RISE OF CALIFORNIA

Taranaki Daily News, 22 July 1929, Page 20

RISE OF CALIFORNIA

SPAN" OF A LIFETIME. San Francisco, June 26. Mrs. Mary Davis Bucknall, who was the first Anglo-Saxon child born in San Jrancisco, has passel away at the a o e ° f Her George C. Yount, came to California from England witn a party of trappers. One of the fust white settlers, he received large grants of land from the Mexican Government. He olavcd a prominent part in the eaiiy M s to'y of til State. In 1843 ha was joined by his two daughters, who made the hazardous journey overland, ihe younger married John Calvert Davis, one of the first settlers in Yerba Buena, a 9 San Francisco was then called. 1 liendaughter Mary, who later became the wife of Dr. George James Bucknall, or New York and Paris, played an important role in the social and civic development of San Franciscc. It was mainly due to her efforts that Golden Gate Park was reclaimed from the sand-dunes.

Mrs Bucknail grew up with California’. The house in which she was born was one of the first built in Yerba Buena. She saw the gold rush of ’4B, and the cession of California by Mexico to the United States in ISoO. She was among those who greeted the mail steamer Oregon, which brought the news of admission to the Union.