Petaluma’s Legendary Bill Soberanes

Posted on January 07, 2022

Bill Soberanes was probably Petaluma’s most legendary character, known far and wide for his rapid-fire speech and quixotic mannerisms. His daily columns were legendary; filled with rambling thoughts highlighting local events from the famous to the mundane, with more than a splash of quirky. This year we mark his 100-year anniversary, and several historians, colleagues and admirers have stepped up to remember. Chris Samson highlights the mysterious way that Bill was able to insert himself into just about any event of the day. Fearless, full of bravado, it seemed Bill knew everyone and there was always someone who liked him well enough to bend a rule or two to give him access to the famous, or infamous, to get a picture with them. https://www.petaluma360.com/article/news/how-did-former-petaluma-argus-courier-columnist-collect-45000-photos-and/

John Sheehy has many personal remembrances of Bill throughout his childhood. John’s story looks at those remembrances through his historian lens to show Bill as the eccentric, thoroughly human person he was. https://petalumahistorian.com/the-making-of-bill-soberanes-as-mr-petaluma/

Dianne Reber Hart gathered 13 fun facts for an overview of the impact Bill had on his friends, family and town: https://www.petaluma360.com/article/news/13-fun-facts-about-former-petaluma-argus-courier-celebrity-columnist-bill-s/?ref=related.

Harlan Osborne, in his “Toolin’ Around Town” column notes his first remembrance of Bill is through his 2nd grade teacher: Miss Soberanes, Bill’s sister. He continues his recollection noting the many activities Bill brought to Petaluma, and how he, as an Argus Courier contributor, was honored to be able to interview the many participants in the wrist wrestling contests through the years: https://www.petaluma360.com/article/entertainment/toolin-around-town-reflecting-on-former-petaluma-argus-courier-columnist/.

Katie Watts, a former reporter and editor for the Argus-Courier, Marin IJ and Press Democrat reminds us that “Did you read Bill today” was a common start to many Petaluma conversations: https://www.petaluma360.com/article/news/who-was-bill-soberanes-and-why-did-he-mean-so-much-to-petaluma/.

The Sonoma County Library holds many images from Bill’s life including his birthplace on East Washington Street. Later, when he moved next door, he was often spotted by those driving or walking by, typing on the front porch, waving to or chatting with friends. As John tells it, Bill stopped driving after an automobile crash in his 20s. From then on, he walked. One could always spot him, pipe in mouth, bag slung across his shoulder heading, well, just about anywhere.

How much less enjoyable Petaluma would be without Bill’s ability to include everyone “out there in Readerland” as an important part of the city, engaging our imaginations and creating or promoting long-lasting (and a few world-wide) events such as:

To read the complete story use the library’s newspapers.com; type in “write like Bill” in the subject bar then filter by: Petaluma, CA, October 14, 1988.

And finally… take some time to sit in with Jim Agius, Katie Watts, John Sheehy, Chris Samson, Chris Linnell, Harlan Osborne and Tom Gaffey as they gather to remember the Bill Soberanes they all knew.

This video is now a part of the Sonoma County Library Digital Collections. Find it: https://digital.sonomalibrary.org/Documents/Detail/a-celebration-of-bill-soberanes-on-his-100th-birthday/503246

Enjoy!
Connie Williams
Petaluma History Room Librarian

Finding Ray Mathews

Posted on March 16, 2021

Guest Interview

One of the best parts of working as the History Room Librarian at the library is being a part of the larger community of historians. Included in this community are those who have lived here a long time and have memories of growing up in, or just outside of town. I’m always reminded of journalist J.P. Hartley’s famous quote: “The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there” when I read or listen to these stories because sometimes it truly feels like we are visiting a different place.

Penngrove Main Street, 1950s
(Sonoma County Library photo: 014923)

In 1951, Jack Withington was an 11 year old living in Penngrove, which at the time boasted a population of about 400.

“There was plenty to do for those of us who lived on the farms and ranches in and around the village,” Withington said, “but sports and similar activities were few and far between. When we did have free time, we jumped on our bicycles and headed for downtown Penngrove. One of our favorite pastimes was to stop at Vic’s Place located where the Penngrove Pub now stands, which offered a pool table, candy and scoops of all flavors of ice cream.”

Jack frequently noticed the many bowling trophies displayed on the wall behind the bar. Being an inquisitive boy, he asked the proprietor, Vic Mathews who operated the bar/poolroom with his wife Helen, if the trophies were his. “No, they are my son, Ray’s” Vic told him.

Despite his many visits to Vic’s Place, Jack never knew he had a son. Vic subsequently told him that his son Ray was a sailor in the U.S. Navy, and regaled him on later visits with stories of Ray’s adventures at sea around the world. Throughout his high school years, Vic’s Place became Jack’s “go-to place,” where he never tired of hearing about Ray.

Upon graduating from Petaluma High in 1958, Jack signed up for a four-year hitch in the Marine Corps as a way to see something of the larger world. It wasn’t until he was waiting for the bus with his family at the Greyhound bus station at 4th and C streets in Petaluma, that Jack realized that he was truly leaving his small town. As an unfamiliar bittersweet feeling came over him, Jack turned to his father and, in a very unaccustomed manner, gave him a big hug and a kiss.

“I was on way to boot camp on the southbound Greyhound bus to San Francisco,” Jack said, “then on to San Diego to the Marine Corps Recruit Training Base. Three days after arriving in boot camp, I was called in to the Quonset hut duty office and was told my dad had died.”

Jack immediately returned home to Penngrove, where he buried his father, before returning to camp.

“After boot camp, I was assigned to duty as a ‘grunt.’ My job, among other duties, was to carry a Browning Automatic Rifle and get used to its workings. After almost two years of stateside duty, we were shipped to Okinawa, where we were called to many “hot spots” in South East Asia. Our transportation was usually a World War Two vintage attack transport, or APA, which some may remember from old war movies. We had to disembark at sea by climbing down cargo nets.”

After leaving Okinawa, the ship visited the port of Subic Bay in the Philippine Islands.

“I knew that the Philippines had been ceded to the U.S. by Spain at the conclusion of the Spanish- American War,” Jack said, “so I wasn’t too surprised to see when we landed that we were surrounded by other American vessels. The weather in Subic Bay was hot and muggy, definitely not weather we were accustomed to, but we soldiered on and completed our duties as assigned.”

Jack - 1958

One day, Jack decided to walk around the area and explore its many offerings.

“As I was nearly always thirsty in this weather, I went into the nearest building, which turned out to be the base bowling alley. I bought a soft drink, and to pass the time, I watched the men bowling. I was immediately taken back in my mind to Vic’s Place. The men bowling were all Navy personnel with their names stenciled on the sides of their trousers. I spied a bowler with the name “Matthews” stenciled on the side of his. Could this be Ray Matthews, I wondered, from Penngrove? I walked over and asked, “Are you Vic Mathews’ son from Penngrove?”

“Yes,” the man said.

“And with that, I found myself face-to-face with Ray Mathews, the bowling champion whose adventures around the world I had grown up listening to, and which had inspired me to join the Marines, standing in a bowling alley nearly 7,000 miles from Penngrove.”

Census

Posted on July 27, 2020

Given America’s bedrock belief in the right to privacy and individual freedoms, answering questions for the Census has always raised questions by some who are concerned that the government may be intruding too much into people’s lives.

Petaluma has been participating in census taking since 1850, the year California became a state. That first survey, a copy of which resides in the Petaluma History Room consists of twelve randomly numbered pages, and lists residents who came to Petaluma from all over the world, including England, Peru, Mexico, the Sandwich Islands, Switzerland, and a number of American states. Most of the occupations listed are farmer, laborer, clerk, or merchant.

The fifteen national censuses undertaken every decade since are critical to businesses, government, and other organizations that rely on census information for decision-making and community design. The Argus-Courier and its predecessors provide a wonderful view into the concerns and reasons for taking part in the census. In 1910, the Petaluma Argus encouraged everyone to participate and noting that: “there’s nothing in it for the Argus except that it takes pride in this city and in getting all that is coming in population as well as in other matters.”

Concern that everyone be counted prompted the Argus-Courier to continue to encourage participation by inviting readers who might not know where or how to get counted to contact the paper; which would connect them to the proper folks.

May 13, 1910

Why did they think it was important to be counted? Because in December of 1910, after the count came in, California was awarded four new seats in the U.S. Congress. More congressional seats equaled more political power for a growing state, made possible thanks to the census.

Dec 2, 1910

The newspaper also offered this advice: “Don’t be suspicious or ‘cagey’ in your answers. Give the facts, even if they seem personal. They will be held in confidence and not used against you.”

Questions about the kinds of questions included in the census are as old as the census itself.

“It’s getting to the point,” the Argus-Courier reported a senator from Pennsylvania saying in 1940, “where a housewife will have to account for her pots and pans and a man will have to take inventory of his tackle.” That same year, President Franklin Roosevelt went out of his way to reassure citizens “there need be no fear that any disclosure will be made regarding any individual person or his affairs.”

There is always the issue of the census takers. Petaluma’s 1850 census contains a footnote that states: “The 1850 census-taker was an extremely inaccurate man who took no time to get the correct spelling of names and his handwriting in many instances is illegible.”

Sonoma County Journal
Jan 27, 1860

Two issues in attracting census takers since the beginning have been money and proper aptitude. In 1860, census takers earned a lucrative $10 a day, or roughly $290 in today’s currency (approximagely $34 per hour for an eight-hour day).

To be more selective in hiring local census takers, in 1940, a test was administered for 150 aspiring census takers, of which 55 were ultimately chosen.

Sonoma County Journal
Jan 27, 1860

Likewise, in 1980, prospective census workers in Petaluma needed to pass a test for positions that started at an hourly rate of $3.50, or $11 in today’s currency:

In the 1930s, when Petaluma was still largely rural, the Argus-Courier encouraged everyone who lived on a farm to remember the census taker might be frightened away by barking dogs. “When the census taker calls,” the editor recommended, “tie your dog and greet your visitor with a smile. He is just a hard working emissary of Uncle Sam. And a human being to boot.”

It also offered some advice for census takers who turned up during supper time:

March15, 1930

While most of the data captured and used in a census pertain to issues of the day, for historians, genealogists, and others interested in finding information on their family roots, information collected in census records is critical. This year’s census, like those before it, will help future generations in understanding our lives today.

On that score, while it was not a part of the official U.S. Census, during the 1930 census in Oakland, a proposed local ordinance outlawing the private ownership of chickens and other fowl led to the city conducting a “hen census.” I thought that their conclusion was pretty spot on:

Apr. 2, 1930