HEIM |
In 1909 Melvin was living at 1281 O'Farrell Street, San Francisco, and his occupation was a driver. In the 1910 Census, Melvin, now listed as a miner, was enumerated as a lodger with George McGILLIVRAY, a mining engineer. On 5 July 1910, Melvin Roy DONHAM married Rose Marie HEIM in San Rafael, Marin County, CA, though both of them lived in San Francisco at the time. It is unknown why they chose to be married in San Rafael, but it might have been fun and romantic to take the ferry across the Bay. The Golden Gate Bridge would not be built for another twenty-seven years. Melvin was 27½ years old and Rose had just turned 18.
Rose was born 1 June 1892 in Oakland, Alameda County, CA. She was the daughter of French immigrants Louis HEIM and Josephine LORANG, both born somewhere in Alsace, France. Louis, born 25 July 1857, was the son of Thomas HEIM and Rosine LONG.13 Louis HEIM was in the United States by 1875.
Josephine LORANG, b. 27 March 1867, did not come to the U.S. until the 1880s. She either arrived here separately from Louis HEIM and then married here, or they had already married in France and she just had to wait until he earned enough money to buy her passage. They were married sometime before 1887.
CHILDREN OF LOUIS HEIM & JOSEPHINE LORANG
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1 NAME: Louis HEIM Jr.
BORN: 14 Oct 1887 PLACE: San Francisco,SF,CA
DIED: 21 Jul 1947 PLACE: San Francisco,SF,CA
SPOUSE: Margaret McGANN
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2 NAME: Rose Marie HEIM
BORN: 1 Jun 1892 PLACE: Oakland,Alameda,CA
DIED: 14 Jan 1958 PLACE: San Francisco,San Francisco,CA
BUR.: 17 Jan 1958 PLACE: Woodlawn Cem,San Mateo,CA
SPOUSE: Melvin Roy DONHAM
MARR: 5 Jul 1910 PLACE: San Rafael,Marin,CA
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3 NAME: Frank HEIM
BORN: 14 Dec 1894 PLACE: San Francisco,SF,CA
DIED: 12 May 1947 PLACE: San Francisco,SF,CA
SPOUSE: Mabel Elizabeth
SPOUSE: Ester Elizabeth BLUNDON
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4 NAME: Edmond Laurence HEIM
BORN: 1 Oct 1897 PLACE: San Francisco,San Francisco,CA
DIED: 1 Mar 1964 PLACE: San Francisco,San Francisco,CA
BUR.: 4 Mar 1964 PLACE: Holy Cross Cem,San Mateo,CA
SPOUSE: Josephine Christina BORZZANO
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5 NAME: Arthur HEIM
BORN: 31 Aug 1899 PLACE: ,,CA
DIED: 3 Jun 1901 PLACE: ,,CA
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6 NAME: George "Jerry" HEIM
BORN: 7 Dec 1900 PLACE: ,,CA
DIED: 15 Mar 1972 PLACE: San Francisco,SF,CA
SPOUSE: Carrie Louise BONHAM
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7 NAME: Josephine Gladys HEIM
BORN: 21 Aug 1902 PLACE: San Francisco,San Francisco,CA
DIED: 22 Jun 1985 PLACE: San Bruno,San Mateo,CA
SPOUSE: Casper HARE Sr.
SPOUSE: Al O'MANSKY
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Louis HEIM's religion was Catholic and he was a butcher by trade. Genevieve (DONHAM) SUGGS and Lorraine (HEIM) HEISER (daughter of Edmond Laurence HEIM) remember that he spoke French and was overweight. In 1900 he was living at 528½ Alabama Street, San Francisco. Rose could always remember the 1906 earthquake and fire; she told how she stood upon a hill in the City and could see buildings burning all over the horizon.
Louis HEIM died 8 July 1927 in San Francisco. He was cremated and interred at Woodlawn Cemetery, Colma, San Mateo County, CA, on 11 July 1927.
His wife, Josephine, lived on Santa Barbara Avenue in Daly City, San Mateo County, until she died of "acute hyocarditis, due to arteriosclerosis and chronic nephritis" at 3:30 a.m. on 2 June 1941 in San Francisco. She was buried 4 June 1941 at Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma, San Mateo County, California.
Melvin and Rose had four children, all born in San Francisco. They first lived at 1281 O'Farrell, but before 1913 they changed flats and were living at 1283 O'Farrell. By 1917 they moved to 531 Willow Avenue, where they were still living for the 1920 census. Melvin was a teamster, working as a truck driver for a bakery. His 17-year-old sister-in-law, Josephine Gladys HEIM, lived with the family and worked at the same bakery, wrapping up the food goods. After 1921, but before 1926, the family moved to 920 Ingerson Avenue in the Bayview District. There Melvin ran a small grocery store.
CHILDREN OF MELVIN ROY DONHAM & ROSE MARIE HEIM
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1 NAME: Eugene Melvin DONHAM
BORN: 25 Apr 1911 PLACE: San Francisco,San Francisco,CA
DIED: 26 Sep 1958 PLACE: Sebastopol,Sonoma,CA
SPOUSE: Emmarillis Pauline GEHRINGER
MARR: Aug 1933 PLACE: Daly City,San Mateo,CA
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2 NAME: Roy Lee DONHAM
BORN: 2 Jul 1913 PLACE: San Francisco,San Francisco,CA
DIED: 18 Dec 1991 PLACE: Reno,Washoe,NV
SPOUSE: Patria LIPP
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3 NAME: Virginia Hope DONHAM
BORN: 14 Mar 1917 PLACE: San Francisco,San Francisco,CA
DIED: 15 Apr 1995 PLACE: Concord,Contra Costa,CA
BUR.: 20 Apr 1995 PLACE: St Patrick's Cem,Tuolumne,CA
SPOUSE: Mervyn Clement CHIOINO
MARR: 22 Sep 1936 PLACE: Sacramento,Sacramento,CA
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4 NAME: Genevieve Mignon DONHAM
BORN: 6 Apr 1921 PLACE: San Francisco,San Francisco,CA
SPOUSE: Alfred William DeLUCCHI
MARR: 21 Jan 1940 PLACE: Petaluma,Sonoma,CA
SPOUSE: Walter Graham SUGGS Jr.
MARR: 13 Jul 1947 PLACE: Reno,Washoe,NV
SPOUSE: Harold John YAGER
MARR: 5 Dec 1981 PLACE: San Rafael,Marin,CA
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About 1927 the family moved to Petaluma, Sonoma County, CA.14 They lived at 510 Madison Street. There they had one acre of land — apple orchards, loganberries, and blackberries — that led up to the Petaluma River. Melvin ran a poultry farm there with hundreds of chickens. The houses have since been renumbered and today 510 is now 607 Madison Street.
Each morning Melvin had to make the long drive in his Dodge sedan from Petaluma to Sausalito where he took the ferry to San Francisco. There he went door-to-door, selling his chicken eggs. His regular customers in San Francisco were eager to buy farm-fresh eggs. He'd get home around 9:00 p.m. when he'd load the car with eggs for the next morning. He paid Genevieve a nickel per case to candle the eggs, to see if there was any blood in the yolk. Rose took care of the house and children while he was away. Althea (LARSEN) TORLIATT, a childhood friend of Genevieve and a volunteer at the Petaluma Historical Society, remembered Rose as being a "real neat lady, so nice to us". She also said that Rose was "very pretty and looked like her daughter Virginia DONHAM."
About 1946, Rose moved to San Francisco and lived with Genevieve and her daughter Sharon DeLUCCHI. The apartment was at 2401 -24th Avenue, at the corner of Taravel Taraval. Melvin stayed in Petaluma until he sold the farm, before he moved in also at 24th Avenue.
In 1947 Melvin and Rose took a train back to Indiana. He had not been there for fifty years. Before they left the family got together at Mervyn and Virginia (DONHAM) CHIOINO's house on 32nd Avenue, San Francisco, for a group picture. Melvin and Rose went to Terre Haute and stayed with a RECTOR family, probably cousins through his mother's family. They stayed on a farm where they had to use an outdoor outhouse. The RECTORs made huge breakfasts for their guests.
In 1947 Melvin and Rose moved to an apartment at the home of Mervyn and Ginny CHIOINO at 191 Ellington, San Francisco. Rose died on 14 January 1958 in San Francisco, CA. Because of the great pain from her breast cancer, she decided to take an overdose of barbiturate and codeine pills and died at San Francisco General Hospital, 22nd & Potrero Avenue. She was buried 17 January 1958 in Woodlawn Cemetery.15
Melvin's son, Roy DONHAM. got him a job as a security guard for Pan American Airlines. He later moved in with Roy in Sebastopol, Sonoma County, CA. Melvin died 2 October 1960 in Sebastopol and was buried 4 October 1960 at Woodlawn Cemetery.16
