Byrd Baker and his whale sculpture, 1976. (Photographer: Nicholas Wilson, Gift of Bruce Levene) On March 15, 2025, the Kelley House Museum hosted four original members of the Mendocino Whale War Association: Heidi Cusick Dickerson, Barry Cusick, Sally Welty, and Lee Welty. Also present was Shana Hadley, granddaughter J.D. Mayhew, who was a founding member of the Mendocino Whale War Association. The panel discussed [...]
Studio portrait of James Nichols. (Gift of Nannie Escola) On October 15, 1879, the Beacon reported Mendocino had been “thrown into a state of excitement hitherto unparalleled by the occurrence of a shocking calamity … two of our most esteemed citizens were atrociously murdered and a third wounded within four miles of our town, their comrades narrowly escaping death.” What made these murders so [...]
Edith Nichols, 1896. The French may be glad to die for love, as the old song goes, but Auggie Heeser was willing to live for it – a very long time. Heeser, son of pioneer Mendocino Beacon publisher William Heeser, fell in love with Edith Nichols when he was 21 and she was 15, but 50 years passed before she married him. Dante met [...]
Ford Family tintype. First row, seated, left to right: Mrs. Martha P. Hayes Ford, Ella Jane Ford, Jerome B. Ford and Susan Fidelia Ford. Second row, standing, left to right: Jerome C. Ford ("Chester"), Catherine Pauline ("Katie") Ford and Charles Denslow Ford. Dated November 1869. (Gift of Alice Earl Wilder) For much of U.S. history, being a mother and wife was more than a [...]
Although Mendocino was a bustling town by 1869 and had experienced several serious fires, it wasn’t until 1887 that a fire company was formed. In March, an executive committee was elected to oversee the formation. Twenty-eight men joined the charter company, including some of the most prominent businessmen in town. By the next month, water cisterns were being excavated. The first, completed in July, was located [...]
In the spring and summer of 1943, the Mendocino Coast was transformed into a lively movie set when Paramount Pictures chose Albion River and nearby locations for the Technicolor film “Frenchman’s Creek.” What began as a tentative scouting trip, reported in the Beacon as a Hollywood representative seeking lodging for a troupe of around 100, quickly grew into a full-scale production. Little River Inn served as [...]
Jean MacCallum circa 1910. (MacCallum - Norris Collection, Kelley House Photographs) Born on December 4, 1882, Jean MacCallum was Daisy and Alexander MacCallum’s second child. The family moved to San Francisco when Jean was around five years old. She visited Mendocino often with her family and would write letters to her Grandmother Eliza. Jean was described as shy among new company, but always kind. [...]
James O’Donnell at twenty years old, 1909. (The James O'Donnell Collection, Kelley House Photographs) In 1886, Elizabeth “Lillie” Williams met John O’Donnell. He came from New York and had been rafting logs with a partner, O.M. Stone, on the Albion River before coming to Mendocino. John and Lillie were married a few days before Christmas in 1887. Before their son James was born on [...]
On January 2, 1926, the Mendocino Beacon published its first edition of the New Year. New Years Day had landed on a Friday, and the Beacon included a small column on the town’s holiday celebrations. Most businesses were closed, and “the day was warm and delightful, and many took advantage of it to spend the greater part of it outdoors.” There weren’t any great town-wide parties [...]
Portrait of Aline Mary Ford, 1888, given to her Aunt Susan Hayes Chalfant as a Christmas gift. Portraits were common holiday gifts in the early days of photography. At this time of year people ask us, “How was Christmas celebrated in the early days?” The answer is it was celebrated much as in all small towns across America. Christmas trees (Mendocino had plenty), church [...]