J. H. E. Partington, a British painter who ran an art school in England, moved with his wife and family to Oakland, California in 1889. Partington and his son Richard Partington founded the Partington Art School in San Francisco.

Partington's Oakland home was a popular gathering place for artists and writers such as Ambrose BIerce, Joaquin Miller, George Sterling and Jack London.

Many of Partingtons' seven children were quite talented.  In addition to prolific painter Richard Partington, who painted some lovely landscapes of Oakland, daughter Gertrude Partington Albert was an illustrator for the San Francisco Examiner, daughter Blanche Bates was a California actress, and Phyllis Partington (stage name 'Francesca Peralta' borrowed from Peralta estate in Oakland) an opera singer on the West Coast and later New York.

[There are a great many rabbit holes with Oakland connections in this family ... living in Oakland, paintings of Oakland, secret love affairs with noted Oaklanders (Jack London, etc.)

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