Pictured is Christmas in San Francisco, featuring an image of my grandmother Agnes Lilly Tillmann (1889-1982) sitting on a rocking horse in front of an authentic Victorian Christmas tree inside the Howard street mansion of her maternal grandfather Claus Mangels. I date the image to December 1891 based on all the kids’ ages. Agnes Lilly would have been about 32 months.
In 1891 my grandmother lived in San Francisco with her family in the Western Addition on Grove street, a block below Alamo Square. However, all the other pictured kids lived across town on Howard street (now S. Van Ness) in the Mission District — an oasis of warm weather and palm trees — and that’s where Claus Mangels lived in a palatial Italianate Victorian, and Claus was either grandfather or uncle-in-law to the bunch. A Christmas with Claus!
To be clear, Claus Mangels is my own great great grandfather.
Mangels was a brother-in-law to two Spreckels brothers — Claus Spreckels “the Sugar King” and Peter Spreckels — and family lore holds that the Spreckels and Mangels families were very close, growing up together in Germany (actually, the Kingdom of Hanover, a possession of the British crown and in the 1830s ruled over by one of King George III’s sons). In the late 19th century, Claus Spreckels was one of the richest men in America. And Mangels shared in prosperity with Spreckels families until he died, in brewing, sugar refining, and shipping.
When roughly a dozen Spreckels and Mangels family members arrived in San Francisco in 1856, my Mangels ancestor pitched in to operate his brother-in-law’s newly acquired Albany Brewery near 4th and Howard (actually, 4th & Everett, now within the confines of Moscone Center), later becoming a partner when his brother-in-law cashed out.
My peep also pitched in to help with Spreckels’ sugar refineries, first the Bay Sugar Refinery, then the two iterations of the California Sugar Refinery, including plantations in Hawaii, and sharing in profits along the way.
By 1890 Mangels was a prominent “capitalist” within the German community, and living among a legion of family members in the Mission District. His wealth included San Francisco commercial real estate, including the Golden West Hotel, then in development.
Mangels also acquired a 550 acre ranch in Aptos, a portion of the Aptos Rancho, from his brother-in-law Claus Spreckels, who had purchased the land from the original grantee, keeping 1000’s of acres for himself.
In San Francisco Spreckels and Mangels always lived near each other. In the 1860s Spreckels and Mangels occupied residences near 16th & Howard/South Van Ness (Spreckels) and 16th & Capp (Mangels). In the late 1870s Mangels moved further out on Howard/South Van Ness to 21st, while Claus Spreckels remained at 16th. But next door to Mangels moved the Spreckels boys J.D and A.B., trading papa’s house to be uncle’s neighbors.
Note — Why “Howard/South Van Ness”? The street was originally named Howard. Sometime mid-20th century Howard street was connected to Van Ness Avenue, and subsequently the stretch of Howard on which lived the Mangels, Spreckels, Zwieg, and Hueter families (and even more relatives!) was renamed South Van Ness.
The palatial Mangels residence — today a school parking lot, torn down within living memory — was located on the west side S. Van Ness slightly south of 21st street.
Claus Spreckels, Claus Mangels, Santa Claus. (You know my favorite!)
What makes the scene poignant, this is the age when my grandmother remembered stroking her grandfather’s beard, her only memory of him. Claus Mangels died suddenly in April 1891 at age 55, about eight months before the Christmas image. A Christmas without Claus.
A sign of resilience is the girl with the doll and basket. She is Alice Hueter — my grandmother’s very close first cousin, whose mother Lizzie, a Mangels daughter, died following childbirth earlier in August 1890, about 16 months before the Christmas image, a baby brother surviving. Alice’s father Ernest L. Hueter was a paint and varnish manufacturer in San Francisco, proprietor of the Gold Rush-era Pioneer Paint & Varnish Company, later to become Dutch Boy paints.
The eldest kids Bertha and Walter Zwieg are niece and nephew of Emma Zwieg, second wife of Claus Mangels. Bertha and Walter’s father Hermann Zwieg was proprietor of the South Park Malt House on Brannan street near 5th, one of the largest in The City, started back in the 1850s about the same time Spreckels acquired the Albany Brewery.
Hopfen und Malz – Gott erhalt’s.
And how close were the Zwieg and Mangels families? Hermann Zwieg and his family lived on the same block of Howard street as Mangels, on the opposite side of the street. That’s how close, physically and socially. The Hueters were three blocks away.
In the 1890s Agnes Lilly adored her grandmother Emma and met Zwieg relatives frequently both in San Francisco and at Mangels Ranch, Aptos. Although my grandmother left no memories of the Mangels residence on Howard street, the following image tells us all we need to know — for little kids the residence was huge and filled with plush furniture and untouchable treasures, and in adjacent rooms ancient adults conversed while children sat quietly and whispered.
My own long notes. Happy Holidays!
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