Greetings, readers & especially any local historians who may be lurking out there ...
A gentleman named Tom Davis from Louisville Kentucky has somehow found my blog & contacted me concerning a long-lost great-aunt of his named Margaret Davies. He's in the process of tracing his family's genealogy & has asked me if I know anyone who might have information concerning this highly accomplished, adventurous, & interesting relative of his, or her favorite summer vacation spot -- a place in Rio Nido called "Peter Pan."
Please send me email or write comments to this blog if you know anything helpful. Mr. Davis has informed me that he has found a copy of an old advertisement for the "Peter Pan" in Rio Nido, which could possibly be an interesting historical artifact.
I have published the text of Mr. Davis' email below (with his permission, of course):
Elisabeth,
My name is Tom Davis and one of my hobbies is amateur genealogy. I have been drawn to Rio Nido through a long lost relative. She was my grandfather’s sister and was born in Wales with 10 other brothers and sisters. Her name was Margaret Davies and she was a school teacher in Alameda at Lincoln School. She brought a husband with her from Pennsylvania to Alameda but divorced him there. His name was John Ganser and she had one son by him David John Ganser who lived and grew up in Oakland (Alameda). She married a well to do business man named Harold James Platts 30 Sep 1907. She was instrumental in the development of the first PTA in California and was active in all sorts of woman’s groups in Oakland according to articles in the Oakland Tribune. Mr. Platts died in 1926 but Margaret used to summer in Rio Nido while he was alive and perhaps afterward at a place called Peter Pan in Rio Nido. I have even seen an add in the Oakland Tribune for rentals for “young men at Peter Pan, an attractive place, in Rio Nido for $6 per week and up by H. J. Platts”. Do you have any clue where this place is and if it still exists? Do you know anything about the family? From reading the internet, Rio Nido at this time was a very small place (about 200 full time residents). She married a man named Mitchell after Mr. Platts died but I have not been successful in finding anything about him and I only mention it because her name might have been Mitchell some time after 1926 if she was still coming to Rio Nido.
Your little community sounds very interesting. Have a good day.
Tom from Louisville Kentucky
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