Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Lyle Carringer's Birthplace in San Diego in 1891 -- Post 295 for (Not So) Wordless Wedneaday

I'm posting family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they aren't Wordless Wednesday posts like others do - I am incapable of having a wordless post.

Here is a photograph of an ancestral home taken by my grandfather in San Diego, California:



This picture was taken in 1918, probably by my grandfather, Lyle L. Carringer (1891-1976), son of Henry Austin and Della (Smith) Carringer.  Apparently, it is the birthplace of Lyle, and, by implication, the residence of Austin and Della in late 1891.  

The note at the bottom, in Lyle's handwriting, says:

"birth place of Lyle Carringer, 16th & H, San Diego, Cal."

The note at the top says (as best I can tell):

"faces E. Piper ??? in rear" and "Picture taken 1918"

"16th and H" in San Diego in 1918 (and 1891) is now 16th and Market Streets just east of downtown San Diego.  This is now a commercial area, and this house is long gone.  

I don't know if the house was located facing 16th Street or H Street.  The shadows in the photo may help me figure this out.  The major shadow cast in the photo is of the roof eaves on the front of the house.  If the house faced H (now Market) (an east-west street), then it was probably on the south side of Market.  If the house faced 16th (a north-south street), then the house may have been on the west side of the street if the photo was taken in the afternoon, or on the east side of the street if the photo was taken in the morning.  The shadow of the barrel indicates to me that the sun was fairly high and shining from the left of the photo and from behind the house - which I think indicates the left side of the house faced south and the front side of the house faced east.  That would match an early afternoon sun for the front side of the house facing 16th Street on the west side of the street.

It would be interesting to see if there is a San Diego City Directory entry for this year for the Carringers in this place.  

I can hear the inquisitive Lyle asking his mother in about 1918:  "Where was I born?" and his mother replying "well, we lived in a little house at 16th and H and you were born in the back bedroom."  And so Lyle went off walking (or riding the streetcar) to 16th and H and took a picture of the house.  

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copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver


2 comments:

Sharon said...

Are Sanborn Insurance maps available for that area? If so, that might help place the house.

Marshall said...

Randy - the Internet Archive has San Diego Directories for many of the years between 1901-1925 inclusive.

See http://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22San+Diego+Directory+Co.%22

The 1901 one shows:
Carringer, David J., rancher, r. Horton and Ella.
Carringer, H. A., millman, Russ L. & M. Co., h. 30th and Watkins.
Carringer, Harvey E., photogr., h. Horton and Ella.

I don't know where Watkins is in San Diego. It might have changed it's name along the way.