There is no man in San Mateo County who is better or more favorably known than August D. Jenevein. For many years Mr. Jenevein was the genial host at the most popular resort in the county,—Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and during the fourteen years that he occupied this position as proprietor since 1878, he met and entertained all the notable characters who passed through the county.

Mr. Jenevein was born in Lorraine, France in the year 1851, on February 15. He lived his early years in the old country and received his education there before he came to America to seek his fortune in the new world.

When about twenty-four years of age he came to California, and shortly afterward took up his permanent residence in San Mateo County where he has remained for the last thirty-eight years. In 1883 he was married in San Bruno to Miss Amelia Schnell.

During the years of his residence in San Mateo County Mr. Jenevein has remained in the hotel business and has prospered to a considerable extent, so that today he owns valuable property and has lucrative business interests in san Bruno where he has invested much of his money, as he believes in the future of this thriving little town. In addition to looking after his own business interests, Mr. Jenevein assumed the duties of trustee of the School Board in 1908. He believes in good schools and the careful education of the young.

Mr. Jenevein is blessed with a large family of children, all of whom have and will receive sound and helpful educations following out his theory of education. Their names are August J. Luvina Gamble, Amelia Sherman, Julia C., George A., Hilda B., Viola C., Hortense E.M., and Joseph E.B.

Source: History of San Mateo County by Philip W. Alexander & Charles P. Hamm page 136-137. Press of Burlingame Publishing Co., Burlingame, CA. 1916.

For its advancement in the last three years San Mateo county owes no more to any one citizen than Major Bert Johnson of Montara, president of the San Mateo County Development Association and chairman of the advisory road commission. In an unparalleled spirit of county loyalty Mr. Johnson has relegated his important personal interests into the background to devote practically all his time and energy to the momentous civic tasks that have been thrust on his shoulders.

When Mr. Johnson accepted the presidency of the San Mateo County Development Association two years ago, he said he would make it a banner year. So great were the fruits of his efforts that some of the county’s most influential men urged him to accept the presidency for one more year that he might carry to completion the great undertakings that he had started. Again his spirit of loyalty overcame his personal duties, and he consented to surrender one more year of time and vim to the county.

During this time Mr. Johnson has represented the county at conventions of civic bodies at San Francisco and different parts of the state. He has become a national authority on highways and development work, and has directed the vast undertakings of the Development Associations. As chairman of the advisory roads commission he carefully watched he expenditure of the $1,250,000 bond issue for good roads in the county.

What time Mr. Johnson allows himself to devote to personal interests finds him secretary and manager for large real estate projects at Montara on the coastside, manager of big land and cattle companies in Mexico and associated with business projects throughout the state.

Major Bert Johnson was born in Iowa in 1874. He has lived in San Mateo county for eight years. Sixteen years ago he was married in San Francisco. Mr. Johnson is a Mason and a member of the Sequoia Club of San Francisco.

Source: History of San Mateo County by Philip W. Alexander & Charles P. Hamm page 122-123. Press of Burlingame Publishing Co., Burlingame, CA. 1916.

After living in San Mateo County for fifty-nine years and holding public office for over twenty-five years, John F. Johnson takes a place among San Mateo County’s leading citizens. Few men, can boast of a longer residence and a better knowledge of the growth and development of the peninsula than Mr. Johnson.

Mr. Johnson spent the first part of his life in Halfmoon Bay when that was the most important town in the county. Later he came to Redwood City where after many years of service in public office he started the J. F. Johnson Abstract Company of which he is the owner and proprietor.

Only few men have been stronger in public office in this county than Mr. Johnson. Important among his public positions were eight years as deputy county clerk and recorder and ten years as county clerk and recorder and then later when the county developed sufficiently to separate these offices, eight years as county recorder.

Mr. Johnson has been as prominent in the business and social life of the county as he has in its political life. He was a charter member and the first past president of the Redwood Native Sons and has been Financial Secretary of that order for twenty-five years. He also belongs to the Elks and Odd Fellows. Mr. Johnson is one of the pillars of the Redwood City Chamber of Commerce and belongs to the San Mateo County Development Association. He is a director of the San Mateo County Building and Loan Association and the Redwood City Realty Company.

John Francis Johnson was born in Halfmoon Bay on September 2, 1856. He resides in Redwood and has two grown children, John Leslie who is practicing law in Santa Cruz and Petra, who is teaching in the Redwood City Grammar school. Both are graduates of Stanford.

Source: History of San Mateo County by Philip W. Alexander & Charles P. Hamm page 138. Press of Burlingame Publishing Co., Burlingame, CA. 1916.

The same high standards which mark all departments of Burlingame’s city government are found in the police department which has been built up to its present state of efficiency and usefulness by George E. Jones who still retains the position he has held for many years as Chief of Police.

In this capacity Mr. Jones has done much for Burlingame. Being a man of lofty ideas he has kept the city free from anything that would cast a single reflection on its moral status. He has had traffic rules enacted and directed the passage of vehicles through Burlingame in such a manner that this city boasts of one of the lowest rates of accidents of any city in the state. Mr. Jones and the capable officers under him have run down many daring criminals, and have recovered stolen goods whose value to their owners can hardly be estimated.

In addition to his activity in the police department, Mr. Jones has served the city in many other capacities. When the town was first incorporated he was appointed Health Officer and Superintendent of Streets by the first board of trustees.

The growth of Burlingame has multiplied many times since he first took office; and has now become a city which has relieved him of these duties. He still retains the responsible position of License and Tax Collector, together with Chief of Police and Truant Officer for the Burlingame School District.

For his efficiency, honesty and ten years of faithful service, his friends awarded him a gold badge of his office.

George E. Jones was born in San Francisco on July 13, 1869. He received his early schooling in San Francisco, and later attended St. Matthew’s Military Academy when it was located on Baldwin avenue in San Mateo, on the ground where the High School now stands.

After finishing school he entered business in San Francisco where he remained until ten years ago, when he moved to Burlingame. Mr. Jones is one of the leading members of the Burlingame Commercial Club and the Royal Arcanum. He resides with his family in his own home at 226 Myrtle Road.

Source: History of San Mateo County by Philip W. Alexander & Charles P. Hamm page 114-115. Press of Burlingame Publishing Co., Burlingame, CA. 1916.

George Henry Kellogg

George Henry Kellogg was born in Sheffield, Massachusetts, on June 11, 1822. His early life was passed in that place, and he was later a resident of New York, and Erie, Pennsylvania. In 1850 he came to California by the way of the Isthmus of Panama. Settling in San Francisco, he became a member of the firm of Flint, Peabody & Company, a business relation sustained for the greater part of his life. In 1853 he returned to Boston, Massachusetts, again by the way of the Isthmus, and there married Catherine, daughter of Daniel and Sarah Eaton Flint, of North Reading, Massachusetts.

Bringing his wife to San Francisco, he built one of the early homes of this city, a home on the corner of Essex Street and Laurel Place, on the then fashionable Rincon Hill. The children born of his marriage were: Kate, George Flint, Frank Putnam, Laura, Emma, Gertrude and Walter Yale. Kate married Joseph Hutchinson. Their children are: Joseph Kellogg Hutchinson, Katharine Hutchinson Post, James Sloan Hutchinson. George is survived by one son, Walter Thompson Kellogg. George married Etta Thompson. He met his death in a railway accident. Frank Putnam died in infancy. Laura is the wife of George Edward Wilson; they have one son, George Osborne Wilson. Emma is unmarried and resides in Palo Alto, California. Gertrude became the wife of Ernest Jones; the two children are Kellogg Jones and Gertrude Flint Jones. In 1892 Walter Yale married Malvina Chase Wilson, widow of Nathaniel Irving Wilson; their daughter is Mildred Kellogg, of Berkeley, California.

After living for some years in San Francisco, Mr. Kellogg moved to Oakland, California, where he was identified with the early life of that place. In 1864 the family went to Redwood City, where they were pioneers in San Mateo County, and where they lived until 1880, when they again returned to San Francisco. Mr. Kellogg was one of the charter members of the Mercantile Library Association, which afterwards became the Mechanics Institute Library.

Mr. Kellogg died in San Francisco in November, 1893.

Transcribed August 17, 2004 Marilyn R. Pankey

Source: "The San Francisco Bay Region"by Bailey Millard Vol. 3 page 413-414. Published by The American Historical Society, Inc. 1924