The California Genealogical Society announces a new book published to coincide with San Francisco's earthquake's centennial year. Dorothy Fowler's work, "A Most Dreadful Earthquake: A First-Hand Account of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire," presents the vivid personal letters of a young San Francisco woman to her sweetheart in Schenectady, New York. The ribbon-bound packet of 40 faded letters, written between February and July 1906, turned up in the archives of California Genealogical Society in 1998, with little to identify the writers or to explain how the letters came to the society. Now, 100 years later the author details the painstaking search to learn more about Sarah Elizabeth PHILLIPS and the Mr. JONES she planned to marry. Sarah's account begins dramatically in the early hours of April 18, 1906, when "we were awaked by a most dreadful earthquake." Through the letters, Fowler follows Sarah PHILLIPS and three other correspondents as the events of that hectic spring and summer unfold, providing a unique insight for today's readers. Fowler is a researcher and volunteer at the California Genealogical Society and she happened to be on hand when the letters were discovered, Her immediate perception was that there must be quite a story to be found in them. Soon she found herself immersed in what she calls "the little project that grew." Using standard genealogical methods, the author was able to identify the parties involved and uncover a fascinating link to America's recent past. Details and how to order the 190-page paperback book -- "A Most Dreadful Earthquake, A First-Hand Account of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire"-- ($15) is available at the society's website: http://www.calgensoc.org/ Previously published in RootsWeb Review: 1 March 2006, Vol. 9, No. 9. http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/review/2006/0301.txt