“And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Petaluma Historian is a blog of original history articles written by John Patrick Sheehy, a storyteller and fourth-generation Petaluman.
John’s Irish great-grandfather, John Casey, came to Petaluma in 1863 from County Kerry, Ireland, five years after the city of Petaluma was incorporated. He settled on a dairy farm at the north end of Tolay Lake in Lakeville, and married Julia Moriarty from County Kerry, who was working as a domestic in San Francisco.
John’s other Irish great-grandfather, Charles Sheehy, arrived in Petaluma in the 1870s via the penal colonies in Australia, where he had been exiled by the British as a member of the revolutionary Irish Republican Brotherhood. He was born and raised in Ballingarry, County Limerick, on a dairy farm that remains in the family today, managed by John’s cousin Patrick John Sheehy.
After settling in Petaluma, Charles Sheehy opened a painting and paperhanging store on Main Street. He passed the business on to his three sons, who operated Sheehy Brothers at 128 Kentucky Street (present-day site of the Hideaway Bar).
John grew up in a house on Bassett Street in Petaluma built by his great-grandmother, Julia Moriarty Casey, after the death of her husband John. Next door was the Sheehy house. John’s grandmother, Mary Ellen Casey, married the boy next door, Charles Sheehy, Jr.
John’s mother was born and raised in the Aleutians on Unga Island. A descendant on her mother’s side of a Russian sea captain and an Aleut princess, her father was a seaman from Tonga in the Polynesian Islands. During World War II, she moved with her family to Petaluma, after her stepfather, an army radio operator, was assigned to help establish the army base at Two Rock Ranch Station.
A graduate of Petaluma High School and Reed College, John spent the bulk of his career as an editor and publisher of magazines, working at a range of publications, including Time, Inc., Reader’s Digest, Utne Reader, Fast Company, Inc, Dwell, Health, Afar, Parabola, and Mindful.
He is the author with photographer Scott Hess of the book On a River Winding Home: Stories and Visions of the Petaluma River Watershed, which received the Gaye LeBaron Editor’s Award from the Sonoma County Historical Association. He also authored Comrades of the Quest: An Oral History Of Reed College, recipient of the Oral History Association’s Elizabeth B. Mason Award .
In 2018, John was honored with the Petaluma Good Egg Award. His local history articles have appeared in the Petaluma Argus-Courier, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, and the Sonoma Historian. John lives on Sonoma Mountain with his wife, the artist Laurie Szujewska.
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The Petaluma Historian is indebted to Katie Watts for editing assistance (and grammar patrol), and for research assistance from history consultant Katherine Rinehart; Simone Kremkau of the Sonoma County History & Genealogy Library; Connie Williams of the Petaluma History Room; Lee Torliatt; and Solange Russek, Terry Park, John Benati, John Fitzgerald, Paula Freund, and Lucy Kortum of the Petaluma Historical Museum & Library.
Special thanks as well to the members of the Volpi’s Historians Society, which convened in the former speakeasy at the back Volpi’s Restaurant (where John’s Great Uncle Will Casey once held court as a bootlegger and town storyteller) for their tall tales and sage advice: Skip Sommer, Chuck Lucas, Terry Park, John Fitzgerald, Tom Corbett, Dan Brown, Lisle Lee, Terry Park, Jack Withington, and Don Siemens.
The photo under the Petaluma Historian logo is by Scott Hess.
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For more info on John and Scott’s book, go to:
“This is a truly wonderful book, in the poetry of the writing, the meticulous research, the knowledgeable commentary, and the vivid photography.” —Adair (Heig) Lara, author of History of Petaluma: A California River Town
