Thanks for following along on this post about the Happ family who emigrated to the USA.
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Emigration of Raimund/Raymond Happ
As we know from the previous post, Raimund emigrated with his sister Anna Apollonia in 1869. He was only seventeen but in those days that made him ready to work and take such a huge step. Addendum: Since my initial post, I’ve found education records for Raimund which show that he had only just finished school when he emigrated. I assume it was at the secondary school level given his age. He had been studying, as far as I can tell, at the High School in Würzburg and these were his results for 1866/67. I have no idea what the scores mean but his subjects were religion, Latin, Greek, German, arithmetic, history and geography. 
I had also previously searched the German newspapers (under Google Books), for the emigration notice of Raimund and Anna’s departure. These searches are neither straightforward or predictable but I did manage to find it fairly easily (I just forgot to add it to their stories yesterday!)
Anna and Raimund arrived in New York on 6 October 1869. Raymond (note spelling change) remained in New York for a few years and presumably lived with his sister for some of them. In 1873, the year he turned 21, he became a citizen of the United States of America. At the time he was living at 400 First Avenue and working as a barber. George Eckhardt was his witness.[i]
Two years later Raymond Happ was on the voters’ register of the 12th Ward in San Francisco, having registered on 29 July 1875.[ii] In 1888, he is registered as living at 419 O’Farrell St (on the 2nd floor).[iii] The 1892 registers would be something of a gold mine for his descendants as it documents his physical characteristics: he is 40 years old, German-born, 5 feet 6¾ inches tall, with medium complexion, hazel eyes and black hair, though the next entry states he is bald. He is still living at O’Farrell St but his naturalisation date is incorrectly noted as 1878 not 1873.[iv]
It took me a while to locate Raymond in other records and only through searching for “Happ” + b1852. It seems he’d changed his name, or reverted to his full name, Charles R Happ. This may well account for why his brother Julius named his own son, Charles. These Germans can be tricky <smile>
Having pinned down the change of name, there was a surfeit of information on Charles and only one anomaly. On the 1875 City Directory for San Francisco, soon after his arrival, he is listed as a carpenter living at the Columbia Hotel[v]. In all other instances he is shown as a barber so perhaps it was just the work he could get when he first arrived on the west coast…he had “gone west, young man”. The nice thing is that the 1891 entry in the city directories ties Charles R Happ to Raymond Happ, as the address in common is 419 O’Farrell St.
Because Charles was in business he appears by name and business in many of the digitised editions of the San Francisco City Directories (in Australia we call them Post Office Directories usually). He, and the business, moved often enough, but frequently within the same street.
The first time we find him working as a barber in San Francisco is 1878. His employers were Oppenheim & Stieber and he was living at 519 Octavia St. In 1883 he was at 915½ Market St working with Strecker and Kern, barbers, but by 1891 he had gone into partnership with John Ulrich Gingg at 116 Kearny St.
By 1896 Charles had moved to 20 Hollis Street and Happ & Gingg to 102 Geary (1900-1905). Obviously Hollis Street suited Charles as his next move was up to 64 Hollis. From 1905-1909 Charles is residing at 56 Hollis, only a few doors away but the business moved to 414 Divisadero St in 1907 then 2 Mason (1909-1911).
After a brief stop at 1522 Fulton St in 1910 and 814 Cole St in 1911, Charles and his wife Ida moved on to 18th Avenue where it seems they settled indefinitely, living first in number 778 until about 1913, then at number 770 (1921-1940). In the latter years the business name has become Kern and Happ at 1488 Fulton St, so it seems possible that he was perhaps preparing for retirement as by then he was nearing 70. It’s also interesting that the business included a Kern, the same name as the person he worked for in 1883.
But what of the census records? Do they match with the directories? Luckily for me they do! Each entry tells us just a little more about the couple. In 1900, Charles specifies he was born in Bavaria while Ida was born Germany. They had been naturalised in 1875 and 1886 respectively and had been in the country 25 and 14 years. In 1900 and 1910 they were renting their home. They had been married 23 years (est YOM 1886/87), and had no children. Unfortunately I’ve had no joy in locating their marriage.
Charles is listed as an employer in 1910 and 1920 and a proprietor of a barber shop in 1930. At that time they owned their own home and also owned a radio –a sign of technological change, or was there another reason for this question.
By 1940 Charles had finally retired, not surprising since he was now 88. Both had studied to Grade 8 level and could read and write.
Newspaper articles are frustrating in their absence, or requirement for subscriptions, and even though I have several there’s ones I can’t see. However the free site, Chronicling America, reveals the non-working side of the Happs’ lifestyle with holidays at Hoberg’s Resort on 22 August 1897 and again in July 1902.[vi] Combined with the apparent ambience of 18th Avenue, it seems the couple had made a success of their immigrant lives.
Another little snippet came to light through The San Francisco Call with the listing of land transfers in April 1906. What’s particularly interesting is a transfer of land from John Juedes to Ida, wife of Charles R Happ in April 1906:lot on E line of 18th Avenue 150N of Fulton St, N25 by E120 $10.
Charles R Happ died on 30 December 1943, aged 91 at Alameda, California[vii]. The registers show his birth as 21 January 1852, compared to 23 January 1852 for his birth/baptism in Dorfprozelten (baptism usually occurred on the day of birth). His wife Ida had predeceased him in San Francisco on 11 June 1941, aged 87. Her date of birth is listed as 18 October 1854 and her father’s surname as Maas. They are buried at the Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, Colma, San Mateo County, California.[viii]
By the time of their deaths their new nation was again involved in a world war. As with my own George Kunkel I can’t begin to imagine how distressing it was for them to be a lightning rod for anti-German sentiment for the second time.
Oh, and by the way, how lucky are we Aussies to have Trove…just imagine what might have been found in a similar site.
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[i] National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Soundex Index to Petitions for Naturalizations Filed in Federal, State, and Local Courts in New York City, 1792-1906 (M1674); Microfilm Serial: M1674; Microfilm Roll: 99. From Ancestry.com
[ii] Source Citation: California State Library, California History Section; Great Registers, 1866-1898; Collection Number: 4 – 2A; CSL Roll Number: 44; FHL Roll Number: 977099. 1875. Ancestry.com
[iii] Collection Number: 4 – 2A; CSL Roll Number: 66; FHL Roll Number: 977627.
[iv] California State Library, California History Section; Great Registers, 1866-1898; Collection Number: 4 – 2A; CSL Roll Number: 88; FHL Roll Number: 977607.
[v] Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Original sources vary according to directory. All entries for Charles R Happ are in the San Francisco directories.
[vi] http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1897-08-22/ed-1/seq-26. The San Francisco Call, 22 August 1897 and 22 July 1897.
[vii] Ancestry.com. California, Death Index, 1940-1997 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000. Original data: State of California. California Death Index, 1940-1997. Sacramento, CA, USA: State of California Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics.
[viii] On MyHeritage.com from Find a Grave, Section F Lot 51.
Family history across the seas 
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