Fitch Mountain
Picture postcard of "Fitch Mountain and Russian
River at Healdsburg, Cal." Published for M. D. Silberstein, Healdsburg, Cal.
by M. Rieder, Los Angeles, Cal. No. 4825. Made in Germany. This
particular card, with a one-cent green Franklin stamp, was postmarked
Healdsburg, Cal., Jul. 5, [no year given]. It was addressed to Mrs. Keith
Skinner, 1542 Milvia St., Berkeley, [no state given]. The message reads,
"Hope you had a nice day," and it is signed "Agnes."
Fitch Mountain lies in a bend in the Russian River, east of Healdsburg
in Sonoma Co., CA. On 28 Sep. 1841, Governor Micheltorena of what was
then part of Mexico, granted the Rancho Sotoyome, 48,836.51 acres
in the Mendocino and Russian River townships of Sonoma Co. to
Capt. Henry Delano Fitch (1799-1849), No. 3074.
On 18 Apr. 1853, a U.S. commission confirmed the grant to Henry’s widow,
Josefa. Their third son, Guillermo (William) married
Clara Pina, whose relatives owned 17,000 acres next to the Fitch ranch.
The fifth child, Josefa (Josephine) married John M. Bailhache, and the
seventh child, Ysabella (Isabella) married John Doty Grant, both of whose
family names are now commemorated by small community names in southeast
Healdsburg.