Coronado Family Reunion - 1973 - Additional Photos

The previous post described the happy Coronado Family Reunion of 1973 in Napa and provided a photo of seven of the 10 Coronado brothers and sisters who were able to attend.  Catherine McIntosh took the photo and sent me two other photos that she took at the same event, memorializing other relatives who attended.  I remember seeing these photos and others taken at the reunion, but my growing family and I were living on the East Coast and we were not able to attend.

These are the sons and daughters of the "10" who were able to attend the 1973 reunion:

Standing left to right: Robert McIntosh, Paul Orsi, Gary Coronado, Bob Coronado.

Seated left to right: Harrison McIntosh, Helen Coronado Jenkins, Dorothy Coronado McKenna

Robert and Harrison McIntosh are sons of Hess Coronado McIntosh.  Paul Orsi is the son of Marian (Toots) Orsi.  Helen Jenkins is the daughter of Marion (Dutch) Coronado.  Dorothy McKenna is the daughter of Dolph Coronado.

This photo includes the grandchildren of the "10" who were present at the reunion:

I can identify 4 of the 6 people in this photo, but I don't recognize the girl standing on the left or the boy seated in the middle.  Claudia McKenna Moelk is standing in the center with Gerri Eichler Handschumacher next to her on the right.  Seated on the left is Juanita Coronado Lecair and seated on the right is Catherine McIntosh.

Claudia is the daughter of Dorothy McKenna and granddaughter of Dolph Coronado.  Gerri is the daughter of Lillian Eichler and granddaughter of Dolph Coronado.  Juanita is the daughter of Marion Coronado and granddaughter of Dutch Coronado.  Catherine is the daughter of Harrison McIntosh and granddaughter of Hess Coronado McIntosh.

This is a more informal photo of the reunion showing the side yard and extent of the tables set up in Helen's yard for the 1973 reunion.

Surrounding the table are Robert & Helen McIntosh, Al Orsi (husband of Toots), Harrison McIntosh, Frank Coronado and Helen Coronado Jenkins.

Coronado Family Reunion - 1973

We just had a Coronado Family Reunion on March 2, 2024 and had a great time comparing notes and meeting new relatives.

In 1973 it must have been just as much fun and a chance to see family relatives once again.  My mother, Cecelia Coronado Phipps and Helen Coronado Jenkins arranged the reunion and celebration of Hess Coronado McIntosh's 85th birthday.  The event was held in Helen's side yard in Napa on Wednesday, July 1, 1973.

My cousin, Catherine McIntosh, reminded me that she took the photo below and other group photos that became a record of Coronado family members at the reunion and birthday celebration. More group photos will be added in future posts.  This photo is the seven brothers and sisters of Mariano & Louisa Coronado who were able to attend the reunion:

Standing left to right: Cecelia Coronado Phipps, Frank Coronado, Marian (Toots) Coronado Orsi, Paul Coronado.

Seated left to right: Marion (Dutch) Coronado, Jesusita (Hess) Coronado McIntosh, James Coronado

This is truly a handsome family grouping!

(This is a corrected post with the correct date of the reunion and photographer who took the photo.)

Summer Outing at Dillon Beach - 1920

Here is a photo of members of the Coronado family taking a summer visit to Dillon Beach, CA, a Pacific Ocean beach, about 20 miles west of Petaluma.  The photo was taken about 1920.  They were obviously not dressed to get into the water.

Pictured left to right in the back: Ione & Marion (Dutch) Coronado, Jim Coronado, Marian (Toots) Coronado.  On the right is Louisa & Mariano Coronado.  Dutch & Ione's children are Marion (with the dog) and Helen.

In Memoriam - Juanita Coronado Gass (1926 - 2022)

 

It is with great sadness that I write about the August 10, 2022, death of my 95-year-old cousin, Juanita Coronado Gass.  She was born September 14, 1926, in Vallejo, California, the eldest daughter of Jim and Juanita Coronado.  Jim was one of 13 children born to Mariano & Louisa Coronado, my grandparents.

She was a lifelong resident of Vallejo, attended St. Vincent Grammar and High School a few blocks from her home, graduating in 1945.  She married Jim Ley and had three children, Diane, Suzanne, and Stephen.  Jim and Juanita divorced in 1968.

Diane Ley remembers her mother as having great perseverance:

After my siblings and I had been in school awhile, Mom decided to get a part-time job.  This was in the early 60s when most women’s job opportunities were limited to how many words they could type per minute.  At her first job interview, she flunked her typing test.  But she did not let that deter her.  She came home and practiced and practiced on an old manual typewriter until she reached the requisite 45 words per minute.  Then she got a job.

A few years later, she decided she needed an additional part-time job.  She saw an ad for an instructor at the old Kentwig Health Club, here in Vallejo.  She had no experience in either teaching a class, or did she know the types of exercises you would do in a gym.  She went to the library, checked out books on fitness, and practiced until she mastered the art of a workout.  She not only got the job, but she became one of their most popular instructors.[1]

Juanita later began full-time work at Mare Island.  She started in the library and then moved to the Recreation Department.  It was at Mare Island that she met Jim Gass.  Jim was the Athletic Director at Mare Island, and this is the way he described meeting Juanita:

Later that month, the Director of the Special Services hired an Assistant Librarian.  Her name was Juanita Ley.  She was introduced to the staff.  When she got to my desk, I was seated. I looked up and saw this beautiful face smiling at me.  I couldn’t stand up because my legs were frozen, and I thought I was having a mild stroke.  I began checking books out of the library at a frenzied pace.  One day she said, “You’re certainly checking out a lot of books.”  I replied, “It’s not the books I’m checking out.” She blushed and our romance began.[2]

Jim and Juanita were married in 1970 and purchased a home in Vallejo on Illinois Street.  Juanita (also known as Nita) worked at Mare Island for 22 years.  She enjoyed reading and traveling especially after they both retired.

Jim & Juanita Gass - on vacation

Juanita was also known for her thoughtfulness and generosity.  Diane Ley, her daughter, relayed an example of her generosity.  A friend of her brother was going to be married, but they didn’t have much money, so Juanita and Jim told them to use a family-owned cabin in Lake County for their honeymoon.  When they arrived there and opened the door, there were flowers, food, and gifts for them inside.[3]

I didn’t know Juanita well when I was young, because there was a great age difference, although our birth dates (month & day) were one day apart.  She probably knew me as a shy young cousin who came along on family gatherings.  But later in life when we visited California from the east coast, we scheduled family lunches together.  She had a great sense of humor, and I was always amazed at how much she knew about the Coronado family and especially the family secrets!  She would help me identify the family and non-family members in the photos we shared.

I last saw Juanita in December 2019 when we visited the Residential Care Home where she and Jim lived.  She was still her perky self and told me more family secrets, which I will continue to share in this blog.  I am certainly missing her.

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[1] Diane Ley, Mom’s Eulogy, Celebration of Life, St. Vincent Ferrer Church, Vallejo, CA, August 23, 2022.

[2] Jim Gass, Juanita and Jim Gass, Our Life Together, Celebration of Life, St. Vincent Ferrer Church, Vallejo, CA, August 23, 2022.

[3] Diane Ley, email to Hal Phipps, September 9, 2022.

The Coronado Home & Businesses through the Years

In the last posting I described how the Mariano & Louisa Coronado family moved from Napa to Vallejo and how they eventually settled and built a home on a 3 ½ acre property on the Napa-Vallejo Highway.

In this post, I show how the original house grew as the family grew – from a one-story house to 2-stories and the addition of the Coronado businesses – initially calling the establishment “The Beanery” and then later “The Coronado”.  Remember in past posts, we found that Louisa (in addition to taking care of a rapidly expanding family) used to make big kettles of chili beans for customers.  When they bought 5-cent beer they were entitled to a bowl of chili beans.  Thus, the term “Beanery”.

Here are a series of historic photos of the Coronado residence – starting with the one-story house that was built between 1891 (when Mariano bought the land) and 1899[1].  These photos also document Mariano’s entrepreneurial spirit of responding to market demands.

The Coronado Homestead 1899

In the first photo above, Louisa is sitting on the arched side porch with her 6 children.  A slim Mariano is seen faintly standing next to the side porch.  There seems to be a dog posed in the front yard.  It is definitely a one-story house and probably snug for the young family.  (Note the arched side porch, the placement of the front door, and the two windows between the front door and the arched porch, one window higher than the other.  This helps determine that all these house photos, taken in different years, are the same house.)

The Homestead with Residential Second Floor & First Floor "The Beanery" - post 1900s

A second story is added to the original one-story house sometime after 1900 as the family needs grew (See the second photo above).  “The Beanery” business is added on the main floor.  The sign painted over the front door reads: “The Beanery. All kinds of wines 5c, 10c. M.P. Coronado, Prop.”[2]  Two potential customers are standing in the front and maybe that’s an older and younger Coronado child and dog standing and sitting near the residential side entrance.

Commercial Conversion - "The Coronado"

The third photo (above) shows the two-story home with the placement of “The Coronado” sign above a double-door entrance to the left of the photo.  There appear to be tables set up in the front under the tree and under the roof overhang – maybe for customers.  I can’t be sure, but there seem to be two people in the shadow of the side arched porch.

Expansion of "The Coronado" 1912

The fourth photo (above) of the two-story Coronado house taken in 1912[3] shows that there is a one-story addition on the left that looks like it may have expanded the interior space of “The Coronado” business.  In addition, M.P. Coronado also started another business to keep up with the times.  On the far right in the photo is a hanging sign that reads: “Gasoline, Oil and Carbide[4] for Sale Here”.  It was the beginning of an auto filling station business.

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[1] I estimate that the first photo was taken in 1899 based upon a more detailed photo of the family on the arched porch.  All the photos were originally black & white but were "colorized" using the MyHeritage website.

[2] Mariano Coronado became known as M.P. Coronado at least by 1891.

[3] This photo is from cousin Catherine McIntosh.  Her grandfather, Harry McIntosh, wrote the following about the photo: “The Coronado home, bar & cafe in 1912. The two larger cars are Overlands from A.B.Coronado's dealership in Vallejo. The small car is a Ford c1908 model that was rebuilt and owned by Harry McIntosh.”

[4] Carbide was used in the carbide headlamps of the cars for driving at night.

Early Coronado Family Life in Vallejo

Mariano Coronado and his future wife, Louisa Madrid, grew up in the Napa area.  Mariano lived with his family in the foothills of Yountville and for a while in the Salvador area just north of Napa City.  Louisa lived in Napa City and then in the Yountville area.

Although Mariano and Louisa were married in Napa in 1884 and their first child, Marianita was born in Napa in 1885, they were to raise their large family in Vallejo, just south of the Napa County line.  An intriguing question is: why did they move?

Mariano’s good friend, and witness at his wedding, Manual Madrid[1], had moved to Vallejo in 1880 where he worked on the 1,000-acre Tobin[2] ranch.  In his third year there, he was promoted to manager of the ranch and remained in charge for twelve more years.

I suspect that shortly after his marriage and birth of his first child, Mariano worked on the Tobin ranch with Manual.  Mariano and his family may also have lived in a home on or near the ranch.  Mariano and Louisa’s next three children were born in Vallejo[3]: Dolph in 1887, Hess in 1888 and Guadalupe in 1890.

In early 1891, first-born 5-year-old Marianita took ill with tuberculosis and died on 26 January 1891.  Her death certificate[4] said that she died at the Tobin Ranch, supporting my premise that the Coronado family lived on the ranch.  Misery in the family continued when Guadalupe, who had just been born in 1890, suddenly died on 11 April 1891.

I can only surmise that Mariano finally decided through the grief of their lost children that his new family needed a home of their own.  He didn’t look very far and found a good piece of land not far from the Tobin ranch – about 1 ½ miles away.  The land was between the main road that led from Vallejo towards Napa - and the Southern Pacific railway.  It was a long stretch of land, trapezoid in shape – about 3 ½ acres.

On 22 August 1891, M. P. Coronado[5] paid Simon Corcoran[6] $300 in gold coin for the land, likely savings from wages earned working on the Tobin ranch.

The map to the left is the area north of Vallejo and just south of the Napa County border.[7]  The blue arrow shows the strip of land that M.P. Coronado purchased – between the Napa-Vallejo Road and the Southern Pacific railroad line.  The first red arrow points toward one of the Tobin ranches (1,000 acres in size) that was likely the farm where Manual Madrid and Mariano Coronado and families lived and worked.  It is located about 1 ½ miles from the newly purchased Coronado property.  Just southwest of the Tobin Ranch is another red arrow showing the Vallejo Sulphur Springs location.  After 1895, Manual Madrid would manage and then own this Sulphur Springs – renaming it Blue Rock Springs, which became a well-known resort.

This is a detail showing the 3 ½ acres that Mariano purchased[8].  The Napa-Vallejo road and the railroad are the vertical lines that surround the property.  Note that there is a road that intersects the Napa-Vallejo road just south of the family property.  It was called the Sulphur Spring Road – and was the main road that led to the Sulphur Spring resort and passed by the Tobin Ranch.  Mariano would later open a restaurant and bar at this important intersection.[9]

I don’t know if there was a house on the property that Mariano bought in 1891, but my guess is that there was not.  That meant that Mariano may have organized friends and neighbors to help him build his new home.  He would eventually plant the area with trees (eucalyptus along the road, fig, quince, apple, peach, pear and grapefruit), vegetables, and raised cattle, pigs and horses on the property.

To the right is a photo of the first Coronado home, a modest one story, which Mariano built on his acquired land.[10]

Below is a close up photo of the family on the porch.  Based on the ages of the children these photos were taken in 1899.

Mother, Louisa Coronado, holding baby John (Doc) (3 months old).  Hess in
the middle row (11).  Dolph (12), Jimmy (2), Dutch (7) & Louise (6) in the
bottom row.

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[1] According to my mother, Cecelia Coronado Phipps, Manuel Madrid and Louisa Madrid were cousins.  I haven’t been able to confirm this, but I know that they lived next door to one another in the 1870 Census.  As further evidence of the close family relationship between Manuel and Mariano, Manual Madrid courted Mariano’s sister, Angelita Coronado, and married her in Napa on 18 July 1886.

[2] James F. Tobin was an Irishman born in 1830.  When nineteen years old he moved to America, and settled initially in New York.  In 1855 he moved to California, first San Francisco and then Vallejo.  His first occupation was as a butcher, but he then moved into farming and stock-raising activities.  By 1880 he owned 3,000 acres in the Vallejo area.  History of Solano County, …, A Full and Particular Biography of Its Early Settlers and Principal Inhabitants, Wood Alley & Co, San Francisco, 1879, page 394.

[3] Church baptism records show the children were born in Vallejo; the records are not specific about the actual location.

[4] Certificate of Death, City of Vallejo Death Records, 1891, page 350, accessed from Solano County Genealogical Society Library.

[5]  Mariano began to use his initials “M.P.” instead of his Spanish first name.

[6]  Simon Corcoran bought land from John Williamson the previous year.  The property he sold to M.P. was part of his larger purchase.  The property purchased by M.P. on 22 August 1891 is recorded in the Solano County, California, land records, Book 112, Page 154.

[7] This map is a portion of the Historical Atlas Map of Solano County, Compiled, Drawn and Published from Personal Examinations and Surveys, By Thompson and West, San Francisco, Cal., 1878, page 46-47, map no. 7.  Current GPS coordinates for the locations on the map: blue arrow (family property): https://tinyurl.com/y2u4gqcu ; north red arrow (Tobin Ranches): https://tinyurl.com/y6qhotlt ; south red arrow (Vallejo Sulphur Springs): https://tinyurl.com/y6hzz6vo  (My son, David, identified these current GPS locations and recommended that I include them.)

[8] Ibid

[9] The Sulphur Spring Road is generally where Lewis Brown Drive exists today along with Highway 37.  What used to be the Napa-Vallejo Highway now follows the alignment of Lincoln Highway or Broadway.  The main highway from Vallejo to Napa is now Sonoma Blvd or Highway 29.

[10] These two photos of the first Coronado home and the family are colorized versions of the original black & white photos in my files.  I used the online My Heritage genealogy website which uses a computer generated method of colorizing photos.  They turn out to be clearer than the original black & white photos.

Coronado Family Gathering - Mother's Day 1935

It was the first Mother’s Day for Louisa Coronado after the September 1934 death of her husband, Mariano Coronado.  Six of her children and five grandchildren were there to help Louisa celebrate the day.  Her brother-in-law, Enos Coronado, was also present as well as spouses and other family members.

All were dressed up for the occasion on that Sunday, May 12, 1935, and my Uncle Jim Coronado, as usual, was the official family photographer.  He must have insisted that before they all sat down to eat their meal of enchiladas, beans and salad at the Coronado family home on the Napa-Vallejo Highway, that they pose for a picture to mark the day.  Gathering all the family and spouses in the back yard of the family home on a bright sunny day, Jim brought out a chair for Louisa to sit in the center, and asked all the family members to gather around with the grandchildren in the front near Louisa.  He set up his Kodak on a tripod and when everyone was ready snapped the following photo:

  

On the left was “Uncle” Enos Coronado, Mariano’s brother, with his hand on his hip.  Marion (Dutch) Coronado stood next to him in the buttoned sweater.  Next was Naomi Coronado, wife of husband, Paul, who is standing next to her in light suit and tie.

Next in line from left to right is my mother, Cecelia Coronado, and my father-to-be, Harold Phipps, the tall guy in the center (they were not yet married in 1935).  Next is Marian (Toots) Coronado Hickey.  Next to Toots is Charlotte Campbell, mother of Dorothy Campbell, and mother-in-law to Frank Coronado (Dorothy and Frank are in the photo on the far right).

To the right of Mrs. Campbell is Juanita Coronado, wife of Jim Coronado, the photographer.  Over Juanita’s shoulder is Frank Hickey, first husband of Toots, and father of Paul and Kathleen.

Gathered around Louisa Coronado, seated in the center, are the grandchildren.  On the right, Juanita, the tall one, is standing in front of her mother; and the twins, Jim and Jane are on the far right and left.  Closest to Louisa is Paul and Kathleen, daughters of Toots and Frank Hickey.

Just after this photo was taken, everyone thought Jim Coronado, the photographer should be included in the gathering – so he stepped into the picture and my father took a second photo.  Then everyone breathed a sigh of relief and resumed socializing, eating and drinking.