Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Sonoma Mountain Cemetery tour


Special Cemetery Tour for SOT Fundraiser

Gottfried Grande- brother of Lena Wallman , took over Ludwig Heilman’s bakery in S.F.

Jonas E. Johnson, member of Annie S. Wallman household when she was a widow,

Bob Thornsberry: 1925 -1997 bull rider, Valley Cemetery

Bill Montini 1889-1964, not in upper cemetery, on lower loop, on hill, bought ranch land from Luisa Vallejo Emparan, with proviso that land not be developed, now it is Open Space Preserve
Mary ‘Pizza’ Fazio

Otto Schulze: lodger at Schuman hotel, farmer, home butcher, eventual law against home processed meat made home butchering illegal
-Mesa de Abajo: hog tie, stick, bleed, cordless sawz-all

Charles N. Cheney 1875-1946 shod Schocken’s quarry horses
Augustino Pinelli, obit: ‘Mr. Sonoma’, stone worker from Italy, built Pinelli Bldg.1891 of “plum stone”/local stone, front sidewalk too, w/ 8-10 workers built several local commercial bldgs., contracted with Vallejo to quarry, managed quarry for Schocken, bought Blue Wing 1895/ housed quarry workers, A. Pinelli “offered to donate to the city all the stone for its new City Hall, April 5 1902, Pinelli had own quarry, worked with Schocken,

C. F. Leiding 1824-1899, Bremen, Standard Iron and Wire Works 1894
-Bremen was at the time a culturally and economically advanced area; commercial, industrial, Hanseatic city.
- Rufus’ brother in law, Minna was Rufus’ sister
-they lived in same neighborhhod
-Rufus preceded by 6-9 years
-Gold Rush times
-sail around Cape Horn 1850, arr SF and Sonoma 1851, farmer
-1858: merchandising
1860: current Toscano Hotel (built by Dorothea Nathanson with leftover wood from big church on First Street East) sold to him; general store
-at one time owned Union Hotel, along with a series of German owners: Lutgens, Rufus, Steiner
-retired 1880 to ‘Buena Vista Station’; actual station remains evident by corner
-Lot #523, 42 acres, borders Arroyo Seco
-19772 8th Street East, built in the 1870s; Hamblin Road/ County and City yards.



Maida J. Rufus 1877 – 1922; the 1920 Census has a Maida Gilbert from NY, housekeeper for Otto Rufus, she was 18 years younger than Otto, two 20 something Gilbert children

Bertha A. Wainwright 1861-1944
Born CA, 8th grade education, married to James W. Wainwight #2, widowed San Anselmo auditor son of English immigrant saloon keeper in SF
-could be case of grateful dead, Otto Rufus family charity

Sam Sebastiani, early wagon driver, brought over by A. Pinelli

Batto Family, Batto Bldg 1919 (Fred/ grocery, bank),
Batto Station train stop on 8th Street East at Denmark, orchards, fruit co.

John C. McCracken 19745 Eight Street East, heritage site, blt.1850-52, Magnolia Farms
1815-1870, an original pioneer of Sonoma; a descendant of one of the founding families of North Carolina.  Arrived at Sutter’s Fort 1846 with his family, traveling part of the way with the Donner party.  Served under Fremont in the California Battalion.  Mined gold on the Feather River. 

Benjamin Franklin Campbell  786 Broadway
-family started west 1840s   b. July 12, 1849 en route d. 1932 83
-went to Missouri, joined wagon train to CA thru Salt Lake City
-leader of the wagon train: David Burris
-hard trip, people killed by Indians
-arrived Placerville 1856, B.F. Campbell was 7 years old,
-moved to Tomales area and Santa Cruz
-when B.F was 16 and brother George was 21, started a dairy in Sonoma foothills, sold out, went to Central America, became fluent in Spanish (CA prob. had plenty of Spanish speakers at this time, FCA)
[Note: they went to Nicaragua and unsuccessfully tried to start a coffee plantation, probably in 1868-1869, on an expedition led by Count Agoston Haraszthy which ended in 1869 when Haraszthy disappeared.  Reportedly, he fell into a river and was either washed out to sea or eaten by alligators.
-B.F. at age 22 went into farming in Sonoma, bought 40 acres, (Lot #520), he married Mary Malvina Smith, (Coleman Smith’s oldest daughter)
-Mary M. Smith, b. 11/18/1850, d. 10/1887, died at age 37,
-Aunt Esmeralda Smith age 30, came to live with family, married B.F several years later,
-Esmeralda, b. 1857, died in 3/9/1895 at age 37, native of Sonoma
-B.F married Mattie Lord, a widow, in 1901, lived on the ranch until 1905, then sold and moved to town, built a house on 786 Broadway
-B.F. and local newspaper editor (Granice?) were enemies
- BF Campbell Ranch: Lot #520, between 5th and 6th Streets, East/West and between France and MacArthur, North/South.

Coleman Smith
b. 1810 Buffalo, d. 1893, CA, age 83
-went to Mexico, fluent in Spanish
-covered wagon to Salt Lake City 1846, Oregon Trail to Willamette Valley, had a store
-1848, sold store, bought schooner, wrecked, got to SF
-went to Sacto, another store
-1851, daughter, Mary Malvina Smith, born in Sacto
-moved to Sonoma, bought  40 acres, (Lot #516), ½ mile from town
-2 more girls and 2 more boys born
-Coleman prospected for gold
-Coleman was friend of Vallejo, their daughters went to same school
-Coleman, when over 70, took 21 year old son to Idaho to raise sheep, Indians burned cabin with son in it
-Coleman planted orchard of apple and pears and brought first English walnuts to the valley
-planted rows of walnuts still bearing in 1968 (110 years old)
- walnuts and orchard trees probably cut down for Ledson development, magnolias
-Coleman D. Smith Ranch: Lot #516: between 5th and 6th Streets East/West and between Napa and France Streets, North/South.
-descendants will be buried up above: Helen Vukasin and Rhoda Aguirre

Olof Emil Hanson 1863-1906 W.O.W headstone, Woodmen of the World, fraternal organization in Sonoma 1879-1899
-Lodges, mutual aid, fellowship, , increased frag with trans, Industrial Revolution, people formed organizations to recreate genuine culture

James Dixon 1887-1930 PG&E Gas Const. Gang, fenced by pipe
Hiram C. Manuel 1837-1913, stone set in 5’ rock covered with moss,1882, quarry to NE of town, 40-50 men, 16-20 horses, avg. 80,000 blocks a month, for S.F. , San Jose, Stockton
Leonido Quartaroli 1865-1933: Tuscany
-rented Toscano Hotel 1886 and turned it into a working man's hotel to accommodate Italian immigrants who were hired to quarry basalt out of the hills behind the hotel, $1 a night, workers made $4-7 a day in quarries
- on 3/11/1899? Arrested for selling liquor to Indians, bail bond set at $1000, acquitted; Joseph Molina and Gabriel Sears were alleged to be Indians, but were determined to be of ‘mongrel breed’, of Chilean-Spanish descent, i.e not Indians; Quartarolli denied selling wine in any case, “it was a set up job”
- 1910, read Ordinance NO 121; Quartaroli on city council ‘trustee’
- 2/12/17 I-T ad by Quartaroli: Hotel El Dorado, room and board $1.25 a day, dinner .35

Peter Stofen, Germany
Peter and John Stofen, master mariners, came to Embarcadero/ St. Louis (Schellville) 1863, owned 190 acres; Stofens’ Landing
Stofen homes: 725, 727, 729 Broadway, built @ 1904

‘All the firewood cut for the San Francisco and other markets, was hauled to the Embarcadero, and piled along the bank of Sonoma Creek, and taken away as needed by the boats and delivered in San Francisco and other places. Large teams. Fruit shipped through ‘brace wagons’ (i.e. with shock absorbers). In 1850s Embarcadero had a number of stores with large stocks of goods

The Stofen Brothers were one of two shipping interests, with sloops, at the Embarcadero, hauling firewood, passengers to SF etc, firewood piled by the banks
-in 1874 the two interests combined and built the steamer Sonoma which made daily trips to SF, steamer ran until 1879 when Donohue railroad put Stefen et al out of business; the steamer was sold ands ran for many years after on the bay

The filling up of Sonoma Creek was the cause of the decay of the Embarcadero. If the creek could have been kept open, and the boats continued to ply on the waters of Sonoma Creek, the Embarcadero of Sonoma would have continued to be a thriving business center and its prosperity would have aided the advancement of Sonoma and other towns in the valley.’

Robert A. Poppe, A.R. Grinstead, Bob Parmelee

 Peter Gustav Norrbom a 49er from Sweden
Norrbom Road, access to quarries and Schocken Hill, homestead 360 acre ranch at end of Norrbom Rd., he and sons hand dug the road
-Bob Norrbom, good mechanic in Glen Ellen

John Burris, ‘Chinaman’ family cook, d. 2/21/41 @ 90 yo
Harasthy: ‘John Chinaman’ x 10 on 1860 Census, other boarding houses: all John Chinaman

Frederick Schell 1864- 1933, son of Schellville founder Theodore Schell, Schellville named for Theodore,
- they had 1000 acre ranch/ dairy farm, SE Sonoma to marshes (600 acre farm/ 400 acres tule)
- Fred Schell: get’s divorced!, shocking! prominent poultry man of Schellville
-25 year marriage ended on grounds of cruelty and indifference
-Mrs. Schell did not oppose and accepted a property settlement out of court
-they ended up together in the end

Theodore Lawrence Schell
Born Brooklyn 8/24/1827, died 12/16/1877
RR right of way across property, named it Schellville, also known as Embarcadero
Sartori, Clotilde Italy, d. 1931, Victor d. 1934, 2 marble angels, planters
-Clotilde dies in auto accident near Marysville, fell out of car and fractured skull
-Sartori, Antonio 1829-1878 Swiss native (Rosa Sartori d. 1904 57 years)

Eliza Sheppard: nice bench, broken statuary, party spot

John T. MacQuiddy 1851-1922, on right, initial City Hall contractor, $15,475, corner stone laid 2/1906. stone masons on strike for $1.50 a day, then earthquake stopped job, banks closed, MacQuiddy left job
Jules Gustav Marcy, French immigrant
- 205 1st Street West, originally located at 20245 Broadway, Napa Road and Broadway, west side
– sold to Marcy in 1891, family lived there until 1969
-George McKale: city and community were behind moving the building, a more cohesive frame of mind, more antagonistic today, now city wants to sell it

Georgiana Wallman Matsuyama
-Italian speaking Swiss, Ticino Canton Dolcini
-‘Frank’, picture off headstone, who can read the script? Japanese?

Robert A. Poppe, below Matsuyama; notarized Schuman purchase part of lot #513 from Louisa Douglas
-A. R. Grinstead, helps George F. Matsuyama change name to Wallman
-Parmelee, 1939 moves to Sonoma, in succession of lawyers

Jerrie Lee Harrah up by Matsuyama, little sad angel, 2 yo

Peter Basaglia, native of Italy, 1880-1951, expert block loader built, Castex Bldg Annex 1911, also his own house 369 Napa St. West, successful stone and cement contractor, bridges, culverts, dairy barns, farm bldgs., (2/17/12 I-T ad: P. Basagli Stome Mason and cement worker, office and residence 1st St. E N. of Spain)
-“the most beautiful vaults in Mountain Cemetery were built by him”
-stamp on cement work 3 over from him
 -cemetery work of all kinds  phone #244
-Wife Emilia 1877-1967
Unknown Chinese male d 3/29/1914, died on Emparan property (Vallejo quarry), cause of death: accident/ falling in quarry, @ 60 years old, buried in Valley Cemetery, no family, religion, nothing
funeral costs paid by Pete Basaglia $14.75

H.W. Gottenberg, city clerk for 24 years: signed off on regulations of booze on Plaza 1910

Jeanette Yvonne Grooms 1942-1943, next to Toyon trailhead

Luisa Vallejo Emparan 1866-1943, last surviving child of M.G. Vallejo

-go through and back up other road

Danielli: Mafia guys, descendents, vendettas, relatives running out the back door afraid of murder

Luigi Basaglia 1853-1905, never learned English, foot crushed in quarry, amputated 3 toes, died disillusioned

Karl Otto Schuhmann, Clara Schuhmann

Philip Bill #1, Philip Bill #2: owned ranch where “Shaw House” is, 680 Napa Street, he sold the land for the Catholic Cemetery

Florence Bill Evert  830 E. Napa

Lena Wallman

Julius Poppe, Berlin, Prussia  1823-1879 “we will meet again”, bought 1500 acre ranch from Vallejo, where Cline is now,
-went to Europe, imported carp, Germans liked carp to eat, put them in a lifeboat, most died, then got them on a train, only 3 made it, they were ones whose genetics didn’t taste good, were in pond now at Cline
- carp escaped to Sonoma Creek, could get them with pitchforks and spears,

Joshua Chauvet d. 1908  85 yrs, bought 500 acres/ Glen Ellen from Vallejo in 1853, sawmill, flour mill, brandy, wine, hotel

Tillie (M.M. Copeland) d. 1874 19 yrs “All flesh is grass”
Lena Osterheft Wallman (Heilman) 1886-1955

John Joseph Steiner 1883-1927  Swiss, Steiner St., S.F., Steiner’s bar
Pini/ (Pinni,) totally unmarked, no first name, Pinni House, made from rubble quarry rock, marker is of same type

Unknown Indian child
900 Indians buried under 1st Street East by Mission

‘Indian’ d. Sonoma 7/24/1887, birthplace, CA, cause of death: killed, no burial location, billed to county $12.00

Dick Bean Soup listed on a Sonoma census

Ercole Chiodi
The Grateful Dead by G.H. Gerould (1908), Typically the hero pays a dead man's debts so his corpse can be buried. Later a stranger, who turns out to be the grateful dead man, joins the hero and offers his help, on condition that all winnings be equally divided.
-Samuele Sebastiani's book keeper 15 years,  -died alone in the US, with his wife in Italy. -If he was an accountant, probably didn't need anyone to pay his debts. In 1932 however, getting his body back to Italy might have been a problem.  Upshot: He didn't make it back and in Mountain Cemetery he lies. Surmise Sebastiani took care of crypt, as it is so nice, that took some money; and Ercole would not have made such a crypt for himself, planning to be buried alone, with is wife in Italy. Sebastiani, perhaps not wanting to pay for repatriation of the corpse, did the next best thing which was to make him a beautiful little crypt. Sebastiani might have incurred a debt from Ercole's Perhaps later Ercole returned to offer to help Samuele with the proviso that the gains be divided equally... 
Franklin Sears, 1817- 1904 from Indiana went across plains in 1844 at age 27 to Oregon, arrive CA 1845, settled Sonoma 1846
-grew up a famer and stock raiser
-volunteer for Fremont, Fremont took over Sutter’s Fort 1846 during Mex-Am War
-successful gold miner
-wheeler dealer, active in real estate, all sorts of records at County Recorder’s office, ranch once occupied Sears Point
-died with 600 acre, winery with 150,000 gal capacity
-retired to NE foothills: Buena Vista/ Arroyo Seco watershed area
Vallejo 1807- 1890, born Monterey, CA
-said to be descendent of soldier of Cortes
-life spans Spain to USA, family spans conquest of New World
-went from rural ag means of production and society to the Industrial Revolution
-we are in a Spanish/Mexican cultural area, roots are different than the East, Midwest, plains, Northwest

-1860 Census: “On General Vallejo’s Place”
Indian John 40, John Indian 18, Sam Indian 16, Hard Pan 30, Jane Indian 22, Susan Indian 17, Indian girl 14, Allenuch Indian 35, John Indian 28, Indian girl 6, Indian boy 5, Indian child 2, Infant Indian 4 mos.
-other families had multiple Indians listed similarly

Henry Ernest Boyes 1844-1919 England, British captain, founder Boyes Hot Springs, built bathhouse on112 degree spring at the turn of the century, hit water at 70’





Research

Bates and Evans funeral records, Depot Park museum
I-T historical archive online/ paywall, free microfiche at County Library Historical Annex, Santa Rosa
League For Historic preservation: Jason Bell Thurs, computerized Cochran Binders, property surveys
US Census free at library via Ancestry.com plus many other sources: ship manifests
Mormon family website
Old county Atlas maps, Van Geldern map
League Plaza Walking tour
Peter Meyerhoff
Patricia Cullinan
Sandy Hanson
Bob Parmelee


Trees in Mountain Cemetery
Thuja occidentalis, Northern white cedar (arborvitae)
Cryptomeria
Mugo pine
Alberta spruce
Canary Island pine, Vallejo
Aleppo pine, Syria
Italian stone pine
Monterey pine: refugia, now widely grown in southern hemisphere as ag product
Canary Island date palm
Norway spruce
Monterey cypress; refugia
Azara micrphylla, willow family, S. America, weeping

Italian cypress, symbol of mourning and death In Greek mythology, Cyparissus or Kyparissos (Greek: Κυπάρισσος, "cypress") was a boy beloved by Apollo; the favorite companion of Cyparissus was a tamed stag, which he accidentally killed with his hunting javelin as it lay sleeping in the woods. The boy's grief was such that it transformed him into a cypress tree, a classical symbol of mourning.

Coast live oak
Valley oak
Oregon oak
Blue oak (from blue oak tree rings, the U of A Tree Ring Lab show current drought is worst in 435 years)
Black oak

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