"Personal Plots" at La Vista Memorial Park

This article by David Hasemeyer was published in the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper on 28 November 2004 - it is online here at SignOnSanDiego.

The article describes the non-endowed area, called Rest Haven, in the La Vista Memorial Park in National City, California. There are descriptions, and photos, of several of the very personal plots, grave markers and memorials - there are essentially no rules for grave markers in Rest Haven. There are other parts of La Vista Memorial Park that are endowed - meaning they are kept mowed and cleaned, but there are some rules about grave marker types and sizes in these areas.

The article notes:

"Endowed cemeteries give the impression that the dead are remembered because the landscape is constantly groomed by maintenance workers. But at Rest Haven it's clear that only relatives and friends can truly keep a memory alive. "

and:

"About 1,000 people are buried on Rest Haven's four acres and about 1,000 more graves could be added if the cemetery decides to sell any more. "

[Former La Vista manager Ruth] Cook surveyed the cemetery with a look of tenderness and pity for those who have been unattended for decades. "All of these headstones make you feel that they were somebody who meant something at some time to somebody," she said. "I can imagine the day when families would gather."

I enjoy wandering around the Rest Haven part of La Vista Memorial Park. Some of the monuments and memorials are impressive, some are very simple, but they all commemorate the passing of a loved one.

My Carringer great-great-grandparents are buried here, as are Frederick and Elizabeth (Seaver) Blanchard, cousins from Massachusetts.

Memorial Day at La Vista Memorial Park

..
The La Vista Memorial Park and Mausoleum are having their fifth annual Memorial Day Celebration from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday, 31 May. The Park is located at 3191 Orange Street in National City CA, 91950.

The flyer announcing this event is below:

There will be food, beverages and entertainment for the whole family to enjoy. As a special treat, dignitaries (I wonder who?) will be rolling up their sleeves and serving up the refreshments.

There will be the unveiling of a monument dedicated to the "Gone but not Forgotten" by La Vista Memorial Park and the San Diego County Administrator, Public Guardian.

Homemade Memorial at La Vista Memorial Park

There are a number of homemade memorials at La Vista Memorial Park in the unendowed section of the cemetery. Here is one for Margaret E. Miller (no relation of mine):

There is a homemade cross with Margaret's name, birth date and death date, anchored by a concrete brick, at the head of the gravestone. The concrete gravestone presumably lies over the coffin, and has Margaret's name, birth date, death date and relationships on it, plus signatures of loved ones.

Unfortunately, the gravestone has already cracked in several places. I wonder which will last longer - the cross or the gravestone?

Some La Vista grave sites

....
The grave stones and monuments in the Unendowed section at La Vista Memorial Park in National City are unique. There is no uniformity in them. Some are very simple, like this one - a simple cross with an inscription:


Some are quite full of artificial flowers and other things to remember their loved one:

This one sort of haunts me - a simple post with a pillow for the living to come and sit with their loved one. Note the small shrine:

We all grieve for our loved ones (and never known too!) in different ways. It is especially hard to grieve for those taken too soon from us.

Civil War Soldiers buried at La Vista Cemetery in National City CA

....
There is a G.A.R. section at La Vista Memorial Park in National City, California with a number of well-kept in-ground graves and a monument to the men buried there.

Out in the "non-endowment" area of the cemetery are several stones that bear notations that commemorate Civil War veterans. The ones I saw and photographed (before my camera juice ran out today) were these:

1) David Palmanteer:

David Palmanteer,

Co. K,

?? PA Inf.

[note, the flag obscures some of the stone. I didn't see any years):

2. Leonard F. Davis:

Lieut. L.F. Davis

Co. "A"

21 Wis. Inf.

There are additional in-ground stones (above the front one) for Leonard F. Davis and his wife that read:

Leonard F. Davis

1825-1906

and

Sarah E. Trimble

wife of

Leonard F. Davis

born

Aug. 6, 1831

died

Oct. 13, 1890

3) B.F. Fletcher

....

B.F. Fletcher

Co. A

16th ME. Inf.

I will go back to La Vista soon to see if I can find more Civil War soldiers gravestones and photograph the stones in the G.A.R. memorial area.
.....

Mormon Battalion Memorial at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery

....
One of the more interesting memorial stones at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery is this one which shows a frontier man and a frontier woman on one side:




The plaque embedded in the ground below the memorial reads:

In memory of the Mormon Battalion whose

members made the longest military march in

U.S. history of over 2,000 miles from Iowa to San

Diego in 1846-1847 during the war with Mexico.

Albert Warren Dunham ........Lydia Ann Edmunds Hunter

... Private - Company B .........wife of Captain Jesse Hunter

-------------------------------------Company B

23 May 1828 - 11 May 1847 --23 January 1823 - 26 April 1847

Lydia Hunter and Private Albert Dunham were

buried in a cemetery in the La Playa area of

Point Loma and were moved to Fort Rosecrans National

Cemetery with other military personnel in 1887.

The other side of the monument:

The inscription reads:

Lydia Hunter died

from complications

resulting from the

birth of her only

child, a son named

Diego hunter, the

first American born

in California. Diego

was born on 20 April

1847. Lydia died 6

days later.

May we honor her

and each of those

women who served

with the Mormon

Battalion. We also

pay tribute to the

many others that

sent their sons,

husbands, and

brothers into the

service of their

country during the

war with Mexico in

1846-1847.

.......

San Pasqual Battle (1846) Memorial at Fort Rosecrans

....
One of the monuments to soldiers killed in battle at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery on Point Loma in San Diego is for those who lost their lives in the Battle of San Pasqual in 1846.

The San Diego chapter of the Native Sons and Daughters of the Golden West installed the San Pasqual monument in 1922 to honor those soldiers who lost their lives in the 1846 Battle of San Pasqual during the Mexican War. The monument is comprised of a stone boulder with a bronze plaque mounted on it.

The California State Military Museum has reprinted a portion of the book SNAFU: Great American Military Disasters by Geoffrey Ragan here. It provides a long description of the battle and the outcome.

The book The Silver Dons by Richard F. Pourade tells how the remains of the dead soldiers came to be buried at Fort Rosecrans:

"But the dead of San Pasqual lay in forgotten graves in Old Town [San Diego]. The names on the small wooden crosses had weathered away and were no longer remembered."

Who were these 18 dead soldiers? I cannot read the names on the memorial plaque on the stone from my picture. The list of the Americans who died at the Battle of San Pasqual is here - this is a great web page with many pictures of present-day San Pasqual and a re-enactment of the battle.

I found a great picture of the plaque at Fort Rosecrans on www.interment.net here. The names on the plaque are:

Ist United States Dragoons

Company C

* Sergeant John Cox

* Corporal William C. West

* Private George Ashmead

* Private Joseph T. Campbell

* Private William Dalton

* Private John Dunlap

* Private Joseph B. Kennedy

* Private William C. Leckey

* Private Samuel T. Repose

Company K

* 1st Sergeant Otis L. Moore

* Sergeant William Whitress

* Corporal George Ramsdale

* Farrier David W. Johnson

* Private William H. Fiel

* Private William C. Gholston

* Private Robert B. Gregory

California Volunteer

* Henry Baker

Topographical Engineer Detachment

* Francois Menard

The Bennington Monument at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery

There is a 60-foot tall granite obelisk monument in the northern end of Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery on the east side of the road. It was dedicated on January 7, 1908 to the sailors who lost their lives on the USS Bennington in 1905. The Fort Rosecrans web site says:

"... notable monument in Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery commemorates the deaths of 62 sailors in a boiler explosion aboard the USS Bennington. The Bennington, which had just returned from maneuvers in the Pacific, was anchored in San Diego Harbor. On July 21, 1905, the crew was ordered to depart in search for the USS Wyoming, which had lost a propeller at sea. At approximately 10:30 a.m., an explosion in the boiler room ripped through the ship, killing and wounding the majority of the crew. Two days later the remains of soldiers and sailors were brought to the post cemetery and interred in an area known as Bennington Plot."

Here is a picture of the monument from the southeast:





The plaque on the north side of the monument:

A view looking at the monument from the southwest towards San Diego Bay and the city.

The white gravestones nearest the monument are for the sailors who lost their lives in the explosion.

The web site of the San Diego Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) shows more photos of the history of the monument, and the ceremonies in 2008 that honored the dead buried there.

The Kimballs at La Vista Cemetery

....
The Kimball brothers were early settlers and large landholders in the southern part of San Diego County.

Two Kimball stones and several others of related persons are in a fenced yard at La Vista Memorial Park in National City.

The fenced area has a monument outside thel ocked gate:


Thei nscription reads:

KIMBALL MEMORIAL
Founders
National City, California
1887

Restored 1990

Warren C. Kimball's stone is at the east end of the fenced yard.



Warren O. Kimball's inscription reads:

Warren O. Kimball
Born in Hopkinton, N.H.
July 19, 1829
May 9, 1913

The Frank A. Kimball stone is at the west end of the fenced yard:


The inscription of Frank A. Kimball's stone reads:

Frank A. Kimball
Born Jan. 26, 1832
Died Aug. 11, 1913

The history of National City and the lives of the Kimball Brothers are summarized in an article in the Journal of San Diego History titled National City in Review by Irene Phillips (Volume 8, No. 2, April 1962).

Another biography of Frank A. Kimball is found in Chapter 4 of the book History of San Diego, 1542-1908, by William E. Smythe.

Grant's Tomb at Greenwood Memorial Park

Did you know that Ulysses S. Grant is buried in Greenwood Memorial Park in San Diego?

The stone just says "Grant." The Historical Walking Tour handout obtained from Greenwood says:

"Ulysses S. Grant, Jr. (1852-1929): The son of President Ulysses S. Grant came to the San Diego area in 1893 for his wife's health. He was active in real estate and promoting the San Diego area. He built the U.S. Grant Hotel as a memorial to his father. The bronze Angel of Death is the work of Henry Lukeman, a prominent eastern sculptor who had studied with Daniel Chester French (Sculptor of the Lincoln figure in the Lincoln Memorial). The stone was cast in 1911. Henry Lukeman later worked on the Stone Mountain Memorial in Georgia."

A biography of Ulysses S. Grant, Jr. is available on the San Diego Historical Society web site here. Wikipedia has a biography here. More information about the man and his gravestone, including a picture of the other side, is on the FindAGrave site here.

"The Zoo Lady" at Greenwood Memorial Park

Take a look at this gravestone - is a gorilla buried here?

This gravestone stands in the Masonic Place section of the historical portion of Greenwood Memorial Park in San Diego. Belle Benchley (1882-1972) is buried in this grave. The Historical Walking Tour information about this grave says:

"Note the unusual monument with the gorilla's head on it. Belle Benchley, a former schoolteacher who began work in midlife for the [San Diego] Zoo, was known as "The Zoo Lady." She helped transform the zoological gardens into the world-famous San Diego Zoo that we enjoy today. She was especially concerned with improving the medical care and simple comforts of the Zoo inhabitants. She held the position of San Diego Zoo Director Emeritus until she died at the age of ninety-one years."

A biography of Belle Benchley is available on the San Diego Historical Society site here.

UPDAED 3 August 2019:  Belle's granddaughter, Laurel Costello, contacted me by email recently and noted that the gravestone was corrected to reflect 1973 as her death year.  Laurel noted that she did the drawing for the gorilla head engraving on the gravestone.  Laurel also noted that a biography of Belle Benchley will be published next year.  My thanks to Laurel for correcting the gravestone.

The Tanzer Cenotaphs at Greenwood Memorial Park

What is a cenotaph? It is a monument erected in honor of a dead person whose remains lie elsewhere.

There is a collection of cenotaphs at Greenwood Memorial Park in San Diego that are beautiful and intriguing. They are located in the Hawthorne Place section of the cemetery in the southwestern, historical, section of the cemetery. From the road, the cenotaphs depict angels, dogs and lambs, and face in various directions, and look like this:

The Historical Walking Tour handout that I obtained from Greenwood says this about this collection:

"Frederick Tanzer (1861-1938) and his wife purchased sixteen graves here to be used for 'memorials' to their many relatives buried in Germany and elsewhere. After his wife was buried, Mr. Tanzer placed fifteen pieces of Carrara marble statuary on the site that he and his wife had planned as a memorial to their parents and many relatives. The statuary is a 'Sermon of Love' by Mr. Tanzer for his wife. Mr. Tanzer devoted his life and fortune to this memorial in statuary, and he died a pauper."

It doesn't indicate whether the Tanzer's had any children. I checked the 1900 US census and it said that Fred and Mary Tanzer had zero children. What a pity that these statues don't "belong" to someone in the San Diego area.

This is one of the few times I think the adage "I'm going to spend everything I have - I can't take it with me" applies!

Greenwood Memorial Park in San Diego

Greenwood Memorial Park and Mortuary is located at 4300 Imperial Avenue in San Diego CA 92113 (take the Imperial Avenue exit East from I-15, or the Imperial Avenue exit West from I-805), three miles east of downtown San Diego (take State 94 east to south Interstate 805). The cemetery is visible from south Interstate 805. The cemetery gates open at 7:30 a.m., the mausoleum at 8 a.m., and the mortuary and cemetery offices are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. The office phone number is (619) 264-3131. Greenwood has a web page at http://www.dignitymemorial.com/4615/LocalHome.aspx .

Greenwood was opened in 1907, and is situated on 117 lovely acres with attractive trees, seasonal flowers and well-kept landscaping. The park includes three lakes, veterans’ features, the Lifesharing Hero's memorial, a Canadian Legion monument, the large Cathedral and Bible mausoleums, and a historic section. Other than the monuments, the Serenity section, the historic section and the mausoleum, all burial sites have in-ground gravestones. There are approximately 100,000 residents in Greenwood Memorial Park - it is the largest non-military cemetery in San Diego County.

A short history of Greenwood Memorial Park is included on this page published by the San Diego Historical Society in the Journal of San Diego History.

I visited Greenwood Memorial Park two weeks ago in order to find graves of some of my distant cousins, obtain information about the park, the famous residents buried there, and to take some pictures. I wrote the names to be searched on a form, and waited several minutes (with a cookie and a bottle of water) for Kevin to come out and tell me that they did not have a record of my lost cousins. I told him that I also wanted information about famous people, and he volunteered to take me on a short tour of the "historic" section of the cemetery. After the tour, he provided a list of the famous residents which had brief biographies for each of them. I took some pictures, too.

The office on the top of the hill looks like this:




The Salli Lynn Chapel can be used for funerals and memorial services:



The most eye-catching memorial is shown through these gates. This is labeled Tribute on the maps but is the Lifesharing Hero's memorial. This view is through gates to the Serenity section of the cemetery, which has mostly Vietnamese stones.

This is a view to the north toward the Bible Mausoleum from the office area.

The web sites that have transcriptions and photographs include:

* Interment.net has 120 transcriptions.

* FindaGrave.com has a great map, some pictures of the grounds, and 1,485 transcriptions from the cemetery, including some with biographies and photographs of the deceased. There are also links to 25 "famous" persons buried at Greenwood.

* The USGenWeb California Tombstone Project has four lists of transcriptions - Transcription #1 (23) A-E (over 1300) F-J (over 1000) K-P (over 1200) Q-Z (over 1100).

* The Political Graveyard has six entries for Greenwood graves of politicians.

Albert F. Dill stone in Mount Hope

I described the Mount Hope Cemetery in San Diego last week. While I was there, I photographed a number of interesting stones in the Grand Army of the Republic area of the cemetery.

Here is the stone for Albert F. Dill (1840-1905) and his wife Isabelle Gay Dill (1848-1924).

The information on the stone about Albert's service reads:

"Co. E, 43rd Mass. Inf. 1862-1863

Acting Ensign U.S. Navy, 1863-1865"

I wonder how many other Civil War veterans served in more than one military service organization?

Albert Freeman Dill was born 27 September 1840 in Eastham, Massachusetts to Freeman and Elizabeth (Collins) Dill. He married (1) Susan Horton on 6 April 1862 in Eastham, Massachusetts, and they had at least two children - Nellie F. Dill (born 1862, died ????) and Albert F. Dill (born 20 April 1864, died 7 September 1864). In the 1880 US Census, Albert (age 40, born MA, a sea captain) and Isabella Dill (age 32, born MA) are residing in Oakland CA with a Michael Collins family. In the 1900 US census, A. F. Dill (born Aug 1840, married 30 years, born MA, parents born MA, a pilot) and wife Isabel G. Dill (born June 1847, married 30 years, 3 children, born MA, parents born RI) reside at 239 Boston Avenue in San Diego, San Diego County, CA. They have three children, Alice L. Dill (born Dec 1882 in CA), Burt S. Dill (born Nov 1889 in CA), and Harold W. Dill (born Jan 1895 in CA).

I took this picture because I wondered if Albert F. Dill, and his children, were distant cousins of mine. Since he is from Cape Cod, I am quite sure that they are, since my Elizabeth Dill was born in Eastham in about 1794. I can trace Albert's line back to Peter Dill, the immigrant in about 1660. Perhaps some of Albert's descendants will see this post and contact me at rjseaver@cox.net. He, and they, has a wonderful New England ancestry - especially on Cape Cod and in early Plymouth!

Sign of the Cross at Mount Hope

Perhaps the largest monument for a single person or family at Mount Hope Cemetery in San Diego is the one shown below:

The eastern side of the base of this monument says:

"Graham E. Babcock

April 6, 1908"

Another photograph from another angle is here.

Graham E. Babcock was the son of Elisha H. and Isabel (Graham) Babcock. Elisha was one of the leading businessmen in South San Diego County in the 1880 to 1920 time period. A biography of Elisha S. Babcock is printed on pages 105 to 107 in:

City of San Diego and San Diego County: The Birthplace of California, Volume 2. By Clarence Alan McGrew, American Historical Society, American Historical Society, incorporated, New York. Published by American Historical Society, 1922. Available on Google Books.

The monument for Elisha and Isabel Babcock are much smaller than the one for their son , who died before they did. You can see their monument here.

Resting comfortably?

I ran across some really interesting shrines for deceased persons while I was at La Vista Memorial Park in National City on Wednesday.

Here is a photograph of one of the more elaborate shrines in the "unmaintained" section of the cemetery:

I saw no name of the deceased person on the monument - perhaps it is hidden by the flowers and other adornments.

Obviously, two or more people come to share some time with their loved one - note the comfortable office chair and the low table. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that they bring a portable television, play cards or even nap to spend their time with their loved one in the sun on a hillside overlooking the beautiful Sweetwater River valley.