Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery

DR. JAMES B. GORDON Dr. James Burns Gordon was born in Jefferson City, Missouri in 1823, the first child born in that city. He graduated with a medical degree from the University of Virginia in 1847 and practiced afterwards for a short time in New Orleans, Louisiana. He came to California with his father and brothers in 1849 and engaged in mining. He resumed his medical practice in Weaverville, Trinity County, in 1856, and in 1860 he was appointed Consul at Valparaiso, Chile.... After the expiration of his term (1860-1861) he again took up his medical practice in Santiago, Chile, but contracted a painful disease which affected him for the rest of his life. He returned to California and was in Santa Rosa by July of 1871 where he continued his medical practice and taught Spanish at the Pacific Methodist College. In 1874 he was appointed County Physician, a position he held until his death. He served as president of both the Sonoma County Medical Society and the Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery Association. In 1877 the Sonoma Democrat reported that Dr. Gordon was indefatigable in his efforts to improve and beautify the Rural Cemetery. He had the principal avenues of the cemetery thickly covered with gravel and cleared of all foul growth and urged all the lot owners to clear them of weeds and extraneous matter, so that when the spring opens, the flowers and shrubbery would present a neat and cleanly appearance. Dr. Gordon died at his residence on Humboldt street in Santa Rosa on 23 May 1881, aged 58 years, leaving his wife, Mary Magdalena, and three small children aged 8, 6 and 1 years. He was a member in high standing of the Masonic Fraternity, and by that Order his body was consigned to its last resting place. Dr. Gordon purchased lot # 39 West Semi-circle in the Rural Cemetery on 27 December 1875 from the Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery Association for $25. Three gravestones now stand in this plot a small stone simply engraved Dr. J. B. Gordon, a large white marble obelisk inscribed with the names and dates of four of Dr. Gordon’s children who died young, and a modern white marble veteran’s stone for Dr. Gordon’s brother, George Burr Gordon, a Mexican-American War veteran. ~by Steven Lovejoy Photo 1 shows before Cleaning was done.

Sighting by Carole Quandt today: Courtesy of one of our literate and creative visitors!"

Huge Shout Out to the City Parks crew that removed our fallen tree! Thanks ALL!

History Hunt Week 3!

JOHN M. CARTER Recently volunteers from the Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery Preservation Committee cleaned the white marble and granite monument of John and Philena Richards located in plot WHC 60. Nearby stands the monument of John M. Carter, the next gravestone the cleaning volunteers have worked on. The results can be seen in the photos below. John M. Carter was born in Chillicothe, Missouri in 1860 and came to California when he was just over a year old. He and his family were ...in Santa Rosa by 1870 when they were enumerated in the US census. That same year, while he was assisting hauling logs to a mill as a 10-year-old boy, a log became unfastened from the load and rolled over him. This accident injured his leg so badly he had to have it amputated. Ironically, he later went to work at Santa Rosa’s first shoe factory located on McDonald Avenue. He continued his shoe-making trade in San Francisco when the factory moved there but returned to Santa Rosa to start his own shoe factory and had a store on the corner of Fourth and Davis streets for many years. He served as a Santa Rosa City Councilman (1896-1900) and as City Treasurer (1900-1904). He died on 25 October 1906 at his home in Santa Rosa of pneumonia and was survived by his wife, Margaret Ann, and one son, William E. Carter. He was a prominent member of several fraternal organizations including Woodmen of the World, Knights of Pythias, and Improved Order of Red Men. His funeral services were conducted at Germania Hall by Rev. Peter Colvin of the Christian Church, and his remains were borne to Rural Cemetery by members of the three fraternal organization to which he belonged. Made of a grey marble his monument in plot WHC 57 states Here Rests a Woodman of the World. It displays a number of very fine carvings including some of the Woodmen’s symbols (a maul and wedge, an axe, and the dove of peace with an olive branch) above the organization’s motto Dum Tacet Clamat (Though silent, he speaks). By Steven Lovejoy

History Hunt Week 2

Have you every been on a History Hunt? Come see what you are missing out on! We are now posting weekly History Hunt questions in the kiosks with the answers posted one week later. And if you can't get back, find the answers here! Here is Week 1 with the Answers included in the Comments.

Awesome work Steve and Jonathan! John Richard's is one of my favorite residents in the Rural Cemetery.

The volunteers of the Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery Preservation Committee want to thank our Santa Rosa community for years of support by attending our many fundraising tours, events and work parties. We expect to be back next year with all the events we planned for this year, including the Darkside Tour, the monthly second Saturday tours from March to August, and the Lamplight Tours which will commemorate 100 years of women suffrage by depicting the lives of women of old Santa R...osa. Unfortunately, this year, due to the logistics of presenting our tours and work parties and with many of our volunteer members in the 65-plus vulnerable age-group for COVID-19, events presented by the Rural Cemetery Preservation Committee are suspended through September. Our volunteer work parties are also temporarily suspended, however we hope to resume them before the end of the year and will let you know when volunteer opportunities are available. ~Tours Suspended thru September 2020~ History Walking Tour (7/11) Women’s History Tour (8/8) Lamplight Tours (9/18 & 9/19) Tour participants registered for 2020 Lamplight Tours will be contacted directly in July by Santa Rosa Recreation & Parks to receive a refund or account credit. For more information on the Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery, visit: https://srcity.org/1044/Santa-Rosa-Rural-Cemetery Again, thank you for your support, we hope to see you soon!

On this day every year, the Rural Cemetery comes together with the Public to commemorate our fallen Military Personnel. This year, unfortunately, for the safety of all, we will not be meeting together. We do not want this day nor our Military forgotten. This post is sent out to salute the US Armed Forces on this Memorial Day. Although the Rural Cemetery does not contain any Vets that actually died in battle, we do have two memorial stones. The first memorial stone is for ...an Aircraft commander of an Air Force B-50 who, with a crew of ten, was lost in a typhoon on 15 January 1958. That Aircraft commander was MAJOR ALBERT LAUER. His memorial stone is in the Native Plant Garden. The second memorial is for a Navy sailor who was lost at sea. CARL A. MILLER was on active military duty on 10 June 1918 when the USS Cyclops, a collier ship (one of the largest ships in the Navy) disappeared. The ship (carrying manganese essential to steel manufacturing) along with the 306 crew and passengers have never been recovered. Various theories for the disappearance have been suggested, but the most sinister theory is 'where' the ship and all souls aboard disappeared...in the Bermuda Triangle! Carl A. Miller has a memorial stone in Stanley VI-16.

We want to wish a huge Happy Mother's Day to all Mothers out there! Sandy Frary, our Archivist, sent this lovely epitaph of a daughter to her mother: "THE MEMORY OF MY MOTHER" "Over the wreck of my life shines one ray, the memory of an angel lent to earth, A mother who lived honorable years, served her kindred nobly, received priceless love in return, and lay down in the midst of life's best gifts. And by a loyal hearted daughter is now mourned with a silent unending grief too deep for tears."

MOUNTAIN LION - SIGHTING CONFIRMED Tuesday night, our security had a 2nd, confirmed sighting of a Mountain Lion within the Rural Cemetery. As Park bans are amended to locals who can walk or bike in, this creates an unsafe condition. If you choose to go, avoid going solo. Children and pets can be seen as prey. Google what to look for and do if you encounter a Mountain Lion. Below is a link to one of our Nat'l Parks with information. Stay safe folks! https://www.fs.usda.gov//wallowa-/learning/safety-ethics/

Mountain Lion Sighting! Please be aware that the City's security department has reported a possible Mountain Lion sighting in the Rural Cemetery. Park staff will be posting signs warning the public. Reminder, the Rural Cemetery is still CLOSED until further notice.