Certificate. Fire Department, City of San Francisco. by Curtis, James F - 1851

San Francisco, 1851 4pp. Quarto. Printed and manuscript, with official seal. "Constitution of the Fire Department of the City of San Francisco" printed on third page. A fine copy. San Francisco, October 20, 1851. Possibly the earliest known certificate for a private fire engine company in San Francisco. Very rare! At this period, San Francisco's fire engine companies were private. James F. Curtis arrived in San Francisco in 1849. Prior to acquiring this certificate, little was known about his involvement with a fire company except that, "He joined a volunteer fire company" (Shumate). Curtis was on the Executive Committee of the San Francisco Vigilance Committee of 1851, was San Francisco's first Chief of Police, and later was involved in the Civil War. This important document fills in a gap in Curtis' early career. He joined the "Howard Hook & Ladder Company, No. 2." Quite significantly, that company was in existence for less than two years before it disbanded in 1852. The certificate is signed by the newly elected Mayor, Charles James Brenham (elected May, 1851); by J. L. Van Bokkelen (Secretary of the Department and 1851 Vigilance Committee member); and by Thomas K. Battelle, "acting" Chief Engineer (Battelle was acting Chief from August to November, 1851). This certificate is one of the earliest documents to incorporate the newly adopted Constitution of the Fire Department of the City of San Francisco (adopted February 12, 1851). This Constitution is lacking from the few early known certificates. [Shumate, James F. Curtis, Vigilante: p.14; Soule, Annals of San Francisco: p.624, line 19]..