In collaboration with Mendocino’s Kelley House Museum, MendoFever will be publishing their “This Day in Mendocino History” Facebook posts. The Kelley House Museum works hard to document and curate Mendocino County’s rich history and can be visited in the seaside town of Mendocino.
On this day in Mendocino history…
October 12, 1919 – Two automobiles collided near the intersection of Main and Lansing streets in what may have been the first car accident in town. Miss Ethel Silvera was driving a Dodge when she hit Archie Cameron of Albion. No one was injured, but the fenders of both vehicles were badly bent, and the steering gear in Archie’s car was jammed.
Ethel, who had just graduated from Mendocino High School the previous June, was working as an operator for the local telephone company. She was born in Fort Bragg to John J. and Margaret Sweetser Silvera in 1900, and her parents moved their growing family to the home on the southeast corner of Little Lake Road and Blair Street in Mendocino in 1903. Ethel was “a girl of particular charm and winsome ways and had an unusual faculty of making and retaining friends.”
By 1921, Ethel was living in Fort Bragg. She first worked as a stenographer for her uncle, A. L. Sweetser, but in September 1921, she took a position as a sales lady in Ray Enders’ Sweet Shop. After suddenly becoming ill in April 1922, Ethel was taken to the Fort Bragg hospital, where she was diagnosed with meningitis. Unfortunately, the medical treatment proved unsuccessful, and Ethel asked to leave the hospital and return to her childhood home in Mendocino. Her family brought her home in the afternoon on April 11, and she passed away that evening.
𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘛𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘤 𝘔𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘰 – 𝘑𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺. 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘣𝘺 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘤 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘰 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘤 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘵. https://tinyurl.com/KHMAirbnb
I love Ethel’s hair. She looks like a young woman on the go with places to see and things to do.