In 15 Years at the Eureka Lodgings, Emperor Norton Had Two Landlords, But "the Management" Ran Through One Family
Discovery of a Marriage Connection Between the First Landlord and the Second
AS THE INFORMATION at Ancestry dot com is crowdsourced by people with wildly varying levels of genealogical experience and expertise, the quality of the information about any particular person or family tree can be equally variable. The rule of thumb for users is: Don’t assume you can take information you find on the site straight to the bank. Confirm with your own research before repeating. In short: Caveat emptor.
Having said that, one can go panning for genealogical gold at Ancestry and turn up a nugget that — forgive the mixed metaphor! — enables one to draw a line between previously unconnected dots.
Last week, I got lucky.
Before we get to the reveal, a little background…
Based on the San Francisco directories of the 1860s and 1870s; San Francisco newspaper ads of the 1860s; the San Francisco census of 1870; and Emperor Norton’s obituaries of January 1880, here’s what we’ve been able to document:
1
The Eureka Lodgings, at 624 Commercial Street between Montgomery and Kearny, previously was known as the Benton House. From 1859 to 1864, this lodging house was owned and run at the 624 Commercial location by Felix J. Hanlon.
2
The San Francisco directory of 1864, published in October 1864, lists two lodging enterprises at 624 Commercial: the Benton House, run by Felix Hanlon; and the Eureka Lodgings, run by Aaron B. Babcock. This is the first directory listing for the Eureka.
The directory of 1865, published in December 1865, shows that Hanlon has moved the Benton House to a new location at First and Mission Streets, and that Babcock is the sole proprietor at 624 Commercial, continuing to run the house as the Eureka.
This sequence suggests that. sometime between late 1864 and late 1865, Aaron Babock took over part of the Benton House from Felix Hanlon and rebranded it as the Eureka Lodgings — and that, when Hanlon left 624 Commercial, Babcock took over the rest of the former Benton House and ran the whole thing as the Eureka.
3
The San Francisco directory of 1865 includes the first listing for Emperor Norton at the Eureka Lodgings, suggesting that the Emperor arrived at the Eureka sometime between the information deadlines for the 1864 and 1865 directories — so, probably sometime between late summer 1864 and fall 1865.
Depending on exactly when Emperor Norton arrived, it may have been Felix Hanlon who took on the Emperor as a resident and got him situated at 624 Commercial — but, most likely, the Emperor’s first landlord at 624 was Aaron Babcock.
4
The San Francisco directory of 1867, published in September 1867, includes the first listing for David Hutchinson, as “laborer with A.B. Babcock, 624 Commercial.” Perhaps Hutchinson was working as a handyman or “super” at the Eureka?
5
The San Francisco directory of 1868, published in October 1868, lists David Hutchinson as the proprietor of the Eureka Lodgings. Aaron Babcock is not listed at all.
Hutchinson continues to be listed as proprietor of the Eureka through the 1880 directory.
6
The San Francisco census of 1870 lists the occupations of both David Hutchinson and “Eva M.” Hutchinson as “Keeping Lodging House” at the same address (624 Commercial).
The is the same census that lists Joshua Norton at this address, with the occupation of “Emperor.”
7
The San Francisco Morning Call’s 9 January 1880 obituary of Emperor Norton paraphrases quotes from Eva Hutchinson that refer to her as “Mrs. Hutchinson” and “the landlady.”
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HERE’S what’s new…
According to the Ancestry profile for David Hutchinson (1836–1902), his wife Eva was born Eva May Babcock.
Sure enough, the profile for Eva May Babcock (1854–1923) leads quickly to the following listing for the Santa Clara Township (Santa Clara County), Calif., census of 1860 confirming that Eva was A(aron) B(urr) Babcock’s daughter.
Detail from The National Archives in Washington D.C.; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M653; Residence Date: 1860; Home in 1860: Santa Clara, Santa Clara, California; Roll: M653_65; Page: 514; Family History Library Film: 803065
David Hutchinson and Eva May Babcock were married on Christmas Day 1869 at the Babcock family home — which by this time was in San Jose. Marriage notices appeared in the San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin, the San Francisco Examiner, the Sacramento Daily Union, and possibly others — no doubt, a testament to the prominence of Aaron Babcock.
Notices for the marriage of David Hutchinson and Eva May Babcock (top to bottom): San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin, 28 December 1869, p. 3; San Francisco Examiner, 29 December 1869, p. 2; Sacramento Daily Union, 29 December 1869, p. 2. Sources (top to bottom): Genealogy Bank; Newspapers.com; California Digital Newspaper Collection
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RECALL THAT David Hutchinson took over as proprietor of the Eureka Lodgings sometime in 1868 — meaning that, when Hutchinson initially became landlord, he had been working for Aaron Babcock at the Eureka but still was single and not yet married to Babcock’s daughter Eva.
Two San Francisco directory listings from when Aaron Babcock was the Eureka’s landlord…
J.C. Fruchey as a clerk in 1865
David Hutchinson as a laborer in 1867
Click on images above to be directed to the original listings in the Internet Archive-hosted directories from the collection of the San Francisco Public Library.
…suggest that the Eureka was at least a two-person operation.
This, in turn, suggests one possible rationale for David Hutchinson’s marriage to Eva Babcock in December 1869: It appears that, when Hutchinson took over the Eureka Lodgings in 1868, Aaron Babcock turned his attentions to ranching. Assuming that Babcock absented himself from the day-to-day operation of the Eureka, Hutchinson would have needed an extra pair of hands to keep things going — and marrying Eva would have been a cost-effective way to achieve that.
Sharpening the focus on the possible “free labor” aspect of David Hutchinson’s marriage to Eva Babcock is Eva’s age. Eva was born in 1854 — so, when she married David in 1869, she was only 15.
A number of official records for David (census, voter registration, death) suggest — by inference from the age provided — a birth date of 1840. But the only extant record at Ancestry that declares something approaching a birth date — the U.S. census of 1900 — has David born in December 1836, which would have made him 33 when he married Eva.
Did David Hutchinson get in the habit of shaving a few years off his age to make the age gap between him and his wife seem a little less scandalous? Perhaps.
Whichever is the case, David Hutchinson in his late 20s or early 30s could not have had much rapport with a 15-year-old Eva Babcock. But — no doubt — Eva was perfectly adept with the tools of the housekeeping trade — bucket, mop, brush, dust cloth, etc. — and at putting food on the table.
One open question that points to another potential benefit for David Hutchinson in marrying Eva Babcock: Did Aaron Babcock retain a financial stake in the Eureka Lodgings? Put another way: Did Babcock continue to provide a level of financial security for the Eureka that served as a kind of “dowery” for David Hutchinson?
If so, this would have reduced Hutchinson’s financial exposure. (In his 1986 biography of Emperor Norton, William Drury claims that Hutchinson purchased the Eureka from Babcock outright. But, this appears to be pure speculation on Drury’s part. There is no evidence that Hutchinson, who was a “laborer” in Babcock’s employ at the Eureka in 1867, had the means to buy the business a year later.)
But, also: If — with respect to Eva Babcock — David Hutchinson was not only morally obligated to his new father-in-law but also financially obligated, then Aaron Babcock could be seen as trying to protect his daughter — at least until she came of age — by keeping Hutchinson on a fiscal tether.
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THESE RELATIONSHIPS between Aaron Babcock, Eva May Babcock, and David Hutchinson — and between all of the them to the Eureka Lodgings — have a number of potential implications for Emperor Norton.
Eva’s memories of the Emperor that were reported in the San Francisco Morning Call’s 9 January 1880 obituary of Emperor Norton tell us that she was well attuned to the Emperor’s moods and habits:
Above: Two of Eva Hutchinson’s memories of Emperor Norton excerpted from the Emperor’s obituary, San Francisco Morning Call, 9 January 1880, p. 3. Source: Newspapers.com
For how long had Eva Hutchinson been observing Emperor Norton?
Worth noting: Aaron Babcock was the landlord at the Eureka from 1864 to 1868. This could have provided Aaron’s daughter, young Eva May, with opportunities to meet Emperor Norton when she was a girl of 10 to 14 years old.
Which leads to a further question…
Why did David Hutchinson keep Emperor Norton as a tenant for 12 years?
It must have been an unusual arrangement for Hutchinson — never able to know for sure, from day to week to month, whether the Emperor’s rent would be paid (and by whom).
Was Hutchinson honoring his wife Eva’s childhood soft spot for the Emperor?
Was Hutchinson under instructions from Eva’s father Aaron Babcock — probably Emperor Norton’s original landlord at the Eureka — to keep the Emperor housed?
Was Babcock himself among those who contributed to the Emperor’s upkeep?
So many questions.
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A LATER confirmation that Eva May Babcock was Aaron Babcock’s daughter and that she was married to David Hutchinson comes from her father’s 1898 obituary, where she is identified as “Mrs. E.M. Hutchison [sic].”
“Death of an Old Pioneer,” Fresno Morning Republican, 15 January 1898, p. 5. Source: Newspapers.com
By this time, David and Eva Hutchison had long since welcomed their only child, David Kyle Hutchinson.
Born in 1886 — 17 years after their marriage — young David died in the year of my own birth: 1965.
Perhaps by 1886, David (now 50) and Eva (now 32) were more truly married than they could have been in 1869.
It’s nice to think so.
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