A Most Dreadful Earthquake

This unique book, based on the previously unpublished correspondence of a young San Francisco woman describing the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, graphically describes the sights of the city and gives details of everyday life in the chaos of those first days. Sarah Phillips' letters tell of walking a circuitous route of several miles in search of her mail, cooking in the streets for fear of fire, and sleeping outside for fear of aftershocks. In the second half of the book, CGS member Dorothy Fowler leads the reader through an investigation using classic genealogy methods to identify the relatives and friends Sarah identified only by their initials. This book is not only an exciting "you are there" account, it is also, as one reviewer wrote, "a Baedeker to genealogy research."