My grandfather always claimed he lost all his personal papers as a young man, in the San Farancisco earthquake, while he was out at sea. We figured he devised the loss as a plausible ruse, so as not to be questioned regarding his past and to hide his British place of birth in order to collect a pension in Canada. As my grandfather died in the 1960's after a very long life, I'm surprised too that there are still survivors of the earthquake.