Hi Listers Sue Budlong's email yesterday prompted me to think about early pioneers to California, of whom, I've been tracing James Shugg and his family in the Los Angeles area. He was born in Sithney, Cornwall 1818 to Thomas Shugg and Joan Rowe, married Mary Taylor in 1834, and turned up in Los Angeles where he married Esther Caroline Graham in 1852, and they had 6 children. He was one of the 1st early walnut and orange farmers in Orange County, and dug some of the major early irrigation ditches. His wife nurtured the trees from seedlings and sold them on to other farmers. I've been lucky and there are some records. I'm now wondering about the San Francisco earthquake and fires in 1906. Were the early records of San Francisco pre-1906 destroyed in the fires? Did those records cover an area larger than the city itself? Cheers, Rowena

Although most of the city hall was destroyed, the city hall dome remained, which housed the Hall of Records and did contain many valuable records, particularly title and other legal documents which were saved, but many other records were destroyed, including birth certificates. The follow is taken from Historynet.com: "Ironically, the disaster had an unexpected silver lining for the Chinese. The earthquake and fire completely destroyed city records, including birth certificates. The only way a Chinese person could be a citizen was to be born in the United States, so hundreds came forward after the quake to get new documentation, claiming their birth certificates had been consumed by the flames. Many were successful, though eventually the authorities caught on. If every citizenship claim had been true, each Chinese woman living in San Francisco's Chinatown would have had to have given birth to 500 children!" ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rowena Gough" <rfgough@optusnet.com.au> To: <CORNISH-GEN@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, May 22, 2010 5:56 PM Subject: [CORNISH-GEN] California - early records > I'm now wondering about the San Francisco earthquake and fires in 1906. > Were > the early records of San Francisco pre-1906 destroyed in the fires? Did > those records cover an area larger than the city itself? > Cheers, > Rowena