Patrick Joseph Silk
Birth: 12 Jan 1861, Beech Hill, Grange, Co Galway, Ireland
Death: 18 Jun 1903, San Francisco, CA
Spouse: Ellen Mary Raftery
Birth: 9 Jan 1865, Ballinahatna, Castleblakeney, Co Galway, Ireland
Marriage: 13 Mar 1887, San Francisco, CA
Death: 28 Mar 1910, San Francisco, CA
Children: Mary Alice (1887-1892) Gertrude Marian (1899-1953)
Ellen (1889-1889) Thomas L. (1901-1901)
John Joseph (1890-1953) Catherine Agnes (1902-1969)
Julia Frances (1892-1955)
Patrick Joseph Silk was born on January 12, 1861, in Beech Hill. He was baptized at Bullaun Church on February 10th and his godparents were Michael and Catherine Silk (relationship unknown). Little is known about his childhood specifically, but one can assume he grew up assisting his father with the herds and on the farm. There had been general public education in Ireland from 1831 and the Mahon family had opened and supported three schools in their lands around Beech Hill and Castlerea, but there is no way to know if Patrick attended school. The California Great Register of 1892 and the 1900 US Census did state that he could read and write.
It is not clear exactly what prompted Patrick’s immigration, nor when nor on what ship he came to America, but he and his sister Mary listed 1880 as their immigration year on later census records. They appear for the first time in San Francisco’s Langley Directory in 1882. They lived at 510 Mission Street and Patrick’s occupation is listed as laborer, though the next year he was a bartender at his uncle William Molloy’s saloon on Third Street. He lived with his uncle on Sherwood Place that year, Mary having married and moved out. When his mother and siblings came to San Francisco the next year, he moved in with them at 1428 Mission Street, near 10th. In 1885, Patrick became a teamster and drove a beer wagon for the Jackson Brewery, a job he held for much of the rest of his life. His brother Jim would later join him at that job. Teamster work before the turn of the century was brutal. According to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 85, history,
Prior to the formation of the union, San Francisco teamsters toiled under conditions the Labor Clarion described as "among the most slavish in the west."
The average workday was from 5 a.m. until after 8 p.m., and there was no such thing as regulation of hours, or of working men in shifts. The problem of the
employer was to get as much work as he could out of the flesh and blood of his hired men; the problem of the teamsters was to keep alive."
Death: 18 Jun 1903, San Francisco, CA
Spouse: Ellen Mary Raftery
Birth: 9 Jan 1865, Ballinahatna, Castleblakeney, Co Galway, Ireland
Marriage: 13 Mar 1887, San Francisco, CA
Death: 28 Mar 1910, San Francisco, CA
Children: Mary Alice (1887-1892) Gertrude Marian (1899-1953)
Ellen (1889-1889) Thomas L. (1901-1901)
John Joseph (1890-1953) Catherine Agnes (1902-1969)
Julia Frances (1892-1955)
Patrick Joseph Silk was born on January 12, 1861, in Beech Hill. He was baptized at Bullaun Church on February 10th and his godparents were Michael and Catherine Silk (relationship unknown). Little is known about his childhood specifically, but one can assume he grew up assisting his father with the herds and on the farm. There had been general public education in Ireland from 1831 and the Mahon family had opened and supported three schools in their lands around Beech Hill and Castlerea, but there is no way to know if Patrick attended school. The California Great Register of 1892 and the 1900 US Census did state that he could read and write.
It is not clear exactly what prompted Patrick’s immigration, nor when nor on what ship he came to America, but he and his sister Mary listed 1880 as their immigration year on later census records. They appear for the first time in San Francisco’s Langley Directory in 1882. They lived at 510 Mission Street and Patrick’s occupation is listed as laborer, though the next year he was a bartender at his uncle William Molloy’s saloon on Third Street. He lived with his uncle on Sherwood Place that year, Mary having married and moved out. When his mother and siblings came to San Francisco the next year, he moved in with them at 1428 Mission Street, near 10th. In 1885, Patrick became a teamster and drove a beer wagon for the Jackson Brewery, a job he held for much of the rest of his life. His brother Jim would later join him at that job. Teamster work before the turn of the century was brutal. According to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 85, history,
Prior to the formation of the union, San Francisco teamsters toiled under conditions the Labor Clarion described as "among the most slavish in the west."
The average workday was from 5 a.m. until after 8 p.m., and there was no such thing as regulation of hours, or of working men in shifts. The problem of the
employer was to get as much work as he could out of the flesh and blood of his hired men; the problem of the teamsters was to keep alive."
The Jackson Brewery, founded in 1859 by Thomas Green and Jacob Lyon, had a long history in the City. It was one of 76 breweries at one point. Originally, it had been on First Street, between Folsom and Howard, but later moved to 11th and Mission. This was where Patrick would have worked. It moved again in 1905, but that building was destroyed by the 1906 Earthquake. It was rebuilt at 10th and Folsom in 1912. That Romanesque Revival brick building still stands and is an historic landmark (#199) that has recently turned into lofts/condominiums.
For a short time during this new employment, Patrick moved to 2 De Hone, but, by the next year, he was back at 10th and
Mission with the family. This was in St. Joseph’s Parish. In 1883, St. Joseph’s was the site of the founding of the YMI, the Young Men’s Institute. According to the YMI website,
In the late 1800's Irish immigrants in America were subject to a great deal of social and political discrimination. So it wasn't surprising that conversations among Irish Catholics turned frequently to the necessity of organizing. Such a conversation was held on an evening in 1883 by a group of men who stopped to talk "under a lamppost" after a service in front of St. Joseph's parish hall in San Francisco.
Soon after, on Sunday afternoon, March 4, 1883, six young San Franciscans, who were to become internationally renowned as the founders of The Young Men's
Institute, held a meeting in St Joseph's parish hall near the corner of Tenth and Howard Streets with the blessing of the pastor, Father Scanlon. Their purpose
was to form a society for the moral, social, and intellectual betterment of Catholic laymen.
Patrick joined the YMI and was a member of Parlor #3 until his death. He was a devout Catholic and loyal member of St . Joseph’s Parish, even when he lived in other Parishes. He was always at the annual St. Joseph’s Picnic and usually served on at least one committee. That same Father Scanlon that sanctioned the beginnings of the YMI would officiate Patrick’s marriage to Ellen Raftery.
For a short time during this new employment, Patrick moved to 2 De Hone, but, by the next year, he was back at 10th and
Mission with the family. This was in St. Joseph’s Parish. In 1883, St. Joseph’s was the site of the founding of the YMI, the Young Men’s Institute. According to the YMI website,
In the late 1800's Irish immigrants in America were subject to a great deal of social and political discrimination. So it wasn't surprising that conversations among Irish Catholics turned frequently to the necessity of organizing. Such a conversation was held on an evening in 1883 by a group of men who stopped to talk "under a lamppost" after a service in front of St. Joseph's parish hall in San Francisco.
Soon after, on Sunday afternoon, March 4, 1883, six young San Franciscans, who were to become internationally renowned as the founders of The Young Men's
Institute, held a meeting in St Joseph's parish hall near the corner of Tenth and Howard Streets with the blessing of the pastor, Father Scanlon. Their purpose
was to form a society for the moral, social, and intellectual betterment of Catholic laymen.
Patrick joined the YMI and was a member of Parlor #3 until his death. He was a devout Catholic and loyal member of St . Joseph’s Parish, even when he lived in other Parishes. He was always at the annual St. Joseph’s Picnic and usually served on at least one committee. That same Father Scanlon that sanctioned the beginnings of the YMI would officiate Patrick’s marriage to Ellen Raftery.
Ellen Mary Raftery was born on January 9, 1865, in Ballinahatna, Castleblakeney, Galway. The Civil parish was Clonbrock and the church parish was Ahascragh. She was the youngest of the seven children of John Raftery and Mary Grealy. Every time she got married, she got younger. Her three marriage certificates and her death certificate gave different birth dates and none matched the civil record in Ireland. As birthdays were not generally celebrated by the immigrant Irish, knowing how old one was did not get reinforced. Ellen’s sisters-in-law had similar anomalies in their records. Her daughter Catherine could never remember if she was born in 1902 or 1904, and her daughter Gertrude’s driver’s license gave her birth year as 1901 even though she is on the 1900 census.
John Raftery was a farmer who rented 31 acres from James Galbraith, who, in turn, had over 4600 acres of land that had belonged to the O’Fahys before the Williammite settlements of the early 18th Century. Later, the Rafterys were able to buy the land and it—and the previously thatch-roofed building in which Ellen was born—are still in the family. The house is now a storage shed.
John Raftery was a farmer who rented 31 acres from James Galbraith, who, in turn, had over 4600 acres of land that had belonged to the O’Fahys before the Williammite settlements of the early 18th Century. Later, the Rafterys were able to buy the land and it—and the previously thatch-roofed building in which Ellen was born—are still in the family. The house is now a storage shed.
Ellen came to America in 1885 and was working as a live-in domestic at 1928 Octavia in Pacific Heights. It is unknown where or how she and Patrick met, but they were married on March 13, 1887, at St. Joseph’s Church.
They moved to 1006 Minna, just a couple of blocks from the rest of the family, and that was where their first child, Mary Alice, was born. In 1889, they moved to the north side of Bernal Heights. Bernal Heights was part of a Mexican land grant to José Cornelio Bernal. Most of the hill was open pasture and it had been known as Nanny Goat Hill because the Irish in the Mission let their livestock graze it. The base of the north side developed first along Precita Creek as the Mission District crept across Army Street. Precita means “damned, condemned to Hell.” The picture below is from 1888, and the intersection in the middle is where Mission Street crosses Army Street (Cesar Chavez). The white box is the empty lot at 28 Precita, where the Silks would later build their home.
They moved to 1006 Minna, just a couple of blocks from the rest of the family, and that was where their first child, Mary Alice, was born. In 1889, they moved to the north side of Bernal Heights. Bernal Heights was part of a Mexican land grant to José Cornelio Bernal. Most of the hill was open pasture and it had been known as Nanny Goat Hill because the Irish in the Mission let their livestock graze it. The base of the north side developed first along Precita Creek as the Mission District crept across Army Street. Precita means “damned, condemned to Hell.” The picture below is from 1888, and the intersection in the middle is where Mission Street crosses Army Street (Cesar Chavez). The white box is the empty lot at 28 Precita, where the Silks would later build their home.
For the next three years, they lived on Prospect near Coso and had second daughter, Ellen, who unfortunately died at 9 days old. Patrick bought a large family plot at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma and Ellen was the first Silk buried there. Patrick’s mother and siblings lived with them on Bernal Heights for a time, but each sibling moved out as they got married. Most of the marriages, baptisms, and funerals occurred at St. Paul’s Church.
They opened a neighborhood grocery and liquor store named PJ Silk’s two blocks away at the corner of Powell and California Avenues in order to supplement Patrick’s teamster income. (These street names are no longer on the map. Because of confusion with the other California and Powell Streets downtown, the names were changed in 1909 to Coleridge and Powers, respectively.) When Patrick’s sister Delia married new immigrant Martin O’Rourke, Martin worked there as a clerk for a while before becoming a teamster. Patrick’s youngest brother Michael got his start in the store as well. Later, it would become Silk Brothers.
The family continued to grow. At the end of July of 1890, they had their first son, John Joseph, known as Jack. But in December of 1892, tragedy struck as their oldest daughter Mary Alice died from meningitis. Ellen was nine months pregnant at the time and gave birth to her third daughter—Julia Frances, who would always be known as Juel—just one day after burying her first daughter with her second. Juel would later name her own daughter Alice in her sister’s memory. After having four children in rapid succession, there was a seven-year hiatus before Ellen became pregnant again, and another daughter, Gertrude Marian, was born in May of 1899. Two more children, Thomas and Catherine, quickly followed.
There had been no problem at the Jackson Brewery while it was owned and run by William Fredericks, who had bought out Green and Lyon in 1880. But he died in 1889, and his widow took in Daniel Sullivan and George Shafter, two former drivers, as managing partners. In January of 1892, the Brewery was seized by the government for what was referred to as “stamp-lifting.” This was the fraudulent act of selling beer without the revenue stamp. Sullivan and Shafter were accused of defrauding the government of $21,000 in taxes. The Patrick and Jim were temporarily out of work for three weeks until the Brewery settled out of court for $12,500. But the problems escalated later that year.
The Jackson Brewery was at the heart of the conflict between the Brewer’s Protective Association and the Brewery Workmen’s Union. There had been tension since Fredericks’ death over wages, hours and working conditions. The Brewer’s Protective had implemented use of a blacklist and targeted saloons which served union beer. When the union voted to assess its members a $20 fee to build its war chest for the looming battle, the owners of Jackson convinced seven drivers to refuse to pay the assessment. The union suspended the drivers and Jackson refused to fire them. A boycott ensued and Jackson locked-out the workers and brought in scabs. With the support of the Manufacturers and Employers’ Protective, the Brewers’ Protective blacklisted and discharged hundreds of workers. The union opened its own brewery but it failed financially and many of the drivers returned to work at Jackson. Things were settled in favor of the Brewery, but the same problems flared up again in 1898. In 1902, evidence of a trust conspiracy by the Brewer’s Protective Association came to light and the Union gained the upper hand.
It is unknown what part the Silk brothers played in the Union battles, but, given their father’s experience, the situation had to have had an impact. The union continued to organize and the workers unionized as Local 227 of the Beer Drivers and Stablemen of the United Brewery Workmen by 1899. Out of that union work arose the powerful Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 85, founded by “Bloody Mike” Casey and John P. McLaughlin, in 1900. Jim and Michael would later serve as officers in Local 227.
On August 2, 1892, Patrick became a naturalized citizen. The Great Register of that year described him as 31 years old, 5’ 11.75” tall with brown hair, blue eyes, and a light complexion (by 1896 his complexion was ruddy), and with a scar on his forehead. At nearly 6 feet, Patrick was the biggest of the brothers and bigger than all his brothers-in-law. Despite the grocery and boarding house, his occupation was listed as “driver.” In 1896, his occupation was “teamster,” but, in 1898, it was “merchant.” Whatever he listed as his occupation, he continued to drive a beer wagon.
They opened a neighborhood grocery and liquor store named PJ Silk’s two blocks away at the corner of Powell and California Avenues in order to supplement Patrick’s teamster income. (These street names are no longer on the map. Because of confusion with the other California and Powell Streets downtown, the names were changed in 1909 to Coleridge and Powers, respectively.) When Patrick’s sister Delia married new immigrant Martin O’Rourke, Martin worked there as a clerk for a while before becoming a teamster. Patrick’s youngest brother Michael got his start in the store as well. Later, it would become Silk Brothers.
The family continued to grow. At the end of July of 1890, they had their first son, John Joseph, known as Jack. But in December of 1892, tragedy struck as their oldest daughter Mary Alice died from meningitis. Ellen was nine months pregnant at the time and gave birth to her third daughter—Julia Frances, who would always be known as Juel—just one day after burying her first daughter with her second. Juel would later name her own daughter Alice in her sister’s memory. After having four children in rapid succession, there was a seven-year hiatus before Ellen became pregnant again, and another daughter, Gertrude Marian, was born in May of 1899. Two more children, Thomas and Catherine, quickly followed.
There had been no problem at the Jackson Brewery while it was owned and run by William Fredericks, who had bought out Green and Lyon in 1880. But he died in 1889, and his widow took in Daniel Sullivan and George Shafter, two former drivers, as managing partners. In January of 1892, the Brewery was seized by the government for what was referred to as “stamp-lifting.” This was the fraudulent act of selling beer without the revenue stamp. Sullivan and Shafter were accused of defrauding the government of $21,000 in taxes. The Patrick and Jim were temporarily out of work for three weeks until the Brewery settled out of court for $12,500. But the problems escalated later that year.
The Jackson Brewery was at the heart of the conflict between the Brewer’s Protective Association and the Brewery Workmen’s Union. There had been tension since Fredericks’ death over wages, hours and working conditions. The Brewer’s Protective had implemented use of a blacklist and targeted saloons which served union beer. When the union voted to assess its members a $20 fee to build its war chest for the looming battle, the owners of Jackson convinced seven drivers to refuse to pay the assessment. The union suspended the drivers and Jackson refused to fire them. A boycott ensued and Jackson locked-out the workers and brought in scabs. With the support of the Manufacturers and Employers’ Protective, the Brewers’ Protective blacklisted and discharged hundreds of workers. The union opened its own brewery but it failed financially and many of the drivers returned to work at Jackson. Things were settled in favor of the Brewery, but the same problems flared up again in 1898. In 1902, evidence of a trust conspiracy by the Brewer’s Protective Association came to light and the Union gained the upper hand.
It is unknown what part the Silk brothers played in the Union battles, but, given their father’s experience, the situation had to have had an impact. The union continued to organize and the workers unionized as Local 227 of the Beer Drivers and Stablemen of the United Brewery Workmen by 1899. Out of that union work arose the powerful Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 85, founded by “Bloody Mike” Casey and John P. McLaughlin, in 1900. Jim and Michael would later serve as officers in Local 227.
On August 2, 1892, Patrick became a naturalized citizen. The Great Register of that year described him as 31 years old, 5’ 11.75” tall with brown hair, blue eyes, and a light complexion (by 1896 his complexion was ruddy), and with a scar on his forehead. At nearly 6 feet, Patrick was the biggest of the brothers and bigger than all his brothers-in-law. Despite the grocery and boarding house, his occupation was listed as “driver.” In 1896, his occupation was “teamster,” but, in 1898, it was “merchant.” Whatever he listed as his occupation, he continued to drive a beer wagon.
San Francisco in the Gay Nineties was a good time for Patrick and Ellen for the most part. The City was expanding and opportunities were plentiful. In 1890, the family bought a lot from Elizabeth Morgan at the corner of Precita and Coso for $5. On Precita, they began to build a house. The architects were Martens & Coffey, and the contractor was Michael Loftus. (All three men had descendants who attended St. Ignatius and were taught or coached by Patrick’s great grandson.) The building had seven rooms and a bathroom upstairs and a storefront with two back rooms downstairs. There was also a two-room building at the back of the lot that later was turned into a studio apartment. It cost $3500 to build. In 2012, the house sold for $1.225 million. The downstairs was then remodeled, and the building was converted to condominiums. (Click here for a screencast of the history of 28 Precita.)
Real estate was always been a major measure of prosperity and assimilation into American society. Besides the property at Precia and Coso, in 1891, Patrick bought two more lots on Napolean near Orleans from M Zimmerman for $3. He never built anything there, though. In 1894, he and Ellen also bought lot 101 on Coso between Precita and California Avenue, across the street from the boarding house, from Catherine Powell for $10. This property was never developed, either, and was sold in 1901.
The family moved into a house down the block at 6 Precita Avenue, while their new house was being built. While there, they took in a boarder or two, usually a clerk at the grocery store. The water at the new house was finally turned on November 27, 1893. Initially, the house’s address was 8 Precita. Later, as more houses were built on the block, it became 28 Precita. As well as it beinghte family’s residence, Ellen ran a boarding house there which accommodated six or more men at a time. Ellen (and her daughter Juel) would have worked as cook, laundress, and house cleaner. Because she had been married three times, her daughter Catherine and granddaughter Dolores called it the “happy hunting ground” because they thought that was where Ellen found her husbands. Her third marriage was to a lodger, but not at the Precita house. Two cousins did find husbands in her boarding house, though. In the 1900 US Census, residents included Ellen’s two nephews Patrick and Luke Sweeney, John Leonard—a nephew of Patrick’s brother-in-law John J. Leonard —Thomas Shaughnessy, Frank Cunningham, and Steven McCue (or McHugh). McCue seems to have been a Raftery cousin, as his mother was Mary Raftery of Castleblakney. Exactly what the relationships was is unknown as yet. McCue and Cunningham worked at the store, while the others were day laborers.
In the storefront at 6 Precita, Patrick opened Silk’s Hall, where many district political conventions and fraternity meetings were held. The Hall was an active and exciting place. It appeared by name in the newspaper 42 times over the next 10 years. One article referred to the Hall as “the center of this unpaved neighborhood.” The most interesting article was from August 17, 1900, when the headline was “There Was Fun at Silk’s Hall.”
There was a small sized circus at the Democratic meeting in Silk’s Hall on last Wednesday night. President H. J. Stafford did not appear, as it is supposed he expected there would be a noisy meeting and he did not desire to participate. In his absence, the vice president, William Byrne, occupied the seat of honor, and had the pleasure of hearing William Bell tell Thomas Curran what he thought of him. Curran, it must be remembered, is an aspirant for Senatorial honors from the Nineteenth Senatorial District. As a thorn in his side, he suspects that Bell is not his friend. After that meeting Curran will no longer have any misgivings on this subject. The meeting was delayed pending the arrival of Curran, who came in at 9:30 o'clock very much affected by the influence of the Bernal Heights foggy climate. On his arrival, he sought a sideshow interview with Bell, who, he said, would lose his job in Golden Gate Park unless Bell supported him in his fight for a seat in the Senate. This made Bell hot, and he lost no time in informing Curran that he held his position in the park through the good will of A. B. Spreckels, and he (Curran) or no other man could oust him. This manly assertion on Bell's part precipitated a small sized row, which had the effect of breaking up the meeting in good Kilkenny-cat style.
One might wonder what “Kilkenny-cat style” might mean. It means two people who fight until nothing is left. The reference is to a pair of proverbial cats in Kilkenny, Ireland, who fought till only their tails were left. An old limerick went:
"There once were two cats of Kilkenny
Each thought there was one cat too many
So they fought and they fit
And they scratched and they bit
'Til instead of two cats there weren't any."
It is thought to be a metaphor for the towns of Kilkenny and Irishtown that continually squabbled over borders and boundaries.
Silk’s Hall was the site of many political meeting. Public figures who spoke there included Congressman James Maguire, District Attorney JD Sullivan, trust-buster Edward Livernash, and Senator Frank French. Even Mayor Phelan, Mayor Schmidt, and party boss Abe Ruef put in appearances. The Hall also served as the site for Patrick’s own minor political aspirations. In 1894, he was elected delegate from the 35th District to the Democratic Municipal Convention. In 1896, he was nominated for District Supervisor under the then-incoming new Mayor Phelan. He came in third in the voting. In 1899, he was appointed to a permanent committee of the newly organized Regular Democratic Club.
Patrick was an active and popular member of the community. His aspirations were less political and more social. Besides running the local hall and being an active member of the YMI, the AOUW, the Young Men’s Catholic Union, and the Ancient Order of the Hibernians, Patrick was elected treasurer of the Pacific Coast Coursing Club in September of 1892 and helped organize the Thanksgiving event, where the prize was $1000. Coursing is the ancient forerunner of dog racing and involved dogs—usually greyhounds—chasing down a rabbit, catching them by speed rather than scent. It involved gambling and was a popular sport among the City Irish at the time. It had a space on the Sports Page of the Chronicle. He entered his dog, Lady B, in the races. She did not win.
In 1894, Patrick served as the aid to grand marshal of the St. Patrick’s Day parade and as aid to the grand marshal of the 4th of July Parade. At the July 4th picnic, Patrick and friend Mike Murphy played handball against Patrick’s brother Jim and Mike’ brother Tom. There was a wager for a barrel of beer, but the paper did not say who won. The Murphy brothers were also wagon drivers at the Jackson Brewery. (Four years later, Tom’s legs would be crushed under his own wagon when he dropped his whip and it hit a horse, starting the wagon and throwing him out.)
There were some minor difficulties along the way. In 1892, one Harry Salinsky sued Patrick for $2550 in personal injuries resulting from an incident where Patrick’s wagon “carelessly ran into the plaintiff.” In 1894, the store at Powell and California was robbed in the middle of the night. The thieves got away with what little cash was in the cashbox and over $200 of wine, liquor, and cigars. They had also taken a French clock, but they dumped down the block when they ran away because it was too heavy. They would have gotten more, but the baker turned up with the morning bread delivery and scared them off. That same year, Patrick sued a blacksmith named Harry Frichett for embezzlement over a phaeton, or open carriage, which Frichett was supposed to sell for him, but which became part of the blacksmith shop inventory when Frichett sold his own business.
On April 3, 1897, Ellen and Patrick celebrated their 10th Anniversary. They threw a party at their home which made the Society Page of the Chronicle. Over 120 people attended and a complete list of attendees was given. Members of the YMI, the Hibernians, and the Tribe of Ben-Hur, Mizpah Court No. 1 (a group to which Ellen belonged). People came from as far way as San Jose. All the Silks were there, except Michael. Several cousins on the Molloy attended, including a Patrick Qualters, a cousin on Patrick’s maternal grandmother’s side. The party went well into the night, with music and song, drink and dance. It was a grand time.
Ellen was in the papers twice herself in 1898. First, she won a race at the St. Patrick’s Day Picnic among the wives of the committee members. Second, and more seriously, she had taken a fall in September of 1896 when she was trying to get off a streetcar at Precita and Mission. The car suddenly jolted forward, and she was thrown violently to the ground. The fall resulted in a back injury that had her in a bed for three months. She hired the attorneys at Sullivan and Sullivan to sue the Market Street Railway Company for $20,000. Finally, in 1898, the judge dismissed the case when the jury could not come to an agreement after two days. The headline read “Practically a Railway Victory.” It was not a surprise in a railroad-dominated town like San Francisco.
The “Railway Victory” seems to be the beginning of a change of fortunes for Ellen and Patrick. In 1898, Patrick and Michael separated the two grocery stores that were Silk Brothers, with Patrick keeping the one on Precita and Michael taking the one at California and Powell Avenues. Michael had moved out of the boarding house and into the apartment over the second store. Later that year, Patrick was knifed in a saloon after work at the Jackson Brewery. (That same year, a friend of Patrick’s uncle was stabbed outside Michael Silk’s saloon. SOMA was not a particularly safe area.) He was not severely injured, but, six months later, Patrick was more severely injured when the buggy he was driving collided with another streetcar at Fourth and Brannan. He was thrown to the ground and received a lacerated scalp and severe facial bruises that landed him in the Receiving Hospital. The buggy was destroyed. He did not bother trying to sue the Railroad this time.
In 1899, a business opportunity arose that Patrick could not resist—but should have! His cousin Patrick Francis Silk, who was a driver for the Mission Brewing Company out in Visitation Valley, told him the owners Constantine Haible and Frank Schnitzer were looking for investors. Patrick and Ellen refinanced the house, borrowing $7500 from The Columbia Banking Company and, with John Hasselwander, became a new partner. Patrick got out of the grocery business by turning the store over to his assistants Steven McCue and Frank Cunningham, and it became McHugh Grocery. It did not fair well, though and, in February of 1901, an auction was held at the store by the New York Auction Company to sell off all the stock, as well as the fixtures and showcases. By 1902, both Patrick’s and Michael’s grocery stores were gone.
1901 was a difficult year all around. The grocery store closed in February. In another effort to get ahead of their financial problems, Ellen sold the lots on Coso and Precita in May. The buyer was a female lawyer and socialite from Santa Cruz named Lucy Underwood McCann. She paid $500 for the lots. On the same day, Lucy sold Ellen 25.6 acres of land in Section 31 of Santa Cruz County for $10. The sale included water rights to Webber Creek. Three months later, Ellen recouped her $10 by selling the Santa Cruz property to her nephew John Sweeney. John got his $10 back in 1904 when he sold the land to CW Hammer and HB Towne.
The Mission Brewery was fined by the federal government for tax evasion because it distributed unstamped beer, the same offence that led to the seizure of the Jackson Brewery in 1892. According to a San Francisco Call article on June 2, 1901:
"The Secretary of the Treasury has approved the terms of a compromise in the case of the Mission Brewing Company of San Francisco, charged with sending out unstamped beer, vis,. A penalty of $3384 tax evaded, $1200 specific penalty, and all costs and expenses."
This was probably the “bookkeeping shenanigans” of which Patrick’s great granddaughter Carol Schneider would later hear. On top of that, John Hasselwander had died of pneumonia in late 1900, and his widow sued the remaining partners to return his investment to her. It is unknown what the cost was, but Patrick also got out of the partnership shortly thereafter. Constantine Haible committed suicide a year later, and Frank Schnitzer kept the brewery running until it finally folded in 1904. Patrick F Silk moved on to be a brewmaster for the Visitation Valley Brewery, but he got out of the brewing business after the Earthquake. He moved in with his sister Delia’s family and became a fireman. He died in 1921.
With the grocery store and brewery gone, Patrick went back to work fulltime at the Jackson Brewery. The family moved to 15 Hampton place, off Howard Street.
Hampton Place no longer exists as a street. It has been covered over by the North Annex of the Moscone Center. The rent was cheap and the house was closer to Patrick’s work, saving commute costs. Two of the boarders from 28 Precita, John Sweeney and Thomas Shaughnessy, were still boarding with them, but the rest of the boarders had scattered. Patrick and Ellen rented the Precita property to the Samuel Stevens family for the next three years.
The summer of 1901 saw a triple dose of grief. Ellen’s nephew Luke and cousin Patt McCue went to Butte, Montana, to visit other Raftery relatives. Luke came down with pneumonia and died on July 10th. Patt died on July 14th , also of pneumonia, supposedly while working in the mine. The bodies were sent back to San Francisco, where Ellen had to handle Luke’s burial. She was nine months pregnant, and Patrick’s second son Thomas L was born on July 19th at Hampton Place. But Thomas was born prematurely. They tried to keep him alive by putting him in a cotton–filled cigar box behind the stove as an improvised incubator, but he only lived seven hours. Poor little Tommy does not even have his name on the headstone of the family plot.
Ellen quickly became pregnant once again in 1902. In December, another daughter, Catherine, was born at Hampton Place. Catherine survived, but she would be their final child together.
Real estate was always been a major measure of prosperity and assimilation into American society. Besides the property at Precia and Coso, in 1891, Patrick bought two more lots on Napolean near Orleans from M Zimmerman for $3. He never built anything there, though. In 1894, he and Ellen also bought lot 101 on Coso between Precita and California Avenue, across the street from the boarding house, from Catherine Powell for $10. This property was never developed, either, and was sold in 1901.
The family moved into a house down the block at 6 Precita Avenue, while their new house was being built. While there, they took in a boarder or two, usually a clerk at the grocery store. The water at the new house was finally turned on November 27, 1893. Initially, the house’s address was 8 Precita. Later, as more houses were built on the block, it became 28 Precita. As well as it beinghte family’s residence, Ellen ran a boarding house there which accommodated six or more men at a time. Ellen (and her daughter Juel) would have worked as cook, laundress, and house cleaner. Because she had been married three times, her daughter Catherine and granddaughter Dolores called it the “happy hunting ground” because they thought that was where Ellen found her husbands. Her third marriage was to a lodger, but not at the Precita house. Two cousins did find husbands in her boarding house, though. In the 1900 US Census, residents included Ellen’s two nephews Patrick and Luke Sweeney, John Leonard—a nephew of Patrick’s brother-in-law John J. Leonard —Thomas Shaughnessy, Frank Cunningham, and Steven McCue (or McHugh). McCue seems to have been a Raftery cousin, as his mother was Mary Raftery of Castleblakney. Exactly what the relationships was is unknown as yet. McCue and Cunningham worked at the store, while the others were day laborers.
In the storefront at 6 Precita, Patrick opened Silk’s Hall, where many district political conventions and fraternity meetings were held. The Hall was an active and exciting place. It appeared by name in the newspaper 42 times over the next 10 years. One article referred to the Hall as “the center of this unpaved neighborhood.” The most interesting article was from August 17, 1900, when the headline was “There Was Fun at Silk’s Hall.”
There was a small sized circus at the Democratic meeting in Silk’s Hall on last Wednesday night. President H. J. Stafford did not appear, as it is supposed he expected there would be a noisy meeting and he did not desire to participate. In his absence, the vice president, William Byrne, occupied the seat of honor, and had the pleasure of hearing William Bell tell Thomas Curran what he thought of him. Curran, it must be remembered, is an aspirant for Senatorial honors from the Nineteenth Senatorial District. As a thorn in his side, he suspects that Bell is not his friend. After that meeting Curran will no longer have any misgivings on this subject. The meeting was delayed pending the arrival of Curran, who came in at 9:30 o'clock very much affected by the influence of the Bernal Heights foggy climate. On his arrival, he sought a sideshow interview with Bell, who, he said, would lose his job in Golden Gate Park unless Bell supported him in his fight for a seat in the Senate. This made Bell hot, and he lost no time in informing Curran that he held his position in the park through the good will of A. B. Spreckels, and he (Curran) or no other man could oust him. This manly assertion on Bell's part precipitated a small sized row, which had the effect of breaking up the meeting in good Kilkenny-cat style.
One might wonder what “Kilkenny-cat style” might mean. It means two people who fight until nothing is left. The reference is to a pair of proverbial cats in Kilkenny, Ireland, who fought till only their tails were left. An old limerick went:
"There once were two cats of Kilkenny
Each thought there was one cat too many
So they fought and they fit
And they scratched and they bit
'Til instead of two cats there weren't any."
It is thought to be a metaphor for the towns of Kilkenny and Irishtown that continually squabbled over borders and boundaries.
Silk’s Hall was the site of many political meeting. Public figures who spoke there included Congressman James Maguire, District Attorney JD Sullivan, trust-buster Edward Livernash, and Senator Frank French. Even Mayor Phelan, Mayor Schmidt, and party boss Abe Ruef put in appearances. The Hall also served as the site for Patrick’s own minor political aspirations. In 1894, he was elected delegate from the 35th District to the Democratic Municipal Convention. In 1896, he was nominated for District Supervisor under the then-incoming new Mayor Phelan. He came in third in the voting. In 1899, he was appointed to a permanent committee of the newly organized Regular Democratic Club.
Patrick was an active and popular member of the community. His aspirations were less political and more social. Besides running the local hall and being an active member of the YMI, the AOUW, the Young Men’s Catholic Union, and the Ancient Order of the Hibernians, Patrick was elected treasurer of the Pacific Coast Coursing Club in September of 1892 and helped organize the Thanksgiving event, where the prize was $1000. Coursing is the ancient forerunner of dog racing and involved dogs—usually greyhounds—chasing down a rabbit, catching them by speed rather than scent. It involved gambling and was a popular sport among the City Irish at the time. It had a space on the Sports Page of the Chronicle. He entered his dog, Lady B, in the races. She did not win.
In 1894, Patrick served as the aid to grand marshal of the St. Patrick’s Day parade and as aid to the grand marshal of the 4th of July Parade. At the July 4th picnic, Patrick and friend Mike Murphy played handball against Patrick’s brother Jim and Mike’ brother Tom. There was a wager for a barrel of beer, but the paper did not say who won. The Murphy brothers were also wagon drivers at the Jackson Brewery. (Four years later, Tom’s legs would be crushed under his own wagon when he dropped his whip and it hit a horse, starting the wagon and throwing him out.)
There were some minor difficulties along the way. In 1892, one Harry Salinsky sued Patrick for $2550 in personal injuries resulting from an incident where Patrick’s wagon “carelessly ran into the plaintiff.” In 1894, the store at Powell and California was robbed in the middle of the night. The thieves got away with what little cash was in the cashbox and over $200 of wine, liquor, and cigars. They had also taken a French clock, but they dumped down the block when they ran away because it was too heavy. They would have gotten more, but the baker turned up with the morning bread delivery and scared them off. That same year, Patrick sued a blacksmith named Harry Frichett for embezzlement over a phaeton, or open carriage, which Frichett was supposed to sell for him, but which became part of the blacksmith shop inventory when Frichett sold his own business.
On April 3, 1897, Ellen and Patrick celebrated their 10th Anniversary. They threw a party at their home which made the Society Page of the Chronicle. Over 120 people attended and a complete list of attendees was given. Members of the YMI, the Hibernians, and the Tribe of Ben-Hur, Mizpah Court No. 1 (a group to which Ellen belonged). People came from as far way as San Jose. All the Silks were there, except Michael. Several cousins on the Molloy attended, including a Patrick Qualters, a cousin on Patrick’s maternal grandmother’s side. The party went well into the night, with music and song, drink and dance. It was a grand time.
Ellen was in the papers twice herself in 1898. First, she won a race at the St. Patrick’s Day Picnic among the wives of the committee members. Second, and more seriously, she had taken a fall in September of 1896 when she was trying to get off a streetcar at Precita and Mission. The car suddenly jolted forward, and she was thrown violently to the ground. The fall resulted in a back injury that had her in a bed for three months. She hired the attorneys at Sullivan and Sullivan to sue the Market Street Railway Company for $20,000. Finally, in 1898, the judge dismissed the case when the jury could not come to an agreement after two days. The headline read “Practically a Railway Victory.” It was not a surprise in a railroad-dominated town like San Francisco.
The “Railway Victory” seems to be the beginning of a change of fortunes for Ellen and Patrick. In 1898, Patrick and Michael separated the two grocery stores that were Silk Brothers, with Patrick keeping the one on Precita and Michael taking the one at California and Powell Avenues. Michael had moved out of the boarding house and into the apartment over the second store. Later that year, Patrick was knifed in a saloon after work at the Jackson Brewery. (That same year, a friend of Patrick’s uncle was stabbed outside Michael Silk’s saloon. SOMA was not a particularly safe area.) He was not severely injured, but, six months later, Patrick was more severely injured when the buggy he was driving collided with another streetcar at Fourth and Brannan. He was thrown to the ground and received a lacerated scalp and severe facial bruises that landed him in the Receiving Hospital. The buggy was destroyed. He did not bother trying to sue the Railroad this time.
In 1899, a business opportunity arose that Patrick could not resist—but should have! His cousin Patrick Francis Silk, who was a driver for the Mission Brewing Company out in Visitation Valley, told him the owners Constantine Haible and Frank Schnitzer were looking for investors. Patrick and Ellen refinanced the house, borrowing $7500 from The Columbia Banking Company and, with John Hasselwander, became a new partner. Patrick got out of the grocery business by turning the store over to his assistants Steven McCue and Frank Cunningham, and it became McHugh Grocery. It did not fair well, though and, in February of 1901, an auction was held at the store by the New York Auction Company to sell off all the stock, as well as the fixtures and showcases. By 1902, both Patrick’s and Michael’s grocery stores were gone.
1901 was a difficult year all around. The grocery store closed in February. In another effort to get ahead of their financial problems, Ellen sold the lots on Coso and Precita in May. The buyer was a female lawyer and socialite from Santa Cruz named Lucy Underwood McCann. She paid $500 for the lots. On the same day, Lucy sold Ellen 25.6 acres of land in Section 31 of Santa Cruz County for $10. The sale included water rights to Webber Creek. Three months later, Ellen recouped her $10 by selling the Santa Cruz property to her nephew John Sweeney. John got his $10 back in 1904 when he sold the land to CW Hammer and HB Towne.
The Mission Brewery was fined by the federal government for tax evasion because it distributed unstamped beer, the same offence that led to the seizure of the Jackson Brewery in 1892. According to a San Francisco Call article on June 2, 1901:
"The Secretary of the Treasury has approved the terms of a compromise in the case of the Mission Brewing Company of San Francisco, charged with sending out unstamped beer, vis,. A penalty of $3384 tax evaded, $1200 specific penalty, and all costs and expenses."
This was probably the “bookkeeping shenanigans” of which Patrick’s great granddaughter Carol Schneider would later hear. On top of that, John Hasselwander had died of pneumonia in late 1900, and his widow sued the remaining partners to return his investment to her. It is unknown what the cost was, but Patrick also got out of the partnership shortly thereafter. Constantine Haible committed suicide a year later, and Frank Schnitzer kept the brewery running until it finally folded in 1904. Patrick F Silk moved on to be a brewmaster for the Visitation Valley Brewery, but he got out of the brewing business after the Earthquake. He moved in with his sister Delia’s family and became a fireman. He died in 1921.
With the grocery store and brewery gone, Patrick went back to work fulltime at the Jackson Brewery. The family moved to 15 Hampton place, off Howard Street.
Hampton Place no longer exists as a street. It has been covered over by the North Annex of the Moscone Center. The rent was cheap and the house was closer to Patrick’s work, saving commute costs. Two of the boarders from 28 Precita, John Sweeney and Thomas Shaughnessy, were still boarding with them, but the rest of the boarders had scattered. Patrick and Ellen rented the Precita property to the Samuel Stevens family for the next three years.
The summer of 1901 saw a triple dose of grief. Ellen’s nephew Luke and cousin Patt McCue went to Butte, Montana, to visit other Raftery relatives. Luke came down with pneumonia and died on July 10th. Patt died on July 14th , also of pneumonia, supposedly while working in the mine. The bodies were sent back to San Francisco, where Ellen had to handle Luke’s burial. She was nine months pregnant, and Patrick’s second son Thomas L was born on July 19th at Hampton Place. But Thomas was born prematurely. They tried to keep him alive by putting him in a cotton–filled cigar box behind the stove as an improvised incubator, but he only lived seven hours. Poor little Tommy does not even have his name on the headstone of the family plot.
Ellen quickly became pregnant once again in 1902. In December, another daughter, Catherine, was born at Hampton Place. Catherine survived, but she would be their final child together.
Things seemed to settle down for the next two years, but, in the early summer of 1903, Patrick came down with pneumonia. He died on June 18th, 1903, at their home. He was only 42 years old. His funeral was two days later, starting at the home on Hampton Place, followed by a requiem mass at St. Patrick’s and burial at Holy Cross Cemetery. According to his obituary, Patrick was “a well known resident of the city. He was identified with many Catholic and Irish societies and was highly esteemed.” Besides the YMI, Patrick had belonged to Lodge 247 of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, St. Patrick’s Mutual Alliance Association, Ancient Order of the Hibernians Division No 17, and Leo Assembly No. 4 of the Young Men’s Catholic Union.
Being in debt after Patrick’s death, Ellen signed 28 Precita back over to the Columbian Banking Company and tried to start over. The building at Precita and Mission continued to be called Silk’s Hall for another 10 years. 28 Precita was sold to another Irish immigrant, James Courtney, the next year, and he ran the grocery store and held a political hall called Courtney’s Hall there until 1921. Ellen moved her children to 913 Harrison Street (near 5th Street) where she started another boarding house. The Langley-Crocker Directory listed her occupation as “lodgings,” but her next marriage certificate said storekeeper. According to a Chronicle article in July, 1904,
Mrs. Ellen Silk, who conducted a grocery and saloon at 913 Harrison Street under the name of a relative, John Sweeney, was deprived of her license five weeks ago. It was proved that she had received stolen goods. The [police] board decided last night to allow her to apply for a new license. One of her boarders on Harrison was an iron molder and core-maker named Edward Ryan.
Edward James Ryan was the son of John Ryan (a tanner from Tipperary) and Mary Foley. He was born in San Francisco in 1875. He grew up in the Mission District, first on Florida Street, then around the corner on 19th Street. He was member of the Iron Molders Union No. 164. Ellen and Edward married on November 2, 1905, at St. Boniface Church in the Tenderloin.
The Ryans moved back to the old neighborhood, to 290 California (later Coleridge) Avenue. Edward became a member of the Precita Parlor of the Native Sons of the Golden West. Ellen quickly became pregnant. Bridget and her daughters seem to have been angry with Ellen over this betrayal of Patrick’s memory. None of them remarried after being widowed and they probably thought Ellen should not have, either.
The family was living there on California Avenue and Ellen was four months pregnant when the Earthquake hit on April 18, 1906. They were very lucky in that this neighborhood faired much better than South of Market. The Hampton Place home was completely destroyed. Interestingly, the old home at 28 Precita served as the temporary home for the Ancient order of the Hibernians and was the place where members went for financial relief and to find lost family members.
Later that year, the family moved down the block to 235 California Avenue and their son, Edward A, was born there at the end of August. But their luck did not hold. At the end of December, Edward the father died of tuberculosis at the age of 31. The marriage had not lasted 14 months. A week later, their son Edward died as well. He was only 4 months and 9 days old. They were laid to rest in the Silk plot, with Patrick, Alice, Ellen, and Thomas.
Ellen moved again, this time to 1479 15th Street. She and the family struggled along, again taking in boarders. On June 20, 1909, she married another iron molder, James Thomas Dunleavy. James had been born in 1871 in Boston and was a union mate of Edward Ryan. Their marriage was even more short-lived that the Ryan marriage—only nine months—but this time it was Ellen who went. Ellen died on March 28, 1910, of valvular heart disease at St. Joseph’s Hospital. She was 45 (though her death certificate says 41). She is buried with her first two husbands (though bearing the third husband’s name) and four of her children.
The family was broken apart. John was old enough at 20 and had a job as an iron molder, thanks to Edward, so he went out on his own. Juel was in the 1910 Census as the adopted daughter of Michael and Catherine Ryan. It is unknown who they were, but they might have been connected to Edward Ryan somehow or to the Maggie Ryan who stood up for Mary Silk in 1883. Gertrude could not be found in the 1910 Census, but Juel took her in after she (Juel) moved out one her own and got married in 1913. Catherine was taken in and raised by her Uncle Jim and Aunt Mary Silk. The Silk-Raftery branch of the family became further estranged from the other branches when Gert and Juel both married Jewish men. The schism from the Coogans, O’Rourkes, Conlans, Silks, and Leonards would not be mended for three generations.
Being in debt after Patrick’s death, Ellen signed 28 Precita back over to the Columbian Banking Company and tried to start over. The building at Precita and Mission continued to be called Silk’s Hall for another 10 years. 28 Precita was sold to another Irish immigrant, James Courtney, the next year, and he ran the grocery store and held a political hall called Courtney’s Hall there until 1921. Ellen moved her children to 913 Harrison Street (near 5th Street) where she started another boarding house. The Langley-Crocker Directory listed her occupation as “lodgings,” but her next marriage certificate said storekeeper. According to a Chronicle article in July, 1904,
Mrs. Ellen Silk, who conducted a grocery and saloon at 913 Harrison Street under the name of a relative, John Sweeney, was deprived of her license five weeks ago. It was proved that she had received stolen goods. The [police] board decided last night to allow her to apply for a new license. One of her boarders on Harrison was an iron molder and core-maker named Edward Ryan.
Edward James Ryan was the son of John Ryan (a tanner from Tipperary) and Mary Foley. He was born in San Francisco in 1875. He grew up in the Mission District, first on Florida Street, then around the corner on 19th Street. He was member of the Iron Molders Union No. 164. Ellen and Edward married on November 2, 1905, at St. Boniface Church in the Tenderloin.
The Ryans moved back to the old neighborhood, to 290 California (later Coleridge) Avenue. Edward became a member of the Precita Parlor of the Native Sons of the Golden West. Ellen quickly became pregnant. Bridget and her daughters seem to have been angry with Ellen over this betrayal of Patrick’s memory. None of them remarried after being widowed and they probably thought Ellen should not have, either.
The family was living there on California Avenue and Ellen was four months pregnant when the Earthquake hit on April 18, 1906. They were very lucky in that this neighborhood faired much better than South of Market. The Hampton Place home was completely destroyed. Interestingly, the old home at 28 Precita served as the temporary home for the Ancient order of the Hibernians and was the place where members went for financial relief and to find lost family members.
Later that year, the family moved down the block to 235 California Avenue and their son, Edward A, was born there at the end of August. But their luck did not hold. At the end of December, Edward the father died of tuberculosis at the age of 31. The marriage had not lasted 14 months. A week later, their son Edward died as well. He was only 4 months and 9 days old. They were laid to rest in the Silk plot, with Patrick, Alice, Ellen, and Thomas.
Ellen moved again, this time to 1479 15th Street. She and the family struggled along, again taking in boarders. On June 20, 1909, she married another iron molder, James Thomas Dunleavy. James had been born in 1871 in Boston and was a union mate of Edward Ryan. Their marriage was even more short-lived that the Ryan marriage—only nine months—but this time it was Ellen who went. Ellen died on March 28, 1910, of valvular heart disease at St. Joseph’s Hospital. She was 45 (though her death certificate says 41). She is buried with her first two husbands (though bearing the third husband’s name) and four of her children.
The family was broken apart. John was old enough at 20 and had a job as an iron molder, thanks to Edward, so he went out on his own. Juel was in the 1910 Census as the adopted daughter of Michael and Catherine Ryan. It is unknown who they were, but they might have been connected to Edward Ryan somehow or to the Maggie Ryan who stood up for Mary Silk in 1883. Gertrude could not be found in the 1910 Census, but Juel took her in after she (Juel) moved out one her own and got married in 1913. Catherine was taken in and raised by her Uncle Jim and Aunt Mary Silk. The Silk-Raftery branch of the family became further estranged from the other branches when Gert and Juel both married Jewish men. The schism from the Coogans, O’Rourkes, Conlans, Silks, and Leonards would not be mended for three generations.
Patrick’s story is one of “the American Dream tragically cut short.” The financial stability and social status for which he strove dissipated with his death and his family struggled afterward. He and his wife died younger than anyone else in his generation (other than his two siblings who died in childhood). He witnessed the deaths of three of his seven children, whereas only one of his siblings lost a child. The future, which had looked so bright in 1893, had fallen apart within ten years. His children struggled on and did eventually achieve stability and success for their descendants, but they did not do so with the cohesiveness maintained by their various groups of cousins. It was Patrick’s daring in coming to America that made their achievements possible, but his independence from his siblings and his early death also served as a counterexample of how the dream he had sought might lie beyond reach.