San Francisco Fraternal Organizations
Austrian American Benevolent Association
Grandpa as a young man,
Grandpa's Lodge
My
grandfather, Spiro Raicevich, belonged to this organization along with many
other Slovenians.
They were not Austrians, but emigrated to America from Croatia, when it was part
of the Austro-Hungary Empire. Evidently they admired Franz Joseph, because his
picture was on the wall of their meeting room on the back wall to the right of
the chandelier.
Spiro is seated in the front row with the epaulets on his shoulder.
I don't know when this picture was taken, but I imagine around 1900. Spiro came to San Francisco between 1867 and 1875, as the city directory in the latter year lists him as a barkeeper with George Jancovich. In the 1879 city directory he owned an oyster saloon at 808 Kearny.
Another image of the lodge on a San Francisco street.