HEMET-SAN JACINTO GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY

07/13/2026

5th Grade Class At Hemet School
A post from the Facebook Antique Images from the Collection of Michael J. Semas page.
He comments:
5th Grade Class at Hemet School, Hemet, California. Image taken 1909-1911.
I love finding old school photos that show the economic differences that existed between students. Many of the children shown in this image are wearing their best clothes for photo day. However, some are probably wearing the only clothes they owned, and several had no shoes. It seems hard to believe that there was a time in the country where children would attend school barefooted.
Bob Chaparro
Hemet, CA

07/13/2026

I can just see my great-aunt scratching her name into this piece of furniture.

I'm guessing she had it in storage for a time while she lived in an apartment in the Chicago suburbs in the 1970s and early 1980s.

But it's a great picture--at least to me.

--Michael

07/13/2026

The Hemet Public Library is having Air Conditioning trouble and will be closed until at least July 15th or until they get the unit repaired. We are closed until further notice.

01/20/2026

02/12/2025

02/06/2025

I like old used envelopes in pension files.

This was in the pension file for Gardner Ramsey, whose Mexican War pension file I'm reviewing. I'm reviewing it for clues, not to approve it ;-)

Ramsey died in 1912 and for a moment I was concerned about whether I had the right person as the sibling of Ramsey from whom my children descend died in the 1860s. Remembering that people lie about their age but that age is a key identifier to make certain we have the right person, I double checked to see how old Ramsey was when he enlisted. He was 19 and born in 1825. Old enough to be in the Mexican War and still be alive in 1912. That reminder gave me today's tip which I just posted on the website.

A reminder too that Google's AI isn't all that smart. I googled "Mexican War enlistment age" (sans quotes) and the AI gave me information about today's Mexican army. That's not what I wanted.

Detail oriented readers (which genealogists should be) will notice that the letter was not addressed to Ramsey. It was addressed to his daughter. She's mentioned in the file a fair amount, but only a handful of references refer to her as Ramsey's daughter.

Apparently she lived in Cucamonga. That's the correct spelling, not Cucumonga as listed on the envelope.

--Michael