The Petch House

904 M St.

Eureka, CA 95501

The Petch Family

Thomas D. Petch - Head of household. Born in Ireland in June of 1859. Immigrated to the US in 1878 at the age of 19.

Phyllis Petch - Wife of Thomas D. Petch. Born in Scotland in May of 1861. Immigrated to the US in 1878 at the age of 17.

Thomas and Phyllis Petch were married in 1878 and came to the US that same year. At the time of the 1900 Census they had been married and lived in the US for 22 years. Their first son was born in California in 1879 so it seems they got married, immigrated, and came directly to California. When they moved in to 904 M St in 1896 Thomas was 37 and Phyllis was 35.

Dinna Petch - Mother of Thomas D. Petch. Dinna was born in England in November of 1839. According to the 1900 Census she was a widow and Thomas was the only son but this census report was smudged. The 1920 census report shows she had 6 children. This would prove to be true. She came to the US in 1899. She had been in the house for less than a year at the time of the 1900 census.

Thomas R. Petch - Son of Thomas and Phyllis Petch. Born in California in April of 1879. He was 17 when the family moved in to 904 M St. Thomas would go on to become a physician and surgeon in Eureka, CA.

George Louis Petch - Son of Thomas and Phyllis Petch. Born in California in March of 1882. He was 14 when the family moved in to 904 M St. His only listing is in the 1904 city directory where he is listed as a "student". He would have been 22 in 1904 so I would assume he was in college.

Phillip H. Petch - Son of Thomas and Phyllis Petch. Born in California in November of 1887. He was 9 when the family moved in to 904 M St. Phillip is listed in the 1904 city directory as a "student". He would have been 17 in 1904. I would suspect he was a Junior in college.

Thomas & Phyllis Petch had a 4th child that was deceased by the time of the 1900 census. Nothing is known about this child.

The 1898 city directory lists Thomas D. Petch's occupation as an "electrician" living at 904 M St.. It also lists a John Petch living at 923 M St., also with an occupation as "electrician". Dinna Petch is listed in the 1900 Census as being a widow with only ever having had one child but in the 1910 Census she is listed as a window with 6 living children. John Petch could be Thomas's father or a brother. The 1900 Census also shows that there were no Petchs living at 923 M St. in 1900.

An advertisement in the 1898 city directory for The Eureka Lighting Company says that Thomas D. Petch was the Superintendent of the company. The add states that the company sold gas and electric lighting along with coal, coke and coal tar. It is not known when this company was started or when it ended. In 1898 the business was located at 100 C St. in Eureka (no longer there). In 1902 it was located at 122 F St in Eureka (now a plaza and fountain), and in 1905 it was at the corner of 3rd and G St in Eureka. The President and Treasurer of the Company lived in San Francisco. Their names were J.M Livingston and C.O.G. Miller, respectively. All listings for Thomas D. Petch after 1898 list him not as an "electrician", but as "Superintendent The Eureka Lighting Company".

In 1905 the youngest son Phillip H. Petch was working with his father at The Eureka Lighting Company. He would have been 18 at this time and the city directory lists his occupation with the company as "Collector", and it lists his address as 904 M St. This same 1905 directory lists the father, Thomas D. Petch's address as 921 I St. in Eureka. The eldest son Dr. Thomas R. Petch is also listed as having his residence at 904 M St.

The chain of ownership for 904 M St that was compiled in the 70s for The Green Book states that the ownership of 904 M St. was transferred from Thomas D. Petch to Phillias Petch in 1905. Note the difference in the spelling of the wife's first name. This is the same year that Thomas D. Petch is listed as residing at 921 I St in the city directory. It would seem there was a divorce, or at least a separation and the house went to the wife.

The 1909 city directory says that Thomas D. Petch has moved to Santa Rosa, CA. It lists Phyllis Petch (original spelling of the first name) as residing at 904 M St. None of the sons are listed. The next year in 1910 the city directory lists a Phillias Petch as a widow living at 904 M St.. The 1910 Census also lists a Phillias Petch at 904 M St. According to the census report Phillias Petch is a 48 year old Scottish immigrant and a widow who has had 4 children and 3 surviving children. Phyllis Petch and Phillias Petch must be the same person. The age, number of children, country of origin, and residence are the same. According to the census the 3 sons are still alive but according the city directory no longer in Eureka, or at least not listed in the directory, nor were any Petchs found in surrounding communities.

As for the discrepancy between "Phyllis" and "Phillias" I would assume that Phillias was her original name but she "Americanized" it after immigrating the US in 1878. In 1905 after separating from Thomas she went back to her original name of Phillias and the 1909 city directory was not properly updated. This is just a guess.

The 1910 census shows that along with Phillias Petch, head of household, there is also a Charles K. and Etta M. Liscom living at 904 M St. They are both 29 years old and Charles is a cigar maker. The 1910 city directory also shows a William E. Bailey, a laborer, living at 904 M St. The 1910 census shows another couple living at 904 M St but the name is hard to make out. It looks like William and Henrietta Tate. They are 64 and 76 years old respectively. They are both from Canada and William is a Mill-Right. Henrietta had 11 children and 6 are still alive. It would seem that Phillias Petch is now running a boarding house.

Thomas D. Petch shows up in the 1910 Sonoma County Census living in 301 Orange Ave in Santa Rosa, CA. He is listed as a 52 year old divorced Manager of the Electrical Light Company. He is the Head of Household living with his mother Dinah Petch now 89 (new spelling of the first name), his sister Miriam J. Abrahams, a 49 year old widow, and her three children Miriam (25), Oscar (24), and Alfred (20). Thomas's sister and her three children immigrated to the US in 1905/06. The three children all work at the Electrical Light Company with Thomas. Miriam is a stenographer, Oscar is a "Gas Maker" and Alfred is a Laborer in the "Gas Works".

As I said earlier Thomas Petch's eldest son would go on to become a doctor. In 1904 the city directory lists Dr. Thomas R. Petch's office in The Gross Building at 5th and F in Eureka and in 1905 it lists his office at 333 E. St. at the corner of 4th and E in Eureka. In 1904 both his office and 904 M St have telephones. The numbers were Red 2491 and Main 166, respectively. In 1914 his office is listed in Room 12 of The Gross building and he is specialty is listed as Kidney, Bladder and Genito-Urinary. By 1916 he is married to a woman named Emma and his office is at 431 F St. in Eureka which is The Gross Building.

Dr. Thomas R. Petch shows up in the 1910 census in Tuolumne County in California. In 1910 he is been married for 8 years and has 4 children. He is listed as living in a boarding house and still practicing medicine. This 1910 Census sheet is too washed out to get any more information from it. Thomas' wife Emma and thier 4 children are not listed. Perhaps they stayed in Eureka. Tuolumne County is in the Sierra Nevada foothills, site of the 1848 discovery of gold in California, and the gateway to Yosemite National Park. Although, Abraham Lincoln provided the first official protection when he signed the Yosemite Grant in 1864, Yosemite did not become an official National Park until 1906. By 1916 we know that Dr. Petch is back in Eureka living at 904 M St. and is office is at 431 F St, The Gross Building, because he is listed in the 1916 city directory.

In 1919 Phillias Petch sold 904 M St. to J. R. and N. U. Peterson. According to the 1920-29 San Bourne map at the Eureka Heritage Society 904 M St. was officially cut up into apartments during this decade. The house went through at least three changes ending up as 4 apartment units. During this time a 2 story addition was added to the South-West corner of the house. This added a kitchen and a bath upstairs and a kitchen and a bath down stairs for a total of about 300 square feet. The original kitchen was partitioned to add a bath, and the middle bedroom upstairs was converted into a kitchen. Along with the original upstairs bathroom the house now had 4 kitchens and 4 baths. There were 2 one bedroom apartments and 2 studio apartments. Surprisingly all of the interior walls and most of the interior trim remained in tact. Doors were added in places to create pass-throughs for rooms that were originally separated. Also during the 1920s a 6 car garage was built in the back yard with 2 one-bedroom apartments on the second floor. The property now had 6 apartments and 6 garages.

It is interesting to note the different construction techniques used in the various modifications to the house. The walls of original house were plaster but not the traditional lathe strips. The walls are made up of 1X8 T&G boards nailed horizontally to the studs. The boards have a series of 3/4 inch dovetail grooves milled horizontally along the boards. There are 3 grooves per board. When the plaster is applied to the "keys" are formed by filling these dovetail grooves there by securing the plaster to the boards.

The kitchen partitions were done at two separate times. First an east-west partition was added to separate the kitchen from the dining room and butler's pantry. The walls of this partition were redwood plank with cheese cloth backed wallpaper tacked to the planks. The studs are full-dimensional 2X4s. Also at this time the side porch off the dining room was converted to a bathroom. I suspect that this was an apartment for Phillias Petch when she began to run a boarding house. My guess is that the tenants had the upstairs rooms and bathroom while Phillias maintained an apartment created by the dining room, butler's pantry, and the newly created bathroom on the side porch. My guess is that the downstairs parlors and kitchen remained a common area.

When the 2 story addition was built the porch bathroom was incorporated in to it. The same method of construction of planks on studs covered with wallpaper was used in the 2 story addition but the studs are less than full-dimensional but still larger than modern studs. A second north-south kitchen partition was added later during the 20s when the second downstairs bathroom was put in. This partition used sheetrock over studs. These studs were the same size as in the 2 story addition, not full-dimensional but still larger than modern studs. On the back of the sheetrock used in the kitchen there were large stickers applied with instructions for storing and hanging sheetrock. The copyright date on the sticker was 1926. There were 6 patent dates for the sheetrock from the US Gypsum Company of Chicago, IL ranging from June 11th 1912 to June 12th 1921. The walls in the 1920s era apartments over the garage have plaster over wire mesh and the walls of the garages are 1X12 redwood planks over full dimensional studs.

After the 1920s the house changed hands every 5 to 10 years and remained apartments until 2002. Very little changed between 1920s and 2002. All 4 bathrooms and kitchens still had their pre-1930s fixtures. The original 1895 bathroom still had all of its original fixtures except for the high-tank toilet.

The Remodels