STURDIVANT, GAGAN, WALSH, & LIPMAN
Lots 16 and 17 of Mrs. Barber’s Land are bounded by Alta Vista on the southern end and run steeply up to the ridge line. Three families, Gagan, Walsh, and Sturdivant, related through marriages and a common Irish heritage, built homes near one another on this hillside in Barber Tract.
In September 1904, Elizabeth Barber deeded Lot 17 to Charles R. and Marie J. Gagan. Charles was in born November 1871 in San Francisco. His father, Thomas, was born in Ireland and was a bootmaker; his mother, Mary, a dressmaker. Charles studied law and became a San Francisco Federal Court reporter. He married Marie Josephine Gaynor in 1896. The Gagans built a home at 43 Alta Vista, and in the 1910 census, the Gagan household consisted of Charles, Marie, three sons (Brian, and twins Kenneth and Alan), two daughters (Helen and Suzette), Kato, a cook, Julia F. Green, a cousin, and Katherine Walsh, Marie’s sister. A third daughter, Marie was born later in 1910.
The Gagans were active in local society and the St. Anselm’s congregation. They were frequently mentioned in the society news in the San Anselmo Herald. The children attended San Anselmo Main School and appear in class photographs. Charles Gagan served on the San Anselmo Town Board of Trustees from April 1910 to March 1913. He died January 30, 1938 of injuries sustained in an automobile accident. Marie, also critically injured, survived the accident and died in 1956.
Marie’s sister Katherine Walsh and her husband Richard P. Walsh resided with the Gagans on Vallejo Street in San Francisco prior to the move to San Anselmo. The Walshes purchased lot 12A from Mrs. Barber in December 1903. Richard, a traveling salesman, died in 1908 at age 42 and it doesn’t appear that the Walshes built a home on their property. The southern portion of Lot 12A was deeded to Fred and Grace Newell in 1913 by Katherine Walsh.
On May 2, 1905 the Gagans deeded ½ interest in Lot 17 of Mrs. Barber’s Land to B. B. Sturdivant. Benjamin Basil Sturdivant would also acquire portions of Lots 15 & 16 in December 1905 from Mrs. Barber.
Benjamin Sturdivant in Uniform
Benjamin was born October 31, 1869 in San Francisco, the son of Robert O. Sturdivant and his wife Lucretia (Loulie) Hutchinson. Robert Sturdivant and his brothers, Sherrod and Joseph, served in the Creek Wars in Georgia. Robert and Joseph accompanied the Cherokees on the “Trail of Tears,” Joseph having married a Cherokee woman. In 1849 Joseph and Robert joined the California gold rush. They traveled 2,500 miles by wagon train from Going Snake District in Arkansas to Trinity County, California. Joseph became a miner and trader and owned a plantation near the Arkansas Bar on the Trinity River. Robert found employment in San Francisco with the U.S. Mint.
Benjamin, the fourth of six children, worked as a clerk for Butler & Haldan, a fire insurance company. In 1898 he enlisted in the 1st California Regiment of U.S. Volunteers, serving in the Philippines both during the Spanish American War, and during part of the Philippine-American War.
Upon returning home, he married Natalie (Nettie) Christine Daly on July 5, 1900. Nettie was born in San Francisco in 1875, the daughter of James and Nora Daly (both born in Ireland; he a laborer and she a seamtress).
Benjamin Sturdivant with Joe, the horse, and Sturdivant, Gagan, and Lipman children ca. 1907
Benjamin and Nettie built beautiful 2-story shingle house in 1906 at 57 Alta Vista (today the address is 120 Sturdivant). The house had an open sleeping porch and beautiful gardens and orchard. The family raised chickens and had a horse named Joe to pull their buggy up the hill.
Benjamin was connected with the Sturdivant Coal Company and later with the City Coal Company. In the 1920 census, he is listed as president of a coal company.
Nettie died June 7, 1919 leaving Benjamin with three children: Tallentyre, age 17; Helene, age 16; and Marion, age 13. Benjamin died December 22, 1926 at the age of 57. Tallentyre returned to the family home in Barber Tract with his wife, Virginia Greene, and their three children and resided there until 1935. Tallentyre was murdered by bandits in Sonora, Mexico while operating a silver mine, part of the Canenea Cattle Company interests owned by his father-in-law, William C. Greene.
Nettie, Benjamin, Marion, Helene, Tal, and Mary Walsh ca. 1910
On May 12, 1908 Benjamin Sturdivant deeded a portion of Lot 16 to Mary C. Walsh, Nettie’s sister. Mary Celeste Daly had married Louis Kirby Walsh in 1907. He was the brother of the Richard P. Walsh who had married Marie Gagan’s sister Katherine. The Walsh brothers were born in Yuba County to Irish immigrants Anna Kirby and Richard Walsh. As young men they came to San Francisco and found work as salesmen. Louis became a manager for Pacific Hardware and Steel Company. Mary and Louis built a home in the gully at the intersection of Sturdivant and Woodruff and are listed there in the 1910, 1920, and 1930 censuses. Around 1950 the house burned to the ground; today bits of the old foundation and rock walls are still evident.
In December 1906, the Sturdivants sold a portion of their land on Lot 16 to Alexander T. and Elsie Lipman who built a lovely Craftsman home in 1908 above the Sturdivant’s. Alexander was born in 1872 in San Francisco, the son of Charles Frederick Lipman and Frances Caroline Kellogg. He married Ellen (Elsie) Meigs, born 1872 in Australia, in 1898. Alexander was a traveling salesman with Morgan & Allen, a silverware company in San Francisco. He died in 1908 at the age of 36 leaving Elsie with two young children, Alexandria (Alix) and John (Jack). In the 1910 census Elsie is listed with the two children living on her own income. She later was employed as a clerk with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Alexandria and Jack appear in early San Anselmo Main School class photos.
Elsie Lipman died September 9, 1916 when Alix was 17 and Jack was 11. Just prior to her death she deeded her property in Barber Tract, with its dwelling and contents, to her brother-in-law Frederick L. Lipman. The deed was recorded at the request of Charles Gagan and was signed and delivered in the presence of Katherine Walsh. In the 1920 census the children are enumerated with Clara and William Maddox in San Francisco. Clara was Marie Gagan’s and Katherine Walsh’s sister. Alix married Anthony Pitre and died in 1990 in San Mateo. Jack Lipman became a Catholic priest.
Photos on this page courtesy of Isabel Fletcher.