Alexander Constable in Sacramento

[inarcadia]

I'm looking for information about Alexander Constable, a jeweller/watchmaker from Scotland who arrived in Sacramento in 1848. He's listed along with his wife Ann or Anna in the censuses for 1850 and 1860 but then he disappears. There's even a news item in the Sacramento Daily Union for 17 October 1862 that says that his wife, returned to Sacramento after a two-year visit home to Scotland, can't find him and reports his last known whereabouts as near the Mission in San Francisco. I have been unable to find a death record. There is also a notification in the same newspaper of an action for Forcible Entry and Detainer brought in the District Court by Andrew Bates against Alexander Constable and scheduled for 20 November 1860 (damages laid at $600). Can anyone suggest where I might find a record of the outcome of this case?   

[Lisa in California]

I searched around for quite some time, and don't see Alexander anywhere.     Did Ann/Anna eventually return to Scotland?  Actually, my search was for Alexander in California.  I guess there's a chance that the two did not meet up after 1862 and that Alexander eventually settled in a different state.

I also could not find out anything about the court calendar information.  But, I'm not done searching.

In case you aren't aware, "he was engaged near the Mission, San Francisco" could reference the Mission building, or the Mission district in San Francisco.  (It was probably in reference to the Mission, not district.)

[inarcadia]

Hi Lisa. Thanks very much for your response. Ann/Anna Constable dies in Oakland, California, in 1869, but I've no indication that she ever found her husband. And my guess would be that "the Mission" means the San Francisco district, rather than any particular building.

[Lisa in California]

Thank you, inarcadia.  I'll have a look around Oakland, as well.  I'll also take another look for him in 1870 and 1880.

This is a site about "The Mission":
http://www.missiondolores.org/
A bit about Mission District:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_District,_San_Francisco

[inarcadia]

Hi Lisa, Thanks for the Mission links. There are some good links from the Wiki site, though some are old and you have to go looking for the document title from scratch. This is the site where Anna's death is mentioned:

http://www.oaklandgenealogy.com/transcriptions/ForeignPioneers/FP_SCO.html

"ANNA CONSTABLE, who was born in SCOTLAND in 1819, was interred in Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, on April 29, 1869, at the age of fifty. (M. V. C.)"

I don't know if Mountain View Cemetery has any further information.

[Lisa in California]

I don't drive, so I can't promise anything, but there's a chance that I could visit the cemetery within a month or so.

My husband's ancestors are buried in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the "older" headstones are difficult to read.  Your Anna's headstone may also be difficult to read.

Would you like me to try contacting the cemetery to see if they have computerized records?

[inarcadia]

Lisa, that's kind of you but don't worry. I'm not sure the Mountain View Cemetery would have any specific information about Anna Constable either on a headstone or in other records. However, the information on that website is taken from a book called Oakland 1852-1938, ed Hinkel and McCann (Publ Oakland Public Library), which is available in the reference sections of several Oakland and California libraries. I have written to Oakland Libraries to ask if they can tell me anything more.