Arrest, property and business records in San Francisco 1920-32

A website called Newspapers,com contains both digitized articles and references to articles that appeared in the San Francisco newspapers. (Newspapers.com is owned by Ancestry.com) 

One of the papers covered by Newspapers.com is "The Recorder," a newspaper published in San Francisco.  The Recorder describes itself as the "Official Organ of the Courts" and as such, contains many, many items about your great grandfather, Bernard Robinson.  As an example, there is "Notice to Creditors," which appeared after your great grandfather's death, on March 22, 1932, p.7.  Another is the notice in the Recorder of May 31, 1930, p. 7 entitled "Summons to Establish Title."  The latter notice refers to a case in which your great grandfather is a plaintiff in a case before the Superior Court of the State of California in and for the City and County of San Francisco.  

There are lots of entries such as the two cited above.  If the entries don't provide the complete records of the court cases, they at least provide enough information -- dates, courts, names of attorneys -- to locate the actual records.  A local law librarian, or maybe even a law student, ought to be able to help you find the complete records.

In addition to the Recorder, the entries in Newspapers.com include articles from some of the major papers in San Francisco -- the Bulletin, the Examiner, and the Chronicle.  In some cases Newspapers.com provides the entire article and in others it provides only a citation.  In order to read the citation-only articles, you must have a subscription to the "enhanced" Newspapers.com.  An alternative is to copy down the citations and then find the articles on microfilm in a local library (assuming you live in the San Francisco area).

A particularly interesting full-text article concerning Bernard Robinson appeared in the San Francisco Bulletin of March 4, 1924, p, 1 and cont'd on page 8.  The material on page 8 concerns your great grandfather.  The article is about Prohibition enforcement.

While most public libraries subscribe to Ancestry.com, very few subscribe to Newspapers.com. However Newspapers.com offers a free trial for a week.

One tantalizing entry I spotted in the Recorder appeared on October 14, 1920 entitled "Abstract from Records Compiled by Title Insurance and Guaranty Co. Deeds, [dated] October 8, 1920."  I couldn't make heads or tails out of the data but it included the names Anna & Adolf Becker and on the same line Bernard Robinson.  Maybe you'll do better.

I should say that I didn't read all the entries from the Recorder.  There were too many.

Good luck with your search.

Thanks a million, Chi-chi. I have to go through all my files, but I think I have some that I found on newspapers.com. However, there is at least one that I definitely don't have which is that last one you mention about from the Recorder.

I think I have the Notice to Creditors, advertized in another newspaper perhaps, but don't the Summons to Establish Title. I will look for all these. I had a subscription to Newspapers.com, but it has elapsed.

I do not live in the Bay area, but will eventually have to pay a visit.

Great research and suggestions, thank you very much.

Zev

Thanks a million, Chi-chi. I have to go through all my files, but I think I have some that I found on newspapers.com. However, there is at least one that I definitely don't have which is that last one you mention about from the Recorder.

I think I have the Notice to Creditors, advertized in another newspaper perhaps, but don't the Summons to Establish Title. I will look for all these. I had a subscription to Newspapers.com, but it has elapsed.

I do not live in the Bay area, but will eventually have to pay a visit.

Great research and suggestions, thank you very much.

Zev