Showing posts with label Photographs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Photographs. Show all posts
25 November 2009
Calvary Pioneer Memorial Park Gravestones - Post 2
Here are four gravestones from the Priests section of the Calvary Pioneer Memorial Park in San Diego (see previous post for particulars of history and burial data).
20 November 2009
Calvary Pioneer Memorial Park in San Diego - Post 1
The story of Calvary Cemetery in the Mission Hills area of San Diego is complicated, sad and amazing. Several articles that tell the story and provide records are:
* Marna Clemons' Calvary Cemetery, San Diego web page, which has the most complete history of the cemetery and list of persons buried there. There is a Rootsweb WorldConnect database for the persons buried there with some vital record information for each person when it could be found. The site has ten plot maps of the graves here.
* The US GenWeb Tombstone Transcription Project article, listing about 800 names, by Michael Harris
* The San Diego Historical Society Finding Aid with about 700 black and white photos taken before the stones were removed from Calvary Cemetery.
Today, the Calvary Pioneer Memorial Park is an urban park with houses on city streets all around - the location is shown here (1501 Washington Place, San Diego CA 92103).
The memorial plaques and the recovered gravestones are in the southeast corner of the Park. Here is a view of the memorial plaque area with the gravestones in the background:
Note that only the gravestones were removed from the park, not the graves or their contents, in 1970. The persons are still there under the sod and trees. The gravestones in the park do not mark particular graves - they are just there as a testament to a few of the persons buried there.
There are six memorial plaques and each has about 300 names on them (I didn't count them all!). They are shown below from left to right:
In succeeding posts, I will show some of the gravestones that are standing in Calvary Pioneer Memorial Park today.
* Marna Clemons' Calvary Cemetery, San Diego web page, which has the most complete history of the cemetery and list of persons buried there. There is a Rootsweb WorldConnect database for the persons buried there with some vital record information for each person when it could be found. The site has ten plot maps of the graves here.
* The US GenWeb Tombstone Transcription Project article, listing about 800 names, by Michael Harris
* The San Diego Historical Society Finding Aid with about 700 black and white photos taken before the stones were removed from Calvary Cemetery.
Today, the Calvary Pioneer Memorial Park is an urban park with houses on city streets all around - the location is shown here (1501 Washington Place, San Diego CA 92103).
The memorial plaques and the recovered gravestones are in the southeast corner of the Park. Here is a view of the memorial plaque area with the gravestones in the background:
Note that only the gravestones were removed from the park, not the graves or their contents, in 1970. The persons are still there under the sod and trees. The gravestones in the park do not mark particular graves - they are just there as a testament to a few of the persons buried there.
There are six memorial plaques and each has about 300 names on them (I didn't count them all!). They are shown below from left to right:
In succeeding posts, I will show some of the gravestones that are standing in Calvary Pioneer Memorial Park today.
06 October 2009
San Diego Cemetery listings in California Genealogy and family History Archives
A collection of San Diego County cemetery tombstone transcriptions and photographs of some of the tombstones is available on the San Diego County page of the California Genealogy and Family History Archives web page.
This is part of a larger collection of California cemetery listings here.
This is part of a larger collection of California cemetery listings here.
20 January 2009
Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery
Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery is located on Point Loma, a peninsula that separates San Diego Bay on the east from the Pacific Ocean on the west, and is part of the city of San Diego. The cemetery mailing address is: P.O. Box 6237. San Diego, CA 92166. Phone: (619) 553-2084. FAX: (619) 553-6593.
The office hours for the cemetery are: Monday thru Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Closed federal holidays except Memorial Day and Veterans Day.
The Visitation Hours for the cemetery are: Monday thru Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
A map of the cemetery relative to the City of San Diego can be seen here (you may have to zoom out to see the City).
There are over 96,000 interments in this cemetery, which currently covers 77.5 acres. This cemetery has space available for cremated remains. They may be able to accommodate casketed remains in the same gravesite of previously interred family members.
The office to the cemetery is on the west side of Catalina Blvd., which extends the length of Point Loma to the Cabrillo National Monument on the southern tip. From the roadway, here is the office area looking to the west.
Opposite the office area, the east side of the cemetery looks like this:
Almost all of the graves at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery are standard issue - white, with name, rank, service, birth date and death date, as shown in the photo below. There are some early gravestones that are different, and several memorials (such as the Bennington Memorial in the photo below).
In the background of the above picture is the downtown San Diego city skyline, with the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge on the far right.
The office hours for the cemetery are: Monday thru Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Closed federal holidays except Memorial Day and Veterans Day.
The Visitation Hours for the cemetery are: Monday thru Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
A map of the cemetery relative to the City of San Diego can be seen here (you may have to zoom out to see the City).
There are over 96,000 interments in this cemetery, which currently covers 77.5 acres. This cemetery has space available for cremated remains. They may be able to accommodate casketed remains in the same gravesite of previously interred family members.
The office to the cemetery is on the west side of Catalina Blvd., which extends the length of Point Loma to the Cabrillo National Monument on the southern tip. From the roadway, here is the office area looking to the west.
Opposite the office area, the east side of the cemetery looks like this:
Almost all of the graves at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery are standard issue - white, with name, rank, service, birth date and death date, as shown in the photo below. There are some early gravestones that are different, and several memorials (such as the Bennington Memorial in the photo below).
In the background of the picture above (looking northeast) is the city of San Diego with the backcountry mountains far in the distance (the tallest peak is 6,500 foot Cuyamaca Mountain, which is about 40 miles away).
New interments at this cemetery are accepted for cremated remains and are buried in spaces along roads and in the columbarium walls shown below (on the east side of the cemetery):
In the background of the above picture is the downtown San Diego city skyline, with the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge on the far right.
The names of those interred at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery are in several online databases:
* FindAGrave has 59,101 interments listed.
* Interment.net has 71,608 interments listed.
* The USGenWeb Archives has a complete list (as of 15 June 2006) for the cemetery in a series of files at http://files.usgwarchives.org/ca/sandiego/cemeteries/ . The Fort Rosecrans records are in the sdnational-a1.txt through sdnational-z.txt files on the list.
11 December 2008
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:
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.
21 November 2008
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.
20 November 2008
Mount Hope Cemetery - San Diego CA
Mount Hope Cemetery is located at 3751 Market Street in San Diego, California (92102). The Business Office phone number is (619) 527-3400. The cemetery is managed by the City of San Diego. The Grounds are open 365 days a year from 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. The Business Office is open Monday though Friday from 8:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. The City of San Diego web site for the cemetery is here.
The original Mount Hope Cemetery was opened in 1869 east of the "New Town" of San Diego. It was combined with other burial areas originally designated for the International Order of Foresters, Masonic Lodge, Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), Fraternal Order of Eagles, and the County of San Diego Indigent Burial Program. In February 1973 a Veteran’s Section in the newer area of the cemetery was dedicated in honor of all San Diego Veterans.
The cemetery has 110 acres (with 80 acres in use at present) with over 76,000 persons at rest there.
The entrance is on the south side of Market Street, about midway between Interstate 15 and Interstate 805 (both have offramps for Market Street). The entrance looks like this (looking south)
The Business Office is about 1/10 mile inside the gate on the left, and has parking for about 8 cars. The view from the road is (looking east):
The cemetery grounds are rolling low hills, with roads defining the different cemetery sections. The San Diego Trolley tracks run through the cemetery, separating the Masonic Section, the G.A.R. Section and the I.O.O.F. Section south of the tracks from the larger Evergreen Cemetery section north of the tracks. The grounds have, in general, a mix of above-ground and in-ground markers, with a few larger monuments.
The original Mount Hope Cemetery was opened in 1869 east of the "New Town" of San Diego. It was combined with other burial areas originally designated for the International Order of Foresters, Masonic Lodge, Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), Fraternal Order of Eagles, and the County of San Diego Indigent Burial Program. In February 1973 a Veteran’s Section in the newer area of the cemetery was dedicated in honor of all San Diego Veterans.
The cemetery has 110 acres (with 80 acres in use at present) with over 76,000 persons at rest there.
The entrance is on the south side of Market Street, about midway between Interstate 15 and Interstate 805 (both have offramps for Market Street). The entrance looks like this (looking south)
The Business Office is about 1/10 mile inside the gate on the left, and has parking for about 8 cars. The view from the road is (looking east):
The cemetery grounds are rolling low hills, with roads defining the different cemetery sections. The San Diego Trolley tracks run through the cemetery, separating the Masonic Section, the G.A.R. Section and the I.O.O.F. Section south of the tracks from the larger Evergreen Cemetery section north of the tracks. The grounds have, in general, a mix of above-ground and in-ground markers, with a few larger monuments.
There is a dedicated area for the Grand Army of the Republic that contains many graves of Civil War veterans. There is a GAR memorial with an American flag pole, as shown below:
On the west side of the memorial is a plaque, as shown below:
There are a number of web sites that have lists with persons interred at Mount Hope Cemetery (and its' predecessors), including:
On the west side of the memorial is a plaque, as shown below:
There are a number of web sites that have lists with persons interred at Mount Hope Cemetery (and its' predecessors), including:
* http://www.findagrave.com/ has over 3,100 listings here. There are also short biographies of 13 famous people here.
* http://www.interment.net/ has over 500 listings here.
* The California GenWeb Cemetery Archives has an index with over 14,000 listings here.
* The USGenWeb Archives for San Diego cemeteries has listings in alphabetical order here. I think these are the same listings as the California GenWeb archives.
The San Diego Genealogical Society offers a book of Mount Hope Cemetery, Burial Records, Book 1, 1868 - 1909, 319 pages, comb binding on their web site for $30. This was compiled from the listings in their original records publication, San Diego Leaves and Saplings, from member transcriptions many years ago.
If you go to the Business Office to search for a person buried there, the helpful staff finds the listing on their computer, and then prints a map of the cemetery showing the approximate location of the grave, and then provides a map of the immediate area with the selected person and 15 of the closest neighbors. It's a wonderful system once you figure it out!
14 November 2008
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:
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.
13 November 2008
La Vista Memorial Park
La Vista Memorial Park is located at 3191 Orange Street in National City, California, 91950 (the city immediately south of San Diego on the bayfront) and has been serving San Diego area families since 1868. La Vista Memorial Park of San Diego. They are the only family owned and operated memorial park in San Diego County. The park is located just east of Interstate 805 and north of State Route 54 (coming north or south, take the Sweetwater Road exit, and go east. The second street to the left is Orange, and La vista is up a winding road.
The La Vista Memorial Park web site is at http://www.lavistamemorialpark.com/. There are location maps and photographs of the park and the setting on the site. The phone number is 619-475-7770. I visited the park yesterday, and took some photographs. Here is the entry gate at Orange Street and 32nd Street:
The cemetery office is located in a relatively small building. At the front desk, you can ask for the location of a grave, and the attendant will look in a card file, find the record, make a copy of it, and then look in a map book to determine where the grave is located. If the attendant is not busy, s/he will take you out to the grave site. Here is the cemetery office building.
The La Vista Memorial Park web site is at http://www.lavistamemorialpark.com/. There are location maps and photographs of the park and the setting on the site. The phone number is 619-475-7770. I visited the park yesterday, and took some photographs. Here is the entry gate at Orange Street and 32nd Street:
The cemetery office is located in a relatively small building. At the front desk, you can ask for the location of a grave, and the attendant will look in a card file, find the record, make a copy of it, and then look in a map book to determine where the grave is located. If the attendant is not busy, s/he will take you out to the grave site. Here is the cemetery office building.
The cemetery has a "maintained" section (where the grave sites are in a mowed grassy area and an "unmaintained" section where the graves are not maintained by the cemetery staff, but family members often create shrines for their loved ones. Many of the early graves (before 1920) are in the unmaintained section. This is a view looking to the west from near the cemetery office of the unmaintained section.
Part of the maintained section is shown below looking north from near the cemetery office:
The persons in this cemetery are either buried or cremated and in the ground, in a number of mausoleums or in a niche wall for cremated remains. Grave markers include ground-level markers, small or large monuments, or shrines. Many recent graves are interspersed in the older sections, often with a modern stone right next to an older granite stone. There is a lot of "empty" space in the older sections - I think that there are probably many unmarked graves, which may or may not be noted in the cemetery records.
Just east of the office, there is a Grand Army of the Republic memorial and there are gravestones of probable Civil War veterans nearby. There are also gravestones for more recent military veterans nearby. The GAR memorial is shown below:
Just east of the office, there is a Grand Army of the Republic memorial and there are gravestones of probable Civil War veterans nearby. There are also gravestones for more recent military veterans nearby. The GAR memorial is shown below:
The San Diego Genealogical Society published a series of articles providing names and gravestone data for persons buried in La Vista cemetery in their Leaves and Saplings periodical (Volume 5, number 3 and Volume 15, number 2). These volumes are available at many San Diego area public libraries and at the San Diego Family History Center in Mission Valley.
The Chula Vista Genealogical Society is in the process of putting all cemetery records, obtained from the La Vista cemetery records provided by the staff, into a spreadsheet and will eventually publish a CD-ROM of these records, and will place a printed copy of the records in several local libraries.
The http://www.findagrave.com/ web site has listings for 555 persons in La Vista Memorial Park here. There are also photographs of the cemetery and of some of the gravestones at the park.
The http://www.interment.net/ web site has listings for 208 persons buried in La Vista Memorial Park here, but has no photographs or memorials.
There are listings from La Vista Memorial Park gravestones in the US GenWeb Archives at http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/sandiego/cemeteries/lavista.txt.
I have several ancestors and relatives buried in this cemetery, and I will post pictures of their gravestones on http://www.geneamusings.com/ in the near future.
20 October 2008
Welcome to the South San Diego County Graveyard Rabbit blog.
Welcome to the newest San Diego County genealogy blog - it is called the South San Diego County Genealogy Rabbit (SSDC Genealogy Rabbit). The purpose of this blog is to:
Promote the historical importance of South San Diego County cemeteries, grave markers, and the family history to be learned from a study of burial customs, burying grounds, and tombstones.
I pledge to promote the study of South San Diego County cemeteries, promote the preservation of these cemeteries, and promote the transcription of genealogical/historical information written in these cemeteries.
This blog is part of a genealogy blog network called the Association of Graveyard Rabbits - formed by Terry Thornton. Please read Terry's web site for more information about the Association and the list of participating blogs.
I tried to add this logo as a Gadget in the sidebar, but have been unable to do it for osme reason, despite excelent direction by Terry. Has anybody had success adding it to their sidebar on Blogger?
Promote the historical importance of South San Diego County cemeteries, grave markers, and the family history to be learned from a study of burial customs, burying grounds, and tombstones.
I pledge to promote the study of South San Diego County cemeteries, promote the preservation of these cemeteries, and promote the transcription of genealogical/historical information written in these cemeteries.
This blog is part of a genealogy blog network called the Association of Graveyard Rabbits - formed by Terry Thornton. Please read Terry's web site for more information about the Association and the list of participating blogs.
I tried to add this logo as a Gadget in the sidebar, but have been unable to do it for osme reason, despite excelent direction by Terry. Has anybody had success adding it to their sidebar on Blogger?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
