old Bolinas and a very worthy citizen, died at his home there last Saturday afier a long iliness. Deceased was a brother of Mr. Henry Strain of the same place; he leaves behind him the regard of his neighbors, among whom his life was spent."

John, Robert and Henry Strain were brothers? Posted 03 Feb 2017 by Byardsearcher In searching for John Strain's beginnings I've had no luck finding anything that proves that John was the brother of Henry Strain, Marcella's husband. However, there were three men with the surname Strain (Henry, John and Robert) all born in Ireland and all associated with the history of Bolinas Township. When Albert Strain, John's son, and William W. Strain, (Robert's son) died in 1915, a Marin county newspaper called them cousins. If they were cousins, their fathers would have probably been brothers since Albert and William's mothers weren't related. Then I found an obituary for Mary Ann (Kennedy), Robert Strain's wife, and the obituary states that Robert Strain was the brother of Henry, both of them residents of Bolinas. Now I'm led to the belief that John, Robert and Henry Strain were brothers and their children, of course, would have been cousins. Maybe. If anyone can add (or subtract) from my shoot-from-the-hip theory, please let me know. Thanks.

Byardsearcher originally shared this on 09 May 2011