Genealogical Mythology - Martin Fink & the San Francisco Earthquake

(This one is completely my fault)

There was a group of my ancestors I lovingly referred to as "The Lost Finks of America." These were ancestors who left Germany, came to America and disappeared.

I found information on a family group that came here one at a time. Originally, I could only find one, namely Martin Fink.

Martin was born in the town of Gomaringen, Germany on 15 Dec 1872. He would come to America in 1889, later than his two sisters and his father, who took me years to find. But Martin seemed to pop out. He showed up in San Francisco, California on the 1900 Census, with a wife Johanna and a son Freddie.

After that find, I started to look in other censuses. The 1910 Census gave me a shock. Martin was listed, but no wife or son. He also listed himself as a Widower. Immediately, I jumped to the obvious conclusion.

On 18 April 1906, at 5:12 in the morning, the ground beneath the city shook. Many of the wood framed houses could not take the motion and collapsed. Other buildings also crashed to the street. Fires broke out all over the city. Thousands died.

My belief was that Johanna and Freddie did as well.

So sure was I that this had occurred, I contacted Gladys Cox Hansen. Mrs. Hansen was compiling a list of those who died in the Earthquake, as the official death toll in 1907 is said to be only 478. She believed the number was closer to 3,000. She set about trying to prove this by asking anyone who had relatives who died in the Earthquake to contact her with their stories.

This became my story for several years. Until....

Newspapers.com

This gave me access to The San Francisco Call. Plugging in Martin's name I found some interesting items. First, I found the obituary of Freddie Fink. Turns out that Freddie died on 6 May 1904. I also found a daughter that was stillborn in 1905.

Next, I found a notice that Martin and Johanna got a divorce shortly after the death of their daughter.

In other words, neither Johanna nor Freddie were killed by the Earthquake. I had to contact Gladys Hansen and have their names taken off the list.

The word Widower was what set me off. With the devastation of the Earthquake, it didn't seem a stretch that Martin was left alone. Contributing to this was that he was a baker. Bakers are known to start work in the wee hours of the morning, so he would not have been home. The bakery, which would contain ovens, would likely be a well-built brick building that should survive an earthquake. It made sense that he was protected and that his family was at risk.

Lesson learned.

Martin, who would outlive his second wife, died in a home in 1947. Johanna, who remarried, died in 1952.

Next time: How Herbert Stevenson Lost His Job as a Fireman.