Headstone for Peter & Agnes (Settlemire) Wittenberg.

The headstone of Peter Wittenberg & his wife Agnes (Settlemire) Wittenberg. Lawn Memorial Park (IOOF) Cemetery.

Photo taken 1996 by John Wittenberg

Peter Wittenberg moved his family from Marin County down to San Luis Obispo County in 1868. Peter took all of their belongings and livestock around the east bay of San Francisco making his way south down the coast with the older children, while his wife Agnes took the clipper ship from Bolinas to San Luis Obispo. She arrived 30 Oct 1868 and this was published 31 Oct 1868. This could have have been a visit Agnes made to her daughter's home in Olema, CA. Daughter Minerva also had two small children at the time of this publication, however, she was married to Charles Parsons, so if Minerva was coming down to visit her family in San Luis Obispo, the newspaper would've referred to her as Mrs. Parsons. I believe this record refers to my ancestor Agnes Wittenberg arriving in San Luis Obispo area for the first time during their move, or she was returning from a visit to Northern California to see her daughter and Grandchildren. There are no records of other Wittenberg families living in San Luis Obispo during this time period for me to consider it being another family.

Additional information:
Records abstracted from the local weekly newspaper, San Luis Obispo Pioneer, revealed that Mrs. Wittenberg arrived 30 Oct 1868 on the steamer Gussie Telfair. After researching through maritime books at the Tacoma Public Library, I located a picture of the Gussie Telfair with a brief history of the ship. Gussie belonged to the California, Oregon & Mexico Steamship Company. The voyages usually began in San Francisco, with stops at Santa Cruz, Monterey & San Luis Obispo: Gussie Telfair, a fast, propeller-driven blockade runner during the Civil War, served routes from Alaska to California from 1869 until 1880, when she was wrecked off Coos Bay, Oregon.