ORAL HISTORY PROJECT OF THE MARIN COUNTY FREE LIBRARY Anne T. Kent California Room Original recording available at the Anne T. Kent California Room © All materials copyright Marin County Free Library. Transcript made available for research purposes only. All rights are reserved to the Marin County Free Library. Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to the: Anne T. Kent California Room Marin County Free Library 3501 Civic Center Dr. #427 San Rafael, California, 94903

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INTERVIEW WITH ROSE BRIONES
by Carla Ehat & Anne Kent
July 29, 1977

INTERVIEWEE: Rose Briones (RB)
INTERVIEWERS: Carla Ehat (CE) and Anne Kent (AK)
DATE OF INTERVIEW: July 29, 1977
TRANSCRIBER: Marjorie Hoffman



CE: Today is Friday, July 29th, 1977. And continuing the Oral History Program at the California Room at the Marin County Library at Civic Center, this is Carla Ehat. And joining me today is Mrs. Thomas Kent. And we have the pleasure of meeting today with Rose Briones, who resides in Woodville, very close to Bolinas.

RB: Just three miles out of Bolinas.

CE: Three miles. Now Rose, you are the granddaughter of Gregorio Briones. Is that correct?

RB: Yes.

CE: And your grandfather at one time had one of the original land grants in Marin County. And the rancho was right here: Rancho Los Baulines. Tell us, when you were born, Rose, and where?

RB: I was born here, in the two gable house, up the road here, by the creek and I was born there.

CE: And in what year, Rose? 1883?

RB: 1883.

CE: 1883, heavens.

RB: See, I'm pretty old. I’m --

CE: 94.

RB: Yes.

CE: You're in wonderful condition.

RB: I live all alone here. I do all my work, laundry and everything for myself.

AK: You are a smart girl.

RB: And I do my cooking and everything.

AK: Isn’t that wonderful.

RB: But I have a wonderful nephew in San Francisco. He's a policeman, and he comes up and checks my cupboard and whatever he thinks is missing, the next time he comes he brings it to me.

CE: Very good.

RB: He's a wonderful fellow, and his name is Frank Watson and he's in San Francisco.

CE: Now would you tell me a little bit about your family? I know there was your father, Pablo, and an uncle, Jose, and you had an Aunt Maria and then there were two other daughters of Gregorio?

RB: Yes, there was Mrs. Knott and Mrs. McGovern.

CE: Do any members of the family live in this area, other than you, Rose?

RB: Well, there is only one more person and that's Sherman Smith. He's my cousin. He lives up on the mesa.

AK: Yes. I didn't know he was related to you.

RB: Yes, cousins.

CE: Is this true, Rose, that your grandfather was born in 1791 and that he had been the son of Marcus Briones who had accompanied Father Serra to Yerba Buena in 1776? Your great grandfather?

RB: I guess it's right because -- I didn't know very much about this history, but I used to hear my father talk about it. I have my father's picture at the very end there.

AK: Yes, we'll see it before we go.

RB: He's with my sister Belle.

CE: Well now, when your grandfather settled here, he married into the Garcia family, I understand. Your grandfather married into the Garcia family. Ramona Garcia, that would be your maternal grandmother.

RB: Ramona Garcia, that would be my grandmother.

CE: Your maternal grandmother, yes. Did you ever meet her?

RB: Oh, yes.

CE: What was she like?

RB: She was just a little old lady and you ought to see her dance; it was wonderful. She was so tiny, much shorter than I am, and she would pickup her petticoats and dance around the jig, Spanish jig, so she said.

CE: Well, I understand your parents were married at Mission Dolores in 1882.

RB: I imagine so.

AK: My goodness.

CE: This is all from the history books. Do you remember your grandfather, Gregorio, at all?

RB: No.

CE: But you remembered your grandmother more?

RB: I remember my grandmother, yes.

CE: I understand that they had met in Monterey, years ago.

RB: I guess that's correct.

CE: Now, the first house that your grandfather built was sort of a palisade. Is that how you pronounce it? Where was that first house? In Bolinas, wasn't it?

RB: It was just across from the Catholic Church.

CE: And some of it still is there, is it not?

RB: Yes, if the hippies haven't torn it to pieces.

AK: No, I don't think they did, but somebody remodeled it and they didn't --

RB: I think Millers did.

AK: They didn't keep the same nice line that it had first.

RB: No. But that’s it.

CE: How long have you lived in this little house, might I ask?

RB: Well, it's quite a few years because I lived in the city. You know, I went from one of my sister’s to the other one; they were sick.

CE: And took care of them.

RB: Or their husbands were sick. I'd go so that my sister could devote her time to her husband and I'd go and do the housework and do the shopping and do anything for them.

AK: In San Francisco?

RB: In San Francisco, yes. And then of course I'm the last one now; they're all passed away.

CE: You're the last of the Briones?

RB: Yes, I'm 94 and I do all my work here.

AK: That is great.

CE: Now this is where your property is now.

RB: Yes, this is --

CE: How much land do you have around you now? An acre maybe?

RB: It might be, because all in the front and there's quite a bit of property in the back of this house.

AK: Yes, couple of acres, I would think.

CE: Did your family talk much about the way things used to be?

RB: I don't think so, because I was always playing outside and I didn't listen to them.

AK: I wonder when the Owl began to run. Do you know?

RB: The Owl? Well I think that the Peetars boys had the Owl.

CE: Yes.

RB: And my brother, Albert, was the engineer.

AK: I see. But I was wondering about those older people long ago in San Francisco. Did they have to come by stage and horseback to come to Bolinas? How did they come?

RB: They must have come from Sausalito.

CE: Over the mountain by stage.

AK: Well, long before there was a train, I mean.

RB: Well, we never had a train into Bolinas.

AK: No, I know that. But I read where so many people come on horseback, so many of these young, like your grandmother, could have done that.

CE: Do you remember your first visit to San Francisco? Were you a young woman?

RB: I must have been a youngster. I can't remember nothing about that.

CE: No. Well I understand, around here in your grandfather's time there was at one time six lumber mills going. That this was magnificent stands of lumber and it was used, after the discovery of gold, to build San Francisco.

RB: Yes, that's true, I heard about that, yes

CE: As a youngster, there’s no -- It wasn't continuing then, but they used to have the ox carts, the oxen pulling the timber down to Bolinas Lagoon, and then they put it on lighters to deliver it out to the ships. Do you remember any of the vessels, the sailing vessels, that came to Bolinas?

RB: I remember one was the Owl and the Schooner and the Ida A.

CE: Jenny Griffith?

RB: Maybe so. There was three.

AK: Maybe that was long ago.

CE: Do you remember the Flagstaff Inn, Rose?

RB: Yes.

CE: What was that like?

RB: And it fell into the bay at the earthquake.

CE: It really did?

RB: Yes. I think Mr. Parkin ran that.

RB: Mr. Parkin ran that hotel there and it went into the bay at the time of the earthquake.

AK: That's right, yes, they have a big picture of the Canyon Ranch. Now the people who lived at Canyon Ranch, did you know them?

RB: Canyon Ranch.

AK: What is it called?-

RB: That's on the Sausalito road.

AK: Well, it's the top of the bay, you know; it's just at the head of the bay and that's where the Audubon birds are now.

CE: Do you mean when the Menzies had that --

AK: The Menzies bought it later, after --

CE: But the Bourne's had it, Peter Bourne.

AK: Bourne house, the Bourne Ranch. Did you know them?

RB: The Bourne people, yes.

CE: What do you remember about them, what can you tell us?

RB: Mrs. Bourne was my mother's cousin.

CE: Oh, you were related. I didn’t know.

RB: Yes.

AK: I didn't know that. The house is very nice. It's still there, you know.

CE: How would you get around this territory as a young girl, by horseback or carriage? Did you ride?

RB: By buggy or you could ride horseback if you wanted to; we had a buggy.

CE: You had a buggy.

AK: I guess everybody did then.

RB: Sure.

CE: Who were some of your neighbors that you were fond of? I know some perhaps more than others. Were there some neighbors, fellow ranchers, that -- Do you remember Charlie Lauff?

RB: Yes, Charlie Lauff was my uncle.

CE: He was your uncle and he married Maria, not the first time. I think she married somebody else first?

RB: Sebrean.

CE: Sebrean. And then what happened? When he died she accepted Charlie?

RB: Yes, that was it.

AK: He lived a good long time too.

RB: Oh, yes, Charlie Lauff lived a long time. The only time I would see him would be at church.

AK: Where was the church that you went to? Right there near your house, some place?

RB: Across from that old house, yes, and it still stands now.

AK: Yes, still standing.

RB: My father had it rebuilt.

CE: Tell us about your father, Rose. Describe him for us. Tell us about him, his temperament.

RB: Well, he was a very good man, as far as I know, and he was very kind and every day he -- When I was going to school he would come down and bring my bonnet and my shawl so that I could get in the buggy and ride to Bolinas with him.

AK: That was nice.

RB: Yes, it was nice for me then because I was just a young kid going to school.

AK: And what was in Bolinas when you got there? Were there stores?

RB: Yes, there was a store, the Gibson store.

CE: Was running.

RB: At that time. Then Joe Peetars had it next, and well, there was quite a few --

AK: What was the Gibson House? You know they make big stuff of the Gibson House now, beautiful place to go for dinner now, but was it an old place, the Gibson House? They talk about it as if it were old.

RB: Well it's old, it's older than I am, I know.

CE: Well, when your father took you by buggy, that was from your original home up there.

RB: Up here. It's where the two-gable roof house stands up there by the creek.

CE: Oh, up here in Woodville now?

RB: In Woodville, yes.

CE: I see, so that's where he would drive you with the buggy to school.

RB: He would drive me down this way. This is where the old school house was and he would drive down and land there with my jacket and bonnet, because in those days we all wore bonnets.

CE: And the school house was where? Right here?

RB: No, they brought the school house from the McMullen place over the hill. They brought this building.

CE: Was this building the school house?

RB: This building was the school house.

CE: Oh, so you -- Well of course!

RB: And now I own the school house, now I live in the school house.

CE: So you've got it made, Rose! When you look at it now Mrs. Kent, it's rectangular.

RB: I'm the only teacher here.

AK: Isn't that nice. Well now I wonder if it's made of redwood. I wonder --

CE: Probably is. I wonder when it was built. Any idea, Rose?

RB: It was built long time before I was born, I'm afraid.

CE: Before you were born.

RB: And I'm over 94 years old.

AK: Yes, we'll find that out from your friends, the school men. You know the two fellows, McDonald and whatever his name is? The two men who had to do with the schools, they will have the date of this school house.

RB: If they're alive.

AK: Yes, they are.

CE: Well, they're researching that project, so --

AK: Yes, they're writing all kinds of things about the Marin schools.

CE: Tell me Rose, when you were growing up, was there any evidence of the lumber business around here when you were a youngster, or was it mostly ranching? What was going on?

RB: There was that lumber business going by.

CE: There was?

RB: Yes, and all these big places were big ranches and cows, you know, and things like that.

CE: Was your father at home most of the time?

RB: No, because partly he used to be lassoing cow for the butcher or he'd be visiting somebody. He was the only doctor around.

CE: Now tell us about that. That's right, Pablo treated people and he was supposed to be excellent in setting legs and broken bones and putting on splints. How did that come about?

RB: I really don't know. He done it, and that's all I know.

CE: So he was on call. He was on call when somebody was in trouble and he'd get in the buggy and go?

RB: Either that or horseback.

AK: Did you ever go with him?

RB: No.

CE: How far would he go sometimes, up to Olema?

RB: Point Reyes and San Rafael and down here at Stinson Beach. He went all over.

CE: You must have been proud of him.

RB: Well, I was only a youngster when he was doing these things and it didn't mean anything to me.

AK: How long did he live?

RB: Father was 75 when he died.

AK: That's wonderful, to be the doctor to take care of people in such a wide area.

CE: Rose did you have any brothers and sisters?

RB: Oh yes, they're all passed away.

CE: Would you give me their names, please?

RB: Picture of Jack is right there, the last one.

CE: Jack. Alright.

RB: Well, his name was John, but we called him Jack all the time. And here is Belle; she became a nurse in a hospital.

CE: Belle.

RB: And then there was Dottie and she married Ed Fowler. And Inez was -- She married Walsh and the other sisters never married; I never married.

CE: What was the other sister?

RB: There was Fanny and there was -- Can't think --

CE: And just the one brother, Rose, you had just one brother, John?

RB: My oldest brother was Paul and then Jack and there was Frank and Albert.

CE: Gee, big family!

RB: I think altogether there were 12 children.

AK: Imagine that.

CE: Wonderful. Were you all born at home?

RB: I think so. We weren't born in no hospital, because in those days there weren't any hospitals.

AK: That’s right.

CE: Did your mother live as long as your father?

RB: No, he died first. Father died first and then Mother.

CE: I imagine she was a wonderful homemaker.

RB: She was, yes. And she made all our clothes and no sewing machine, by hand.

AK: Oh, think of it.

CE: Now, where would she go to shop sometimes? Would she go to San Rafael to get fabric, or what would she do? Would she take the schooner over to the city? Do you have any remembrances of that?

RB: If she got the material, maybe it was my father that went on the schooner to San Francisco and he done the buying and she done the sewing.

CE: Was she always involved in preserving fruit and --

RB: Yes, done all the canning.

AK: And all the girls learned to do that too, then?

RB: Yes.

CE: Well then you lived here most of your life until you went to help your sisters, when they were sick, didn't you Rose? Didn’t you -- What year would that be when you went away? In the 30s, 40s, World War II time or --

RB: Can't remember.

CE: Were any of your brothers have to go to war?

RB: Maybe Albert did, I don't know, the youngest one.

CE: How would you amuse yourself, if you had any leisure time? Did you like to go out on the countryside around you, by horseback?

RB: No, if there was any amusement there would be a dance you'd go to.

CE: Where would you go?

RB: Druids Hall.

CE: Down here at Olema? Oh, there's one in --

RB: There's one in Bolinas, as you're going into Bolinas the old Hall still stands there.

CE: You like to dance too, like your mother did?

RB: Yes. We all knew how to dance, all of us.

CE: What would you dance, the waltz?

RB: Yes, and polka, square dance.

CE: Square dance. Did they have live entertainment, live music?

RB: The accordion and I think the banjo.

CE: Now could you go to those dances ninety years ago without an escort? Who would take you, your brother, a date, or how did they work that out? Did you have a chaperone?

RB: That I don't remember. We went out a bunch of us together. And then some of my cousins over here from San Rafael and then the whole bunch would go. Nobody in particular, just a bunch of us.

CE: Do you remember when the trains were running from out here all the way up to past Point Reyes Station and all the way up the Russian River? Do you remember your first train ride? Say, either up country or in to San Rafael, Rose?

RB: In San Francisco I went on -- Oh, I can't even remember. I went, I know, on one. I think it was Sausalito and from Sausalito of course you go the ferry boat onto the city. But that's such a long time ago.

AK: That would be in '72. The railroad came in '72.

RB: Well they ran after that. She wasn't born then.

CE: Do you remember any bad winters or storms?

RB: No, I don't.

AK: Shipwrecks?

RB: Uh --

CE: Or unusual happenings that brought all hands out. A shipwreck, Rose?

RB: Well I don't remember what year it was, but --

CE: Well that's alright.

RB: But people were taken off of I think Pebble Beach, I think.

AK: You mean the Coast Guard took them?

CE: The farmers, the ranchers, I bet.

RB: The ranchers took care of them here and then they were, in some way they took them back to the city, but that boat went to pieces there on --

CE: On the rocks, right out there.

RB: Yes.

CE: Well now, let's get back to your school days for a minute, Rose. Do you remember any of your teachers? Or did you have one teacher for everything?

RB: There was one teacher for all the school, yes. My teacher was Richard Carter.

CE: Richard Carter.

RB: And from here he went to Sausalito and he was there. My sister met him and he wasn't teaching he was just working for -- I don't know what you'd say he was working at.

CE: Do you remember some of the subjects that interested you the most? Did you like history, English, what?

RB: I liked history better than anything else.

AK: Good. And here you are making history.

CE: History your favorite subject, and we're in the school house. Did you study California history, Rose?

RB: I guess general history that we had.

CE: General history.

RB: Not just California.

CE: General history of the United States and the world.

RB: Yes.

CE: Where did you sit?

RB: I sat over there.

CE: Mid way on the right side coming in the main door, midway down.

RB: Well I'd been so sick, you know, they moved my bed out here and I have everything right handy. Because I've been very sick. My niece came to visit me, and she found me laying on the floor, and then they had to call the doctor and put me in bed. So they moved all the furniture close, so I would be able to get up I wouldn't have to walk very far and that's why the house looks the way it does.

AK: That’s good.

CE: It's for your convenience.

AK: That's good; that's the way it should be.

CE: When you went to school, Rose --

RB: And I have heart trouble.

CE: Do you?

RB: Yes. the doctor tells me to be very careful and not to get excited and this sort, but I try not to.

CE: Well, we won't tire you; we won't stay too long. Did you come to school about eight in the morning and stay, and bring your lunch, or did you go home?

RB: No, I went home for lunch. And I walked to school and I found every mud hole in the road and I stepped in all of them. Then they asked me, “How did you get your feet so wet?” Well, I said, “I couldn't help it. There it was in the road and I had to walk on it.”

CE: Do you remember any of the names of your classmates, Rose?

RB: Ellen Bourne is one and Mary McCarty was the other one and Helen Wilkins.

CE: Certainly, those are old families.

RB: And that's the Wilkin's Ranch there.

CE: Right across.

RB: Right across from here is the Wilkins Ranch.

CE: Do you know Marin Pepper's mother, Mrs. Waterhouse?

RB: Yes.

CE: What do you remember of her?

RB: Well, I didn't visit her very much but I always met her when we were going to the city on the --

AK: Ferry.

RB: No, no ferry -- stage.

CE: On the stage?

RB: Horse stage.

CE: And what –

RB: And then we'd go on the ferry boat and she'd insist that we go downstairs and have cup of tea, so we'd go downstairs.

AK: She was a lovely woman.

RB: And a piece of cake and by the time we were through, why we we'd be docking in San Francisco.

AK: That’s nice.

CE: Albert was an engineer?

RB: Yes, and he was on these big boats that rode across to China and everywhere.

CE: Oh, so he was away a lot.

RB: He was away a lot. And he was just like a father, very kind to everybody and full of the old nick. Well, my father was like that. You see his picture there? He looks as sober as a judge but -- I remember one time -- They used to serenade my mother for her birthday and this particular time my mother wasn't home. I think she was with my older sister and my older sister was married and she had a baby and my mother was over there. So he came and they were dancing. And you know, years ago the women all wore bustles and the string of her bustle fell and my father, when he came around, he gave it a kick and sent it clear across the room. And my father was full of fun. To look at him you think --

CE: Very serious.

RB: But he was full of the old nick.

CE: Well he certainly was very beloved in this area with his ability as a doctor, too. There's a bird knocked a little piece of wood off the perch.

RB: He's mischievous; he's always by my bed.

CE: I think it's wonderful you let this little parakeet fly freely.

RB: Well, I wouldn't keep him in the cage all the time. I think it's cruel. He goes in when he wants to and he gets up in the morning when he wants to.

CE: Say, I like your Franklin stove you have here, Rose. Do you fire that up often if it's cold?

RB: Yes, once in a while but --

AK: You know, I never saw the little screen made exactly right for it. I think that's beautiful.

CE: Well you can fire that up and warm your tea kettle on it.

AK: Oh, you know those stoves are so much wanted. People go for miles and miles and hunt for those stoves all over the country.

RB: For heavens sakes; it's a good old stove.

CE: Tell me, Rose, did you ever -- Were you ever interested in, as a child, in flowers, wild flowers, or wild life? Did you have any little pets from nature? Do you remember?

RB: I think I had all kind of pets but I didn't specifically care for one, like these calves when they were little, to feed them, you know. And you know you'd put your hand down in the milk and they'd suck your finger and they thought they were sucking the cow. Do you remember that?

AK: I know that too.

RB: Well you see, I have a partner.

AK: She didn't know much, she had never been on a farm. She was really so excited to go on a farm and learn all the things because she was a city girl.

RB: Yeah, city girls never learn anything like that.

CE: No, they miss a lot, don't they Rose?

RB: They do, don’t they?

CE: Did you have to go out in the morning and help with the milking?

RB: Sometimes I did.

CE: Sometimes.

RB: Because my brothers were there then, but --

CE: Did you have some fowl around? Did you have chickens and --

RB: Chickens and turkeys, and geese and ducks. So my mother felt like having a chicken, she'd kill it; she felt like eating turkey, she'd kill that. And we had all kind of -- You've seen the guinea hens, haven't you?

AK: Yes.

RB: They are the noisiest chickens you've ever seen in your life. You haven't seen them?

CE: No.

AK: They say they are good watch dogs.

RB: Yes, and especially when they see the hawk around. They screech and the chickens will fly under the place to cover themselves to get away from the hawk.

End, Side A

CE: Talk about your school days a little more. I guess this Richard Carter really impressed you. Was he a young man?

RB: Yes, very nice teacher. He was very nice to all of us.

CE: How many would you be in your class, a dozen?

RB: I don’t know. You know, out in the country like this you don’t get big bunches in your class.

CE: But maybe twelve? You might have twelve? ten?

RB: Maybe six.

CE: Six!

RB: Yes, because there aren’t so many people in the surrounding country yet as there is now.

CE: You took mathematics? You had arithmetic, history, English, what else?

RB: I had to learn to talk English because I’m Spanish.

CE: Now you spoke Spanish in the home, I presume, Rose, all the time?

RB: Yes, with my mother. My mother never learned to talk English.

CE: Will you pronounce the name of the rancho correctly for us?

RB: Which rancho?

CE: That was your family’s.

RB: The Briones Rancho?

CE: Yes. No, the Bolinas, the Rancho Baulines. How do you say Baulines?

RB: Yes.

CE: Is that correct?

RB: Yes. Baulines.

CE: How do you say Point Reyes Peninsula?

RB: The same as you say it yourself.

CE: Well, that’s sort of the English, Point Reyes, I thought they said.

RB: Yes.

CE: But you did speak Spanish in the home with your mother?

RB: Yes.

CE: And other subjects they had in school? Did you go to the blackboard a lot?

RB: Yes, went and had to stand in the corner lots of times because I didn't know my lessons.

CE: Did you really?

RB: Yeah, and that's the corner I stood in.

CE: Right over there?

AK: That’s cute.

RB: Yes, because this is the old building that we had.

CE: But generally you enjoyed school, didn't you, Rose?

RB: Yeah, but I played a lot.

CE: What did you do when you played? With your pals you'd hike over the hills?

RB: I'd throw spit balls all around the school house.

CE: Oh, you were charming.

RB: Charming? Nobody else said that about me.

CE: “Rose, Queen of the Spit Balls.”

RB: Oh sure, I was a regular tomboy. Done everything anybody else could do.

CE: Did you help around the property? Did you ever help shoe a horse?

RB: No, I didn't do that. I drove a horse.

CE: You drove a horse?

RB: And I rode a horse but I didn't shoe them.

CE: Did you have your own horse for a time in your life? Did you have your own little mare or saddle horse?

RB: No, all the children could use it, the same horse at one time, you know, we shared it with each other.

CE: Do you remember the name of any of your horses?

RB: Just one mare, we called her Tooney.

CE: Tooney?

RB: Yes. And you know, she had a blue eye and a brown eye. Did you ever see an animal like that before?

CE: No.

RB: No - this was - she was a wonderful saddle horse but she would shy at everything. You had to be very careful when you were riding her or driving her because she would shy so much, but she was a nice horse.

CE: Did you ever take the horse and get beyond where you hoped to be. I mean did you ever take a long ride and then darkness come upon you and you'd think, “Oh my goodness I'd better get home?”

RB: No, I trusted the horse; the horse would bring me home safe. I came over the mountain one night dark, my sister was living over there and her husband, he was a game keeper for the Tamalpais place. And I didn't have to drive her. I let the lines loose and she walked down the hill and all those turns, she made all the turns, got into Bolinas and then she took me right to where I was working for Mrs. Gilfellen. Then she went up there and we went to the barn and I told the boy that I couldn't walk up there, for him to come with us and he would bring the horse back and the buggy, and so he did, and there's a winding road facing the ocean and all up where we went.

CE: She knew how to get home.

RB: He brought her home. I went to the stable and had this boy go with us.

AK: Yes, that was good. Miss Gilfellen was on a high hill.

RB: Yes, that’s right. Those were the good old days. We used to go wading in the ocean there, right handy to come up and down from the house and go down that bank. There's steps all the way down to the beach, and then we'd go wading.

AK: That's where they do the surfing now, all those crazy kids, exactly the same place.

CE: You went to the school here until you got tired of it or until you got to the eighth grade and then you finished?

RB: I had to quit because my mother took sick and I was the only one at home. The rest of the girls were in the city and had their jobs and I had to quit and take care of her.

CE: Looks like you've done that all your life, take care of members of your family, Rose.

RB: And then she fell and broke her leg so that made it that much longer for me to take care of her, so I never went back to school. I didn't even graduate out of grammar school.

CE: Well you learned to read. Do you enjoy reading?

RB: Very much, and that's how I get those Reader's Digest; I like those books.

CE: Well we have to bring you some. Do you like to read Geographic?

RB: Yea, but I like the others better.

CE: You like the others. There was a stage that went from Bolinas to Sausalito, I think, wasn't there?

RB: Yeah.

CE: And you'd get it at Bolinas and you'd go right over Tam, right over the mountain?

RB: At one time, yes they went over the mountain, but then after a while they changed the route and they went Sausalito way.

CE: On Sausalito way, too?

AK: You mean around the coast?

RB: Yes.

CE: Oh, that must have been a scary run.

RB: No, it was lovely because we could see the ocean back here and the sun would be going down and then you'd see it and everything. It was a beautiful ride. I have a very dear friend who several times I've gone over to the city with her, Betty Longland. I don't think you know her. And that's the road she loves to drive over and she took me over to the city. I had to go and help my sister because her husband was very sick, you know, and I had to go over and help her out, you know do errands and help her to cook.

CE: Yes, do all the things you have to do.

RB: Yes. So, and then going that way you see the sun going down. It's beautiful going over the mountain like that.

AK: It's the most beautiful, but it's the scariest, though.

RB: Well nothing like that scared me.

CE: No, it was nature which was beautiful.

RB: You know when you live in the country you get used to everything.

CE: Tell me, Rose, have you ever seen a dry year like this winter and this last year? Have you seen it as bad in your lifetime?

RB: No. I don't ever remember it being this bad.

CE: Do you have a well or a spring out here, Rose? How do you get your water?

RB: Well that's just because Mr. what do you call him, is going to come up today or this evening. I was over at Bolinas with a friend of mine and she went back to Calaveras County and she told the situation here and he wanted to bring some big drums to fill them up with water for me so I wouldn't have to carry water any distance.

CE: Where have you being carrying water from?

RB: From the creek.

CE: From the creek?

RB: Yes.

CE: I notice you have a 30 gallon plastic barrel in your kitchen, full of water.

RB: Yes.

CE: Could I get some water for you before we go?

RB: Oh no, they'll do it. And then this -- He's a Mayor of Bolinas. His name is Santos, I think, and he brought this water that's here now.

AK: That jug right there, is that water?

RB: Yes, and this one right here and that one out there. So he said he'd see that I have water all the time.

CE: That's good.

RB: I didn't ask for it; he offered.

AK: That's nice.

RB: And this friend of mine, she's in Calaveras, she went back and she told them about it and that's how I'm getting the water.

CE: Tell me Rose, do you have any family keepsakes of your father's or grandfather's? Like do you have a family Bible in your possession?

RB: There's a family Bible there on the table, but how many things I got in it I don't know.

CE: May I look at it?

RB: Sure.

CE: Rose's family Bible here and it is the Catholic Action Edition and there are some photographs gathered throughout and perhaps we can ask Rose about some of this. Now, here is a young man named George Heckmeyer. Did he become a priest?

RB: Yes, and he's passed away, too.

CE: Did he live around here?

RB: Yes, yes, and one of his sisters is living in San Francisco, Jane Heckmeyer. I hear from her all the time.

CE: And here is an obituary for Frank Briones.

RB: Yes, that's my brother.

CE: Your brother. He died in 1960. May I read from this?

RB: You can, help yourself, my darling, help yourself.

CE: "Funeral services will be held Thursday for Frank Briones who lived all of his 82 years in Bolinas. He was found dead yesterday of natural causes. He was a descendent of the family which settled in the Baulines Rancho in 1837 under a grant from the Mexican government. In his youth he had worked, from time to time, in the timber country in the northern part of the state, but maintained his residence in Bolinas. For many years he was a gamekeeper for the Point Reyes Sportsman Club."

RB: So was my brother Jack at the same time.

CE: Have you ever been over to that club? Have you ever seen that club?

RB: Oh, I haven't been there in a long time. I did go up to see Jack several times.

CE: "But, since 1920, Frank has devoted his time to ranching and to his hobby of raising and experimenting with fruit trees."

RB: That's true, and he’d graft the trees and they'd grow beautifully for him.

CE: "He was last seen on Saturday when he stopped at the home of his sister Rose Briones for a cup of tea.”

RB: That's wrong. He went to my sister Inez when he had the cup of tea. I wasn't there. But that's the only mistake that's there.

CE: "He is survived by three sisters, Rose Briones of Bolinas, Mrs. Inez Walsh and Mrs. Belle Lotter of San Francisco." This is a beautiful Bible. Is this Frank again?

RB: That's Frank. That's him, in his garden with all his beautiful flowers, He had a hobby of raising the prettiest --

CE: Beautiful!

AK: Did anybody carry on -- Did he have children to go on doing it?

RB: Well, Frank never married, you know. My brothers never married but my sisters did.

CE: Here's another photograph of your sisters, I presume.

RB: This is my sister Inez in the middle and that's her daughter Eileen, who's a teacher in Berkeley and this is Ruth, the youngest daughter.

CE: Very nice. Can I see that, Mrs. Kent? Are you able to go out to go to church?

RB: Yes, I go to church on Sundays, yes.

CE: Who picks you up?

RB: Molly and her husband. They come with a car right to the gate here and then she comes in and helps me get my coat on and helps me out and I get to go to church.

CE: Who's Molly?

RB: Molly Texeria.

CE: Oh, Molly.

RB: But she's married, you see, to Tim.

CE: Is that Irene's name or --

RB: Irene is her sister

CE: Oh, her sister.

RB: You know Irene?

CE: Yes, we had the pleasure of meeting her at the Boyd Stewart’s. Who is the lady with her?

RB: That's my sister Belle in San Francisco. She was making -- You know they had this fair for little children little children and she made these dolls that she's holding there. You know, years ago they used to make dolls out of anything, old rags, you know, and that's all I had when I was growing up, these rag dolls.

CE: Surely.

AK: They were nice too. Now the people are doing it; they think they found something new.

RB: Yes, and they are just repeating what we did years ago.

CE: You have this beautiful table. Is this part of the family?

RB: All that belonged to my mother.

CE: And this is a most unusual tablecloth you have here.

RB: Yes, my nephew, he -- I was washing a white tablecloth all the time. “Oh,” he said, “Aunt Rose, you're not going to wash anymore this tablecloth,” so he buys me this thing, so I don't have to wash the tablecloth.

CE: And where was this made?

RB: Well he bought it in San Rafael somewhere. Glen Walsh is the one that gave it to me.

AK: But the table is made in San Quentin.

CE: The table was?

RB: Yes, I think it was made in San Quentin and had a third leg in the middle.

AK: Leafs.

CE: Do you have a photo album in your possession, Rose?

RB: Isn't there one there?

CE: I better say goodbye for today. I certainly thank you for sharing with us some of the reminiscences of your family.

RB: It's alright, but why don't you stay longer?

CE: We don't want to tire you and we want to get our guest going, but it's really been a privilege to meet you.

RB: Well, I've been happy to see you.

CE: And you've been so cordial and hospitable to Mrs. Kent and me. We will come back soon.

RB: I didn't know that's Mrs. Kent.

CE: Yes, that's Mrs. Kent.

RB: Well, what do you know. I never thought I'd ever meet her.

AK: Well, there were a lot of kids, an awful lot of kids, you know.

RB: Yes.

CE: This lady is the prize of the family. She's the one that's interested in history and got me started in this project.

RB: Oh well, that's a good project and I'm glad that you're here.