7 minute read

Marshal(l) L (Louis, Lewes, Lowes) Meeteer (Matear, Meetcer, Meter, Meteer, Meeter, Mateer, Meetier, Metier)

(Possibly the most-misspelled man in San Francisco history)

NB: The 1880 census lists Marshall as having been born in Maryland, with his parents as born in France; but his daughter Mary’s entry lists her father has having been born in France as well. Similarly, Elizabeth C lists herself as born in Maryland from Irish parents, but Mary lists her as born in Ireland. Not clear if this is some sort of transcription error on the part of the census taker.

There was a large group of Meeters in Baltimore, the result of several generations of Quakers running a prosperous and long-running paper mill and bookstore in Newark, Delaware, and Baltimore, Maryland, respectively. However, while it seems from the Baltimore Directories (1815, 1842, 1845, 1851) that there was something of a Meeteer-boom in Baltimore (perhaps extended family arrived in Baltimore to get a leg up from distant relatives now settled), it’s nearly impossible to trace the geneaology of these cadet branches or even say for sure if they’re related.

It does however seem likely he was related, since the paper-milling Meeteers’ star began to wane in the early 1840s, they sold off the paper mill business in 1843 and by 1860 there are no more Meeteers to be found in Baltimore.

At any rate, our first record of Marshall L. Meeteer is from when he married Elizabeth C. Roach on the 20th of September, 1834, in Baltimore County.

Information on Marshall is sparse, but we know he was a member of the “Plane Maker’s Society” (a toolmaker’s union) in Baltimore. His name appears in the meeting minutes from the Feb 4 1836 meeting of the local industrial union in which he and other members of the Plane Maker’s Society petition to be readmitted after falling arrears in dues.

Baltimore Feb 4 1836 The Union met this evening at 7 o clock President in the chair and a quorum present. The Committee of Conference reported an application from the Plane Makers Society praying to be reinstated to their former standing in the Union by paying all arrearages from the time of their default and recommended their admission The Society was on motion admitted as a member and reported the following delegates Marshall L Meeteer Charles S Moran William K Boggus Richard Taylor Edwin Caldwell Mr Robert Bankhead

Apparently there were quite a few making carpenter’s planes in Baltimore in the 1830s, to supply frontier carpenters riding the wave of expansion. Marshall apparently decided rather than to labor making supplies, to go forth to adventure and make his fortune.

We don’t know when he departed Maryland, and we don’t know when he arrived in San Francisco or how he got there, as records of the City’s immigrants were sketchy even with the first City Directories that began publication in 1850. It’s likely that he joined the waves of migrants flooding California after the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill, and the ensuing Gold Rush of 1849.

The Daily Alta California, Volume 9, Number 112, 23 April 1857 mentions an “M L Meeteer” making an heroic and ultimately unsuccessful rescue attempt of two children from a burning building. If this is our Marshall, this is the first evidence of the Meeteer family on the West Coast.

In 1857, somewhere in California, Mary Frances Meeteer was born. Some records show December 8, 1857, in San Francisco.

Marshal first appears in the 1859 edition of the Langley directory as “Meeteer, Marshal L. builder, 183 Montgomery, dwl SW cor Powell and Geary.”

The 1860-61 edition of the San Francisco Directory helpfully tells us that Meeter was an “architect and builder” with a “dwelling SW corner Powell and Geary”. (This area has been widely redeveloped, and is now the shopping center of the City. A fast-fashion store stands at that corner now, but I haven’t researched to find clues to what sort of building might have been there in 1860.)

Marshall maintains his listing as “architect and builder” in the City Directory for 1861-2 but is now listed as “dwelling NW corner California x Powell”, six blocks north.

The City Directory for 1862-3 lists him simply as “carpenter”, but now he now has two places described: “Mission Dolores rear Church” and dwelling NE corner Castro & 17th. The former probably a workshop, and the latter clearly the site of Matear House.

On May 22 1862, Marshall registered to vote, and listed his profession as “real estate”, which is probably fair given that half of speculation in San Francisco in those days consisted of buying cheap land, building on it, and selling it on at a profit.

The City Directory however lists him only as “carpenter” in 1872.

San Francisco Bulletin of June 30, 1874 tells the tale of Mary F. Meeteer graduating from Notre Dame school, the giant Victorian pile across from the Mission. It’s an all-girls’ school, and she’s in the very first graduating class.

At this point the family record gets fuzzy, with the appearance of Isabelle Britton McCurrie on 20 Sep 1876, who if she’s Mary’s child, was born out of wedlock while Mary was just 18. However, all is explained a bit later.

The San Francisco Bulletin for October 2, 1876 Real estate transactions lists:

M.L. Meeteer and wife to C.L. Wulff, lot 24x80 on the east line of Castro, 203 ft south of 17th st, $1800.

In the 1880 census, Marshall and Elizabeth are still living on Castro St. Mary (now age 23) is listed as a single music teacher, still living in her father’s household. Two widows, Elizabeth’s sister Mary C Kelly, 68, a “resident”, and E Doggett, 40, a boarder from England and also a music teacher, are now also living with the family. Mary C Kelly passes away 15 Jun 1880, and is buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery San Francisco. (And then moved to Greenlawn Memorial Park, Colma.)

Mary Frances marries the Englishman Charles H McCurrie on the 29th of June, 1882. Charles, who’s 35 at the time of the marriage, is a widower - his wife Isabella Britton passed away in Dec 1876, a few scant weeks after the birth of Isabelle Britton McCurrie on 20th September 1876. Much of this part of the family remains a little murky, as newspapers were a bit unspecific. At any rate, Mary and Charles raise Isabelle as their own, much to the confusion of later researchers.

Charles is a musician and a businessman. He seems to have a different direction and occupation in every San Francisco Directory, but from his records it’s clear he’s a man of letters, and a musician. He started a company in 1874 with his friend Weber, “McCurrie, Weber & Co.”, publishing sheet music out of San Francisco. You can see an example in the Berkeley archives (but there are a lot of other examples out there).

Somewhere in here, the whole family ups stakes (Mary and Charles, with parents in tow) and moves across the Bay to the Oakland area. Perhaps the Barbary Coast became a little too much to bear.

Marshall appears in the 1882 Alameda County census, listed as a “Marshall Lewis Meeteer”, 67, Architect, Third Ward, 2 - Sept 29 1882. This places him in a fairly narrow area of what is now Oakland CA, but we don’t have an exact street address, alas.

Marshall dies April 2nd, 1885, and Elizabeth sells the property on Block 114 to Andrew Spaulding in 1886. Elizabeth passes away October 7 1892 in Oakland. The rest of the family appears in Alameda, not far away, where they remain through about 1910.

Mary Frances Meeteer, who spells her name a different way on every other document, has five children with Charles Henry McCurrie, only some of whom survive to adulthood. In 1927 they’re randomly living at 45 Court St in Norfolk Virginia.

In 1933, they move to San Diego, moving up and down 4121 Middlesex Dr. Mary passes away 15 Aug 1935. Charles moves back to the Bay Area and passes away 03 May 1936 in Saratoga, California, a much beloved and mourned member of several musical societies.