Located 28 miles off the coast of California, the Farallon Islands (or “Farallones”) are “211 acres of rocky islets that are home to 28% of California’s sea birds.” Their name — assigned by Spanish explorers during the early 1600s — comes from the Spanish word farallón, meaning “sea cliff” or “sea stack.”
They islands have always been sparsely populated, but a lighthouse was built on Southeast Farallon in 1855 and a series of lighthouse keepers (four at a time) lived on that particular island — often with their families — from the 1850s until the 1940s.
The first of several babies born on the island during that time period was the daughter of keeper Cyrus J. Cain and his wife Mary Ellen. The baby girl arrived in April 8, 1898, and was named Farallon Wilhelmina Cain, after her birthplace.
(She was the seventh of nine children. The sibling names I know of are Catherine, George, Cecil, Harold, Charley, and Loretta.)
Sources:
- Farallon Island Lighthouse, California – Lighthousefriends.com
- Farallon Islands – Wikipedia
- Islapedia: Farallon Islands Births & Cain, Cyrus J.
- Graff, Amy. “17 fascinating facts about the Farallon Islands, just off San Francisco’s shore but rarely visited.” San Francisco Chronicle 31 Mar. 2019.
- Morain, Dan. “Farallon Islands–Rich in Wildlife, Beset by Threats.” Los Angeles Times 9 Jul. 1991.
Image: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Farallon was my grandmother. She married Frank Middleton Gerstmann and had two children; Frank Harold and Gloria Helen. My uncle Frank married Irene Oberg and had 4 children. My mother married Jack Cassidy and had 7 children. I am the fifth of seven. We have some keepsakes and photos and we’re able to speak to my grandmother’s eldest sister Catherine about the difficult life on the Islands and the fun the kids had inspite of their isolation. The kids were cousins to the Beemans as Wilhelmina Beeman was Cyrus Cain’s half sister. My great grandfather was Cyrus Cain and great grandmother was Mary Ellen McInerney. I would love to speak to you as I am very much involved in Ancestry and thout you may have some answers to questions I have. I look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you for all the interesting details, Jay!
I’m afraid I don’t have any more information beyond what I put in the post. Everything I was able to learn about your grandmother comes from that list of sources.
Thanks for the comment!