Old Mission
Catholic Church Cemetery
San Luis Obispo County California
Introduction and Brief History
Old Mission Catholic Cemetery
is located at
9 South Higuera Street
in San Luis Obispo,
California
This cemetery is on the east side of Higuera Street and is sometimes
confused with the I.O.O.F. - Lady Family - Sutcliffe Lawn Cemetery
[Currently called the San Luis Cemetery] on the west side of Higuera
Street.
This is the
third cemetery location used by the
Mission.
The first was located inside the
Mission
quadrangle. The second location, after 1860, fronted on
Higuera Street.
Both Carmel
and Pacific Streets dead-ended at the cemetery on the opposite side.
On
July 1, 1877,
a law was passed by the City Council prohibiting burials within the city
limits. After several extensions were granted, the present cemetery
opened December 1, 1877.
Some tombstones indicate earlier burials. These were probably moved from
the two prior locations.
There were
two news articles printed in the
Daily
Republic
in October of 1888 [October 16 - October 22, 1888]
with regard to the removal of bodies: "Work was commenced last Tuesday
on the removal of all bodies from the
old Catholic
Cemetery.
The work will be pushed forward until all the bodies are removed to the
other cemeteries."
[Page 86]
And...
"The old
Catholic cemetery will be cleaned out today and the old settlers will
probably be disturbed no more until Gabriel toots his horn on the
morning of the final round-up."
[Page 88]
In
April of 1990, Members and Friends of the
San Luis Obispo
County
Genealogical
Society extracted full names, dates of birth and death, secondary
comments, i.e. family relationships, war veteran data, photos, age, and
other pertinent information as noted on the tombstone. Each section,
including both mausoleums, was extracted according to the map sections.
This cemetery is under the direction of
the
Monterey
Diocese -
Monterey,
California.
>>>Thank-You <<<
To the volunteers who spent
the week of
April 23, 1990
in the rain and hot sun copying 3,130 tombstone inscriptions. Their help
is greatly appreciated.
Sylvia Anderson, Chairperson
Chris Bashaw, Friend of the Society
Doreen Case, Society Member & L.D.S. Member
Judy Chambers, Society Member
Kodi Coyote, Friend of Society, Halcyonite
Joan Hayes, Society Member
Caroline McGinnis, Friend of the Society
Robert McIntyre, Friend of Society, L.D.S. Member, Ray Miklas,
Society Member Lyn Pfost, Society Member Roselma Quinn, Friend of
Society, Halcyonite
. . .To the SLOCGS Computer Interest
Group and the input of:
Maxine Bickham, Patrcia Glau, Cheryl Hoffman,
Ray Miklas and Shirley Smith.
. . .And a special thanks to Cheryl and
Gil Hoffman for setting up the computer program and coordinating this
monumental task.
The
Old
Mission
Cemetery
was photographed in June and July of 2008.
My
Thanks to the following for their work in photographing this Cemetery:
Shanda Gibbs, Betty McElhill, Rich & Teri Miller, Kitty Mynat, Tim
Tryon, and Pam Meeds Williams. Also to Jill Beeson-Gomez for her work on
the database.
There are
4071 recorded interments, along with many unknowns.
A "Basic Database" can be found here,
in fully searchable pdf format, it
contains the following information: Name, Date of Birth, Date of Death
and a notation as to whether a Headstone was found.
A
Map of the Cemetery can be found Here.
Headstone Images are available as an attachment to an email.
Additional
Transcribers Notes are available -
Please Contact
SLOCGS
All of the photos and
databases that are contained on this site and in linked directories are
watermarked and are the property of SLOCGS [San Luis Obispo County
Genealogical Society, POB 4, Atascadero, San Luis Obispo, California].
The headstone photos may be used for personal genealogical purposes and
none other. They are put online as a service to the Genealogical &
Historical Community.
Site Updated: 31 October 2015
This Site belongs to the
San Luis Obispo County Genealogical Society
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