April 18, 1906

My grandfather, Hugo Reichenbach III, was born in San Francisco in August 1904. His parents - Hugo, Jr. & Laura - were still living there on April 18, 1906 when the earthquake struck. Hugo wrote a letter to his mother-in-law, Augusta Kunzenmuller, who was living in St. Louis. (My family is rather peripatetic on both sides, but we keep turning up in St. Louis, San Francisco, and Mobile, Alabama. My grandfather, uncle, and I were all born in or near San Francisco, but the German sur-named family members tend to collect in St. Louis. My grandparents are buried there.)

I was visiting my mother's cousin, June, a few years ago while June's mother was still living with them. Aunt Elsa was my grandfather's younger sister and she had the letter that her father had sent to Augusta. Obviously, she didn't want to give it me, but she let me copy it out, which I very much appreciate. I tried to be as exact as possible, so there are some missing words and many very run-on sentences. Like me, my great-grandfather sometimes thought faster than he typed, although I use a lot more commas than he did.

Every time I read it I am struck by three things: 1. That Hugo must have been very intimated by his mother-in-law. If the stories that I've heard about Laura are accurate, her mother could very well have been hell on wheels. I understand that people didn't cross Laura lightly. 2. He only ever refers to my grandfather - who was about 18-months-old at the time - as "Baby," never by name. That might have been very common back then when men weren't such frequent visitors to the nursery and children and parents lived more separate lives, but it still seems odd to me from my 21st century perspective. 3. He went back into the house - during an earthquake - to make coffee. It's like being desended from the girl who ran back to the car stuck on the railroad tracks in Teen Angel.

Anyway, here it is.

Letter from Hugo Reichenbach, Jr. to his mother-in-law, Augusta Kunzenmuller following the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906.


San Francisco, Cal. April 24th 1906

Dear Mama: -

You will probably wonder why we have not written more explicitly before this, the fact of the matter is that we have been so upset that we have had no time during the day and it was impossible to do so at night because we were not allowed to have any light in the house. The first note you probably received from us was written the way it was because we had information that telegrams would be sent out and one of our neighbors volunteered to take it over to the sending station but when they got there found that they would not send the message but they would send the paper as mail so they let it go, then the next day I tried again to send a telegram and it was accepted but could not find out if it had been delivered. I am telling you this so that [you] can know that we tried everything to get word to you as fast as possible and if it did not reach you it was not our fault because we did our best.

Now to tell you of our experience, we were awakened about 5.15 by the terrible shaking of the house, it seemed as though everything was being broken, both Laura and I jumped over to the baby’s bed bundled him up and ran out on the sidewalk in our night clothes then after the first fright was over I went back into the house to get some more blankets and clothes for Laura and this way sat for about an hour during which time we had several more shakes, then I [went] back to hurriedly make some coffee on the gas stove but soon realized that this would be the last meal we could prepare this way because the gas pipes had become lose and were leaking a little. About 6 oclock we noticed the big clouds of smoke coming from down town, we then realized that the town had been set afire, and at about ten oclock I went down town but could not go very far as by this time the best part of the business section was all ablase and there was no possibility to get to the office, so I went back home and immediately in company with our upstairs neighbor started to build a house on a vacant lot in the next block. I took a picture of it and will send you one as soon as I can get it finished. We camped in this place almost five nights we started back on the third night because it looked as if it would be very foggy but just as soon as we got into the house a little shake came along and we bundled up and went back to our little shack, then during the fifth night it began to rain so that a further stay in the tent was out of the question we then laid down on the parlor floor near the door, the next night we laid down on the parlor floor again and then because we could see no further cause for alarm we now sleep in our bed as usual. We got off very luckily because we have had only a few pieces of brick a brack broken and some laundry burned that we had given out to washed and our entire loss will not beyond $I0. Our house was n not damaged beyond a few small cracks in the plaster that do not amount to much. The office was entirely burned out in fact the building we were in was one of the first to go however this is no loss to us. Until we know just where we will locate we will have the office in our parlor. It is possible that we will move over to Oakland they have only very little damage there and maybe we would feel a little safer over there, ever the less I do not think we have any thing further to fear from earthquakes, they come about as often as cyclones do in St. Louis. In a few days more we expect to have everything going along as usual. At the present we have no gas and are still compelled to do our cooking out in the street, this is because some of the chimneys may be damaged and until they can be inspected and repaired when necessary the cooking will have to be continued on the street, our water supply is also a little short so that we must economize, it is promised that we will soon enjoy all the city comforts.

Today we received a letter from the Schlosssteins’ they are in Pacific Grove not far from San Francisco and will be [here] as soon as they can get through on the rail road.

Now do not worry about us we are getting along all right in fact the baby got fat while we were camping out.

With love from all we are your children.

Hugo
Laura
Baby