Great Register, San Francisco County, 1866-1898

We know that Patrick McIntyre (c1831-1901) immigrated to the US in 1863 and his first child was born in San Francisco in 1864. We  also believe Edward McIntyre (c1806-1881) was in the US before Patrick, but the first "record" we have found of him in California is a voter's registration for August 3, 1867.

In 1866, poll lists were replaced by voter registers know as the Great Registers. Affidavits were used early on to register new voters and information from the affidavits was copied into the Great Registers. So, it is likely that both Edward and Patrick brought copies of their naturalization papers when they went to register to vote.

The Registry Act of 1866 established a formal voting procedure with voter districts and voter registrations recorded in the Great Registers. Early registers were handwritten and kept by each county in large manuscript ledgers. When a voter moved from a precinct, his name was "red lined" in the register, with the county (or precinct) to which he moved penciled in. Registers included notations of death (often including date and place), removal, insanity, or infamy.

On this document from the Great Register, San Francisco County, page 262, both Edward and Patrick are listed. They are highlighted in yellow below

The two highlighted entries read:

Voting No.: 24583
Regis'd No.: 19268
Name: McIntire, Edward
Age: 62
Nativity: Ireland
Occupation: Laborer
Local Residence: Larkin & Francisco
Ward: 12
Voted or Not Voted: BLANK
Naturalized - Date, Place and Court: August 4, 1854, Johnson, Fulton Co. Co.
(Dolly Purcell learned this should have read: Johnstown, Fulton County Court. New York)
Date of Registration: August 3, 1867

Voting No.: 24597
Regis'd No.: 35480
Name: McIntyre, Patrick
Age: 38
Nativity: Ireland
Occupation: Laborer
Local Residence: Fran b Polk and Lark (Francisco between Polk and Larkin)
Ward: 12
Voted or Not Voted: BLANK
Naturalized - Date, Place and Court: Aug. 19, 1869, San Francisco, 12th Dis
Date of Registration: August 19, 1869


The men's ages, Patrick 38 and Edward 62 are in agreement with what we know about the two of them.

In an earlier blog post "Patrick and Edward McIntyre/McIntire - San Francisco 1861-1883" several times Patrick and Edward are shown as living at the same "address" as noted in this Great Register.

Of note are the dates of naturalization. For Patrick it is 1869 and unfortunately, the naturalization records for San Francisco were destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. But, Edward's naturalization took place in Fulton County, New York and a copy of the naturalization papers has been located on FamilySearch by Dolly Purcell.


Sources:

• Great Register, San Francisco County, Ancestry.com accessed by Dolly Purcell, June 12, 2020. Original source: California State Library, Sacramento, California.
• Information on the California Great Registers from FamilySearch Historical Records, accessed June 13 by Elaine Beaudoin