Item #7211 [Autograph letter describing the San Francisco earthquake and its aftermath.]. Ella Watson Mizner.
[Autograph letter describing the San Francisco earthquake and its aftermath.]

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[Autograph letter describing the San Francisco earthquake and its aftermath.]

Tiburon, CA, 21 April, 1906. 8vo (8.5” x 5.5”). 8 pp., half pencil half ink.

An eyewitness account of the San Francisco earthquake by a socially prominent woman, highlighting the grim shock that united the city as well as the class and wealth differences that stratified its aftermath.

“Three fourths of San Francisco has disappeared from the face of the earth & I live to tell the tale.” So opens Ella Watson Mizner’s letter to her only daughter, Minnie, three days after the San Francisco quake. Watson writes on pictorial letterhead from the Hotel Belvedere in Tiburon, where she had lately escaped with friends. She begins by describing her personal experience of the quake (“I could not get out of bed until it was over. When I did get out I found a few photos thrown over but nothing else disturbed”), and goes on to describe ascertaining the gravity and danger of the ensuing fire (“the streets were filled with people out looking at the damage done. But few realized the danger from fire. I went up stairs to see the fire—it was terrible a circle of fire around the City extending out Market Street”) and packing a few belongings with which to leave the city (“I put some papers (valuable) in my black bag a night gown & comb & brush […] a few underclothes a tailor suit & my toilet silver”). Thanks to luck and money (“I was very fortunate in having $40 in my purse, so I can manage to get along”), as well as some timely help from “Edgar” (likely her son), Mizner’s experience of the quake was comparatively easy. She sleeps in the living room of friends whose house survived, and although she notes that “For two days I did not have my face or hands washed, for 2 days there was no water,” she and her friend “Mrs. Bourn” soon manage to become safely installed in the Hotel Belvedere in Tiburon.

From her vantage point now overlooking San Francisco, Mizner extends her account beyond the experiences of herself and society acquaintances:

the city is under martial law & no one is allowed to enter but by pass, and they are trying to get as many out of the City as possible. 300,000 people are homeless, and are fed by the Government. For two days I did not have my face or hands washed, for 2 days there was no water. The mains were broken by the earthquake & they could not find where they [were] broken. This made the fire so fearful […] Eighteen babies have been born in the different parks.

Her account of the physical damage is dizzying:

Phenie’s house, Mrs. Crockett’s, Hopkins, & Harrington houses are all right—so is Mrs. Frys. But the Stanford House, Hopkins Art Museum, Jennie Hoods & the Fairmont Hotel, the Old Crocker House & Will Crockers are gone. The Palace, St Francis Occidental, California Pleasanton St. Dunstans Marie Antoinette, Knickerbocker etc are gone. Trinity Church still stands. St Lukes & Grace are gone. Can you realize how dreadful it all is—”

Amidst the shock and fear, Mizner apparently retained a sense of humor, telling her daughter: “you know Mrs Bourn was critically ill last fall, but this excitement has almost cured her.” The letter closes with “a heart full of love for you and yours,” a quotation of Psalm 23 (“The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want”), and a postscript directing Minnie: “Do not destroy this unconnected & badly written letter, for I cannot write it all again.”

Mizner, her husband Lansing Bond Mizner, and their seven children were one of the “most interesting pioneer families” of Benicia, California, which was initially laid out in 1847 by Lansing’s step-uncle. According to an 1895 article in the San Francisco Call, the family was known and “celebrated” for “the fateful Mizner smile” which “has always been on tap among all the Mizners.” Lansing, an attorney, held several governmental positions, including Collector of Customs for the Northern District of California and State Senator to the California Senate in 1865 and 1867. Their son Addison became a resort architect and was especially influential in Florida, while his brother Wilson pursued an extravagantly varied career as a jokester and wit during the Klondike gold rush and a sports entrepreneur and playwright in New York City. Wilson and Addison became the protagonists of a never-produced musical by Irving Berlin, eventually titled Wise Guy, and of Stephen Sondheim’s more recent Road Show. Minnie, the recipient of this letter and the Mizners’ only daughter, settled in Napa, where her husband founded Stag’s Leap Winery.

A rich and engaging letter from a San Francisco society woman describing her personal experience and the general aftermath of the great earthquake.

REFERENCES: “A Fateful Mizner Smile,” San Francisco Call, 19 Nov., 1895; The Mizners – A Very Interesting Family! at beniciahistoricalmuseum.org.

CONDITION: Small chip on top edge of first page, otherwise very good.

Item #7211

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