Gwenlian

Gwenlian MacCallum Yonce’s story begins with loss, love, and a promise. Born Grace MacCallum, she was only seven years old when her father died in 1904 and her mother became terminally ill. During this family crisis, her aunt by marriage, Daisy MacCallum of Mendocino, stepped in. Daisy wrote a heartfelt letter to Grace’s mother, promising to adopt the child, give her a home, and leave her one-third of her estate.

Grace moved to Mendocino, was renamed “Gwenlian,” and was raised as Daisy’s daughter in the MacCallum house overlooking Mendocino Bay. Daisy had two adult children, Donald and Jean, but it was Gwenlian who became her closest companion after the death of Daisy’s husband, Alexander, in 1908. Gwenlian offered comfort, love, and daily support.

As a young woman, Gwenlian left Mendocino to attend finishing school in San Francisco. At 18, she married Albert Hansen, and later married Leslie Keith Yonce. Creative and poetic, she built a successful career as a theatrical producer. She created stage shows, arranged vaudeville performances, and ran dance studios. The Mendocino Beacon praised her productions, and she often returned to Mendocino to entertain the community that had raised her. During World War II, a patriotic poem she wrote for her Air Corps son was published in Oakland newspapers. Even with a busy career and family, she stayed close to Daisy and frequently returned to Mendocino to care for her.

Everything changed when Daisy died in 1953, leaving behind an estate worth nearly three-quarters of a million dollars. The will submitted to probate, written in 1948, left almost everything to Jean and only $10,000 to Donald. Gwenlian was not mentioned at all. Feeling betrayed, she went to court, arguing that the will had been written by attorney Whitting Welch and Jean when Daisy was elderly and mentally weak. She pointed to an earlier 1944 will, written when Daisy was “in full possession of her faculties,” which gave Gwenlian the one-third share she had been promised as a daughter. Newspapers across Northern California followed the case closely, reporting on the growing conflict between Daisy’s foster daughter and her biological children. The legal battle dragged on for years, full of accusations of fraud, undue influence, and hidden documents.

At first, the courts sided with Jean and Donald. But in 1958, the case took a dramatic turn. Gwenlian produced a copy of a letter Daisy had written decades earlier. In it, Daisy promised her sister-in-law that she would raise Gwenlian as a daughter and leave her one-third of her estate. A University of California criminologist confirmed that the letter was genuine, and the judge ruled in Gwenlian’s favor. She was awarded $178,500 (over two million dollars today) in stock, including shares of Standard Oil, Reynolds Metals, Stauffer Chemicals, and Procter & Gamble. Jean and Donald still received property and cash, but the court affirmed that Daisy had always intended to treat Gwenlian as a daughter. Gwenlian’s persistence ensured that Daisy’s promise was honored. She passed away in Santa Rosa in 1984.

Weekly Haunted Tours During October! Costumes welcome! Visit the homes, hideouts, and hangouts of all of Mendocino’s well-known specters, and learn a little of the town’s history along the way. Hear about a stallion and rider who rode into the sea, a tragic shipwreck, a sickly child, and many more of the stories collected from nearly ten years our guide spent interviewing residents of these historic buildings. Your tour will last 1.5 to 2 hours. Advance ticket purchase recommended.