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Growing up in the Grove | Grand Army of the Republic | Gardens in the Grove
Hazards of the Rocky Shores | A City of Homes | Hopkins Seaside Laboratory
Mammoth Stables & Horses | Hotel to Holman's | Lovers Point
RLS' Old Pacific Capital Quote | Pacific Grove People
The First Pledge of Allegiance | Pacific Grove on Track | C.K. Tuttle

Lucie Chase was born on December 21, 1842 in Plainfield, New Hampshire. She lived in New York City, Colorado Springs, and Portland before moving to Pacific Grove in 1901 with her husband, Henry. They expanded what was then know as the Page cottage at Fountain & Oceanview avenues into the grand Seven Gables.

Mrs. Chase was heavily involved in her community, and helped form the Woman's Civic Improvement Club, an organization whose varied work ranged from placing street signs and trash receptacles to preventing cruelty to animals.

She was an active supporter of the Mayflower Congregational Church. Her philanthropy also extended to the Museum. In 1932, Mrs. Chase made a gift of the first wing of the current Museum building to the citizens of Pacific Grove. She called the September day when the cornerstone was laid the happiest day of her life. The Museum's opening ceremony coincided with her 90th birthday.

Emily A. Fish was born in Albion, Michigan on February 22, 1843. She came to Pacific Grove in 1893, after her husband's death. He had been the medical director of the 16th Corps during the Civil War, and Emily followed him during his military career, gathering an interest in relief work that would later be realized working for the American Red Cross during the Spanish-American War. She was also very influential in the founding of the local chapter of that organization.

Mrs. Fish served as keeper of the Point Pinos Lighthouse for 21 years, from 1893 to 1921. She was on duty during the 1906 Earthquake, and during the subsequent repairs required from the damage inflicted during the quake. Her hospitality earned her the nickname, "the socialite lightkeeper."

After her retirement, she moved to a house at 691 Sinex Avenue, still tended by her loyal employee from her lighthouse years, Lew Kew. Emily Fish died in June 1931, and funeral services were held at St. Mary's-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church. She was buried in Oakland.

Dr. Frank Mace MacFarland was born in Centralia, Illinois. As an undergraduate, he attended De Pauw University, and was appointed a professor of biology and geology shortly after his graduation in 1889. In 1892, David Starr Jordan hired him to teach histology (microscopic anatomy) at the newly formed Stanford University. While there, MacFarland took a master's degree. Before leaving for Germany to study for his doctorate, he met his future wife and lifelong workmate, Olive Knowles Hornbrook. After receiving his Ph.D. in 1896, he returned to Stanford and enjoyed a long career as a professor. He also helped establish Hopkins Marine Station.

MacFarland's amiable personality, optimism, and his ability to tell a good story were legendary. He was well-versed in literature as well as science, and often quoted long passages from poems in several languages.

During his later life, he was closely associated with the California Academy of Sciences, serving as president in the 1930s and 1940s. He also served as acting director of the Academy's Museum and Steinhart Aquarium during most of the 1930s, guiding those institutions through the difficult Depression years.

After his retirement, MacFarland took great interest in the building program at the Academy. He often returned to watch its progress and spent the last day of his life examining the new exhibits before the building was opened to the public. He died at the entrance to the building on his way to the Academy's 97th annual meeting.

Illustrations: top--Dr. MacFarland stands among Brandt's Cormorant nests on Bird Rock in Pebble Beach. Tuesday, July 9, 1901. Detail of #29.x-503-PAL from the Museum's Tuttle Collection.

bottom--Painting by Anna Nash of Triopha maculata, a local species of sea slug identified by MacFarland. From MacFarland's posthumously published book, Studies of Opisthobranchiate Mollusks of the Pacific Coast of North America (San Francisco: California Academy of Sciences) 1966.

Mary Edna Burleigh Norton was born on November 30, 1832 in New York state. Educated at the Rockford Seminary in Illinois and in Berlin, Germany, she taught botany and geography at public schools in the Midwest for 18 years.

In 1878, she joined her brother, Professor Henry Brace Norton, at the State Normal School at San Jose, the predecessor to San Jose State University. When she left there in the late 1880s, her students presented their beloved instructor with a microscope, which is in the Museum's collection.

Miss Norton came to Pacific Grove to teach botany to attendees of the Pacific Coast Branch of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle. Her brother had been instrumental in establishing the institution in Pacific Grove. Miss Norton also served as curator of the Chautauqua Assembly's scientific collection, housed at a variety of buildings-including Chautauqua Hall, the "old parlor" on Fountain Avenue, and the octagon museum. This small museum sat on the same site as the present Museum. She helped to organize the Museum Association, and served as curator of the institution after the building and collection were given to the Association by the Assembly in 1900. She retired in 1909.

Miss Norton lived in a small house at 19th and Central, called the "Ivy Cottage." It still stands today, though a story was added to the structure.

Illustrations: top--Mary E.B. Norton, from a photo in the Museum's collection.

bottom--The Norton Oak. The tree was removed when Central Avenue was widened. From a photo in the Museum's collection.

Julia Barlow Platt was born on September 14, 1857 in San Francisco. Her nine years of graduate studies in zoology began in 1887 at Harvard University, where she specialized in embryology. She did groundbreaking research in neurobiology and comparative embryology at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Bryn Mawr College, the University of Chicago, and Radcliffe College. She also studied at Hopkins Marine Station (then located at Lovers Point) in the early 1890s. She continued her doctoral studies at several German universities, and received her Ph.D. diploma in May 1898. Platt published 12 scientific papers in 10 years.

Despite her excellent credentials, Dr. Platt could not find a suitable academic position. She returned to Pacific Grove, and in 1899 wrote, "Without work, life is not worth living. If I cannot obtain the work I wish, then I must take up with the next best."

The work she found was civic duty in Pacific Grove. She shot her neighbor's chickens after they ran rampant through her garden, and then saw to it that a zoning ordinance was passed limiting livestock to certain areas. She also singlehandedly cleared and planted around Lovers Point, and led the successful movement that gave Pacific Grove a city council/city manager form of government. The original City Charter is in her handwriting. Perhaps Dr. Platt is best know locally for using file, sledgehammer, and axe to remove the spite fence that blocked public access to the beach near Lovers Point. In 1931, at age 74, she became the first female mayor of Pacific Grove.

Illustrations: top--Detail from photo of Marine Biological Laboratory shows Julia Platt among investigators at Woods Hole, Massachusetts in 1893.

bottom--Dr. Platt reenacts her destruction of the bathhouse gate for a local newspaper. 1931.

Edward Flanders Robb Ricketts was born on May 14, 1897 on the northwest side of Chicago. He served a tour of duty in the Army Medical Corps during WWI, and entered the University of Chicago on his return. He attended classes sporadically between 1919 and 1922, but left without taking a degree.

Pacific Biological Laboratories was opened in late 1923 by the 26-year-old Ricketts and his college roommate Albert Galigher. The lab, a small biological supply house, provided preserved animals and prepared slides to schools and research institutions. In the late 1920s, Ricketts, now the lab's sole owner, moved the business to 740 Ocean View Avenue in Monterey. Later, the street was renumbered and later still renamed, becoming 800 Cannery Row-Doc's Western Biological in John Steinbeck's Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday.

During the 1920s, Ricketts lived with his wife, Anna, and three children at several homes in Pacific Grove and Carmel. Even after Ricketts moved the business to Monterey, he maintained a P.O. box at the Pacific Grove post office.

On May 14, 1997, the 100th anniversary of Ricketts' birth, a commemorative plaque was placed on this building by the Pacific Grove Heritage Society and the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History Association.

Illustrations: top--Ed Ricketts in his lab. Bryant Fitch image c. 1936 from The Pat Hathaway Collection (#81-021-0078).

bottom--Ricketts' lab on Fountain Ave. (Holman's construction in foreground). C. K. Tuttle image from the Museum's Tuttle Collection. 1924. #33.1-613-BP.

Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Scotland in 1850, and came to Monterey from August through December 1879. He came half-way around the world following his love, Fanny Osbourne, while she awaited a divorce from her first husband. During his brief stay, Stevenson lived in the adobe home at 530 Houston Street, built in the 1830s by Don Rafael Gonzales, first customs administrator for Alta California. The house is also known as Giradin's French Hotel, and the Stevenson House. It was recently refurbished, and is open to the public.

Though in ill health, the gaunt young Stevenson walked all over the Peninsula, exploring the area and finding literary inspiration along his route. His walks took him through Pacific Grove, and are remembered in his The Old Pacific Capital. He mentions seeing the minister's pavilion in Jewell Park, the gate around the Retreat, and the emptiness of the deserted meeting grounds. He encountered Rev. Ross on Pacific Street, and lighthouse keeper Luce at the Point Pinos lighthouse.

The places he encountered were used as settings in many of his works. Some scholars believe that RLS drew on his memories of Pebble Beach when penning "The Pavilion on the Links," and his recollections of Point Lobos while creating the map and setting for Treasure Island.

After the Stevensons left Monterey, they continued their adventurous lives. Stevenson lived his last years in Samoa, and was known as Tusitala, or "teller of tales." He died on the Pacific island, and is buried there.

William Taylor was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia on May 2, 1821. He became a Methodist circuit rider in the local area, until he was sent to California during the Gold Rush. He made the journey by ship with his family, and his wife, Isabelle, gave birth to their second child, Oceana, while rounding the Horn. Taylor arrived in San Francisco on September 21, 1849, and spent seven years street preaching and founding churches throughout Northern California. He was also instrumental in the founding of the University of the Pacific.

Bishop traveled extensively, spreading the Methodist message throughout the world. He had missions in such far-flung places as England, Europe, India, South America, Africa, and Australia. He is credited with introducing eucalyptus trees into California. He was a frequent visitor to Pacific Grove, and had a house where the post office now stands. The large trees in front are said to have grown from gum nuts he brought back from Australia and planted in his garden.

On May 18, 1902, he died at his son's Palo Alto home, and is buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland. Taylor University in Upland, Indiana is named in his honor.

Illustration: Bishop William Taylor. Photo from Taylor University website.