Vint Family History & Genealogy

In the year 1888, Fannie Vint's father suffered a severe financial problem when his partner in a building business in Hamilton, Ontario disappeared with most of the business funds. He decided it was time to consider making a major change in his life. He was aware of the rapid growth of California and the use of wood construction in California's building industry. He determined to investigate the possibility of moving to California, so in the spring of 1889 he, along with his mother-in-law and his oldest son, aged 16 boarded a train bound for San Francisco. They left his wife, a 12 year old son and two daughters aged 6 and 1 in Hamilton.

Shortly after the scouting party arrived in San Francisco, his wife discovered she was pregnant. Also in that year their oldest daughter, then age 7, died of a childhood disease. On Dec. 20 1889, Fannie Vint was born in Hamilton. By the following Spring her father had a established himself as a skilled carpenter and cabinet maker, rented a suitable home for the family and sent for his wife and family to join him in San Francisco. His wife and her older brother along with the four remaining children ages 12, 4, 2, and Fanny about 4 months old emigrated to San Francisco. In the fall of that year 1890, another tragedy occured when the oldest of the three remaining daughters came down whith scarlet fever and died.

At first the family lived in the western addition of San Francisco but within a few years, Fannie Vint's father was able to establish himself in the building business and he built a home for his famly in what was then the outer fringe of unban development on Balboa St near 9th ave. From this home bare sand dunes stretched all the way to the ocean. Fannie and her older sister attended nearby Sutro Grammar School on what is now Funston Ave.

In 1904 Fannie Vint's father built a new and larger home for his family on 7th Ave. between Balboa and Cabrillo streets a block and a half north of Golden Gate Park. Fannie Vint lived in this house from 1904 to 1947. In 1906 when she was 16 years old, and a sophomore at Girl's High School. She was rudely awakened to find her bed sliding wildly around her bedroom. She heard a loud rumbling noise and the whole house shook violently. She had experienced the great earthquake of 1906. She threw on a robe and with her her family and the neighbors gathered on the sidewalk in awe of the terrific violence of the great quake. While their house seemed to have weathered the quake fairly well, they feared to continue living in it because of possible aftershocks and because of the danger of setting it on fire. Her father and older brothers brought blankets and tarpaulins out of the house and the coal stove from the kitchen. They set up a makeshift tent in a vacant lot across the street and there the family lived for a few days until the damage to the house could be properly assessed and including the safety of using the chiminies. On the day after the subsequent fire which completed the destruction of downtown San Francisco, Fannie Vint and her older sister, walked from their home to Nob Hill to view the devastation caused by the earthquake and fire. They collected souvenirs including a small metal turtle which she kept diplayed in her living room.

Careful inspection determined that the houlse suffered no structural damage and that there was no fire hazard in moving back into house. As a precaution against future quakes, her father, like most of his neighbors, built a small one story cottage on the back of the lot. These cottages, called "earthquake" cottages, are typical in that area of San Francisco.

Fannie Vint became a business women and worked as a secretary for many years. She never married and my family and I enjoyed her company at Christmas and Holidays while we were growing up. She died a number of years ago in Menlo Park. Fannie Vint lived to the age 105