February 21, 2025
Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry presents some more history and genealogy based on a 19th century photo album of volunteer firemen. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
Today I continue with cabinet photo cards of the San Francisco volunteer fire department company known as the Tiger Engine Company No. 14, organized in 1855. The album is housed at the Society of California Pioneers.
In Part 1 I shared research on two of the men in the photo album.
Here is research on four more of the men in the photo album.
Warren Ritch Payne
Warren Ritch Payne (1841-1908), son of California Pioneer and real estate magnate Thedore Payne and Nancy (Ritch) Payne.
The Exempt Firemen of San Francisco: Their Unique and Gallant Record, published in 1900 by the Exempt Fireman Association (of which Payne was a member) noted that he came from good old New York stock. His father was one of the best known and most widely respected citizens of San Francisco in the early days and helped to organize the San Francisco Fire Department in 1850.
Warren R. Payne also became a member of the Independence Hook and Ladder Company No. 3, and was elected to the office of president of that company and served as its secretary and treasurer.
Below is a newsclip announcing Payne’s re-election to the office of president.
Philetus Clark “P. C.” Wilkinson
Philetus Clark “P. C.” Wilkinson (1823-1894), born in Vermont to Elijah and Mindwell (Rawson) Wilkinson. He is listed in the 1880 San Francisco census living on Mission Street and his occupation is “Teamster.”
Wilkinson was also a Commander of the Mt. Horeb Encampment, No. 69 of the Red Cross. Below is a notice he placed in the newspaper for a fellow member’s burial service.
This notice reads:
Companions are requested to assemble at the lodge-room Sixteenth and Valencia streets at 10 o’clock tomorrow (Thursday), to attend the funeral of Bro. [William] Boorman.
Wilkinson married Mary Ann (maiden name unknown) from Maine and the couple did not have children, but he had many siblings who married into the family lines of McElroy, Day, Knowlton, Clark, Dennis, Rand, Cahoon, and Wilson, and left descendants – mostly in the New England area.
Washington Ayer
Dr. Washington Ayer (1823-1899), son of John and Sussanah (Emerson) Ayer. He married Hannah Augusta Willard, daughter of Orin and Susan (Wyeth) Willard.
Dr. Ayer died on 15 February 1899. I found his obituary, titled “Death of a Pioneer Doctor.”
According to this obituary, Dr. Ayer was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, near the home of Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier, and received his medical degree from Harvard. He came to California in 1849 on the ship Lenore during the gold rush. He was a miner and a hotel keeper, and eventually settled in San Francisco and opened a medical practice, where he built a large clientele and was very successful. He was the President of the Society of California Pioneers.
An Autobiography and Reminiscence of Dr. Washington Ayer, written by Henry Livingston, includes some very interesting life events – such as his years spent in the gold country towns of Mokelumne Hill and Volcano, in Amador County, California. He was the appointed surgeon during the so-called “French War” of California, a land claim dispute between French and American miners on French Hill, and organized a vigilance committee.
Dr. Ayer helped organize Master of the Volcano Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons. In 1863 he was voted a member of the Board of Education and filled the chair of Professor of Hygiene in the Medical Department of the University of California. Also check out this resource: Dr. Ayer Papers.
Robert Fosdick Bunker
Robert Fosdick Bunker (1836-1895), born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, to Captain Cromwell Mariner and Elizabeth Ann (Hussey) Bunker.
I found an obituary for Mr. Bunker in the newspaper.
This article reports:
Robert Bunker Dead.
The Well-Known Pork-Packer Expires Suddenly while Playing Cards with Friends.
Robert. F. Bunker, the pork-packer and proprietor of a stall in the California Market, died suddenly last night at the home of David Davis, 2320 California Street. His death was caused by heart disease.
In [the] company of some friends, he dined with Mr. and Mrs. Davis. The party was playing cards about 10 P.M. when Mr. Bunker suddenly complained that he could not breathe freely. A doctor was summoned, but before he arrived Mr. Bunker was dead.
The coroner took charge of the remains.
The deceased lived in San Francisco [at the Berkshire Hotel] for many years.
He leaves a widow [Helen A. (Carrique) Bunker of Louisianna, born to Edward D. and Hannah (Yoakum) Carrique] and five children. Mrs. Bunker and a daughter [Ella Hussey (Bunker) Horton] are in Now York and another daughter [Ivy May (Bunker) Taylor] lives in Massachusetts. Dr. Adolph Kahn of this city is married to another daughter [Edith (Bunker) Kahn], but they are also in New York. A son, Robert Bunker, lives in this city, and another son, a young boy [Leroy Carrique Bunker], is at San Mateo. It was impossible to communicate with any members of the family last night.
Below is a photo card advertisement for R. F. Bunker & Co. it reads:
Robert F. Bunker, curer and dealer in California sugar-cured hams and bacon, also, pork, lard, smoked tongues, beef, sausages, etc. Agents for H. M. Dupee & Co’s Chicago hams and bacon. Club house sausages a specialty.
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Note on the header image: 1860 fire engine in San Francisco, California. Credit: Roy D. Graves Collection, Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley.
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