SONOMA COUNTY HISTORY & GENEALOGY LIBRARY
 
 
NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER 2019
Volume 1 Issue 8 

Happy Thanksgiving!
Max Poehlmann carving turkeyMax W. Poehlmann's Turkeys
By Katherine J. Rinehart
 
Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I thought an article on Max Poehlmann, who not only hatched chickens but also turkeys at his Petaluma Boulevard North facility, was in order. 
 
Max W. Poehlmann was born on June 16, 1890 in San Francisco. When he was 10, Max moved to Petaluma, where his father established the Poehlmann Tannery on Wilson near Jefferson Street. As a teen, Max was employed at the tannery, but by the time he registered for the draft in 1917, he was residing in Alaska, working as a fisherman, and, according to Ernest Finley’s History of Sonoma County, also doing a bit of mining and prospecting as well as railroad work.
 
When Max returned to Petaluma after serving in France during World War I, he joined his parents in their newly established hatchery business at 620 Main Street (now 620 Petaluma Boulevard North). In 1921 Max married Nell Jones, a native of Texas. A year later his father passed away leaving the hatchery to Max and his mother. The business prospered, and in 1927 the Poehlmanns hired Oscar Johnson, a local contractor, to build a new hatchery. By 1937, the new hatchery had a capacity for 250,000 eggs at one time and was producing up to one million chicks per year.
 
Poehlmann Hatchery
This same year, Max with his brother-in-law, Nathan C. Thompson, and poultry specialist William H. Warner, purchased the Yulupa Ranch located on Carriger Road in El Verano, where they raised broad-breasted turkeys. In 1948 the El Verano ranch consisted of 650 acres dotted with dozens of 20x20-foot pens, each housing 400 baby turkeys and heated by 20 Jamesway butane gas brooders.
 
Around 1970, when Max Poehlmann retired, Poehlmann’s nephew, Nathan C. Thompson Jr., and wife, Lois, took over the operation changing its name to their own. They also converted the historic family home on 610 Petaluma Boulevard North into a fine dining restaurant, the "610 Main." Today the building still houses an eatery, the "Thai Cuisine."  
 
Photo, top: Sonoma County Library. Max Poehlmann carving a turkey, about 1947. Right: Sonoma County Library. Poehlmann Hatchery, 1929.
 
Native American Heritage Month
Tracing your Native American Family Roots
 
If you are looking for ways to start, online research guides provided by the National Indian Law Library and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)/Office of Indian Services will furnish you with a wide variety of mostly free resources that you can access from home. The information available ranges from broad general overviews to very specific direct links to Indian census, church and school records. Many of those records were created by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and have been preserved by the National Archives of the United States. Accessgenealogy, a free website that is well known for its in-depth Native American research section, introduces you to individual approaches that can be taken to locate information about a potential American Indian ancestor, depending on how much you already know. Check the tribal history pages, rolls of treaties, acts and agreements, land claims, military records and other activities. 
 
None of these organizations/providers offer family research assistance, nor do they maintain databases that you can directly query to find an ancestor, but with the wealth of information and links to reliable resources, you can easily get started on your own. And don't forget to visit the H&G Library for additional digital and print publications. Click on the book covers below and discover more titles in our collection.
 

 
Native American Heritage Month - Local Events
Stained glass art in Sonoma County
Donald V. Drury at the Central Santa Rosa Library, by Kate Deadder

Drury Panel at Central LibraryWhen the Santa Rosa Central branch of the Sonoma County Library reopened in 1967, patrons were thrilled with the new building designed by architect Francis Joseph McCarthy. The library was a model of modernity featuring sculpted redwood fences, garden walls composed of stone from the 1904 Carnegie building, and stained glass clerestory windows created by artist Donald V. Drury (1927-2018).

Drury was born in London as a third-generation glass designer. In 1957 he immigrated to the United States and worked as a glass artist throughout the San Francisco Bay Area for the next decade. Drury changed careers upon completion of a Master of Library Science degree from UC Berkeley and subsequently became the head librarian for Menlo College.

The fused glass in the Central Branch was created in Drury’s San Francisco studio between 1966 and 1967. The large panels in the Main Reading Room are an abstract panoramic depiction of Sonoma County, from the ocean through the wine region into the Sierras. He also created the whimsical panels of fish, birds, and dinosaurs for the children’s section of the library.

One panel was damaged prior to installation, and two more cracked within the first few months resulting in a lawsuit. Drury is best known for his work on St. Bartholomew Catholic Church in San Mateo. To our knowledge, the panels in the Santa Rosa Central branch are the only example of his work in Sonoma County.           Photos: Steve Alcorta.
 
Drury Panel Central Childrens Room
 
Meet our patrons - Denise Hill
Denise HillDenise, tell us who you are and why you came to the H&G Library today?
I have worked for the advertising department of the Press Democrat since 1996 and lived in the St. Rose Historic District in downtown Santa Rosa for almost 30 years. I am on the Board of Directors for the Historical Society of Santa Rosa and regularly contribute to their newsletter. Today I came to the H&G Library to research a postcard – my husband and I own about 2,000 historic postcards of Sonoma County, mostly Santa Rosa. This card depicts the Santa Rosa Rose Carnival in 1908, and I am trying to identify the buildings in the background.
 
What do you wish people knew about the H&G Library?
First, the friendly, knowledgeable and helpful staff, and second, the collection itself, which is such a rich source of information on the cities in our county and their early residents.
 
What would you like to see added to the H&G's Library collection?
I am aware that a lot of time, work and resources are required, but it would be neat if the H&G Library continued to digitize material from their collection and made it publicly available on the library’s website. Scans of items from the Pedersen’s Furniture Company records, for example, or the Sonoma County Archives would then also be accessible to researchers outside of Sonoma County.
 
What do you do when you are not volunteering?
Hiking and traveling! We went on a river cruise through Romania and Hungary earlier this year, and it was a fascinating experience. I am also on the Board of Directors for the Friends of the Animals of the Redwood Empire (FAIRE). Since 1985 we have provided programs to pets and pet owners in our community and try to increase the number of adoptions in local shelters. I also have two feral and two indoor cats, Raven and Dexter.   
 
What was your most interesting find at the H&G Library or in the Sonoma County Archives? 
I knew that the 1880s two-story house next to ours had been moved to its present location but was never able to determine exactly when. The first piece of the puzzle fell into place when I found the record of a 1923 water permit pulled by a Mrs. Mabel Brush. And when, just a few weeks ago, the digitized version of the 1923-1928 Press Democrat became available through the Sonoma County Library, I was able to find a notice that the house was being moved from B Street! It is quite an interesting story; though almost downtown, the Cooper tract remained open pastureland until the 1920s when it was subdivided and many houses were moved over from different parts of Santa Rosa. 
 
Interview: Simone Kremkau. Photo: Denise Hill.
 
Denise Hill is on the Board of Directors for the Historical Society of Santa Rosa. Read on for more information:
The Historical Society of Santa Rosa was founded in 2012 with the purpose to promote the knowledge of Santa Rosa’s rich and diverse history and to encourage efforts to preserve evidence of the city’s past, thus furthering awareness that history is a seamless web of connections between past and present.
 
Membership offers many benefits: invitations to special receptions, priority access to programs and events, and a subscription to the quarterly newsletter available both in print and online. In 2016, Santa Rosa: The Chosen Spot of all the Earth, a film about Santa Rosa’s history was written, directed and produced for the HSSR by television documentarian Don Cambou. In May 2019, the HSSR donated the Historical Society of Santa Rosa photographs and ephemera collection (1860-2009), collected by Neal Austinson and funded by Denise Hill and Joe Lilienthal, to the Sonoma County History & Genealogy Library. Find out more on the HSSR online and on Facebook.
 
The Hembree House - News from Windsor
Hembree House Exhibits
The Windsor Historical Society hosted the Sonoma County Heritage Network meeting on October 12, 2019. Twenty-five individuals representing several different historical societies, museums and libraries attended. For many of us, it was our first visit to the Windsor Museum’s headquarters – the Hembree House. What a treat it was! If you haven’t been, consider making time to do so, you won’t be disappointed.
The Hembree House, 9225 Foxwood Drive, Windsor CA, 95492. Open Friday, Saturday and Sunday, except for major holidays from 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM.
 
Photos: Katherine J. Rinehart. Exhibits at the Hembree House Museum.
 
Sonoma County Library Events

Windsor, November 22, 2019, 10:30 AM
Northwest, December 12, 2019, 10:30 AM
Guerneville, January 30, 2020, 10:30 AM
Sebastopol, February 5, 2020, 5 PM
Central Santa Rosa, March 11, 2020, 11 AM
Cloverdale, April 9, 2020, 10 AM
Rohnert Park-Cotati, May 15, 2020, 10 AM
History&Genealogy, June 18, 2020, 10:30 
Rincon Valley, July 18, 2020, 10:30 AM
 
Get to know Sonoma County Library Director Ann Hammond, who began her leadership role in March 2019. The monthly meetings provide a safe space for community members of all ages to gather and learn about library news, ask questions and share suggestions. Events are free and open to all.

New! Sonoma County Library
Newsletter
Stay informed about upcoming library events, programs, new services and helpful resources. Monthly. Subscribe here. 
 
Local Events
Saturday, November 16
1 PM - 2:30 PM
Finley Center, Santa Rosa
 
Dr. Margaret Press, co-founder of the DNA Doe Project, an organization with the mission to identify John and Jane Does using genetic genealogy, will share some of the challenges and successes the project has had during its first two years. She will also explain the process with a behind-the-scenes look at their first solved case. 

Because of the Kincaid fire, events may have changed. Please confirm with the event sponsor.
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Sonoma County History and Genealogy Library
Mailing Address: 211 E Street, Santa Rosa, CA 95404
Physical Address: 725 3rd Street, Santa Rosa, CA 95404
Phone: (707) 308-3212 
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Sonoma County Library
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