Kelley House Museum Archives • Page 5 of 8 • The Mendocino Voice | Mendocino County, CA

Columns & Opinion

McNear: The Great Depression hit Mendocino County hard

by Averee McNear, Kelley House Museum February 26, 2026February 26, 2026

Residents turned to bootlegging, trapping, hunting and gathering to put food on the table.

A sepia-toned historic wedding photograph shows a large group of men, women, and children posed outdoors in formal late-19th- or early-20th-century clothing, with the bride in a white dress standing near the center and guests arranged around her; handwritten numbers and notes are visible on the image surface.

Columns & Opinion

McNear: The MacKerricher sisters staged a dual wedding in 1899

by Averee McNear, Kelley House Museum February 5, 2026February 13, 2026

An altar surrounded by white roses and cordoned by a lover’s knot provided a beautiful setting on land that’s now MacKerricher State Park.

Columns & Opinion

McNear: A noteworthy Mendocino marriage had a rocky start

by Averee McNear, Kelley House Museum January 22, 2026February 13, 2026

Otis Kelley ended up marrying Annie, ensuring descendents—and the Kelley House’s collection.

A scanned, typewritten legal document from Mendocino County, California. The text is an affidavit sworn by Marie Gloria Andre of Mendocino, stating that she acted as midwife at the birth of a son born to John Roland Rodgers and Anna Pereira Rodgers in Mendocino County, California, and that the child is now known as Sylvester Rodgers and is a resident of Mendocino. The document is dated Sept. 25, 1939, and includes formal legal language indicating it was subscribed and sworn before an official.

Columns & Opinion

McNear: From delivering babies to recordkeeping, Mendocino County women did it all

by Averee McNear, Kelley House Museum January 15, 2026February 13, 2026

Midwives traveled to Ukiah once or twice a year to add babies to the county’s records.

Sepia-toned studio portrait of a woman in a long dark Victorian-era dress, standing beside an upholstered chair with one arm resting on it, against a patterned backdrop.

Columns & Opinion

McNear: Her name was America — and she did not suffer fools

by Averee McNear, Kelley House Museum January 8, 2026February 13, 2026

Coming West by covered wagon, America set up a millinery shop on Mendocino’s Main Street.

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