during the 19th century the island was also called sheep island. one apocryphal story relates how a croatian immigrant named luccas gargurevich who settled on the island in 1870 told his son anton that "the man on goat island raised sheep, and i raised goats, so i have named it sheep island." despite this, gargurevich seems unlikely to be the source for this alternative name as sheep island appears on an 1856 map. in 1880, gargurevich was joined on the island by his new wife dominica, and they had nine children while living there. to educate them, he built a schoolroom and hired a teacher who traveled from oakland. after dominica died in childbirth, luccas and his children left the island. today, only a stone wall remains from the buildings of this period.