Union Cemetery
Have you ever been out to Union Cemetery?
The cemetery is beautiful! Not a very great neighborhood, but there is a definite awe about the place. It pulls you into the past lives of those laid to rest beneath the placid head stones.
My Great-Grandmother resides there amongst the many. I have no clue as to where and this left me feeling ashamed of my lack of family history. When my Grandmother came over for my daughter's fifth birthday party recently, I asked her where her mother was buried at Union Cemetery. She didn't know. She knew the general area, but couldn't tell me how to get to there. So, in the event of my trip, I have found myself doing a family history of the seven I have in my family who have been laid to rest in Union Cemetery.
Not only my family has drawn me to find out more. I was pulled toward one small head stone by the name of Robert Jacomini. Apparently, he was a WWI veteran from NV. I found this by a simple search on Google in a listing of drafted men during that time. It was all I could find about this man. To be honest, I felt I was going too far to find out more. Sometimes, they may choose to be left at peace.
Interestingly enough, I was unaware that Bakersfield has a vast history of Freemasonry. There are four Masonic Lodges in Bakersfield to date. www.freemason.org/index.php I think a town history lesson is over-due, for me.
It's interesting to visit the dead. More interesting is the story beneath the grave. Though, keeping their memory alive is what is most important.
Comments
I'm just learning about Union Cemetery in Bakersfield. I was informed by Greenlawn Cemetery that Union was the only cemetery in the area of Chester Ave. and 14th St. back in 1910.
An ancestor I'm research died at a young age (23), Ada Nielsen Walters, a new bride, who died of Malaria Fever on May 31, 1910.
I'm learning also that her husband, Richard J. Walters, started one of the first bus transportation services for Bakersfield between 1909 and 1911. A type of stage coach with a motor, picking up passengers in front of the Southern Hotel at 19th St and Chester.
It would be great if anyone could get a photo of Ada Walters' headstone. A new one was constructed and placed there in the 1950s. It was her husband, Richard, decades later who had the new one placed to replace the wooden marker, even through he had left the California area in 1918.
Anyone knowing the Nielsen family (Ernst and Ivy Nielsen) from the 1907 to 1970 time period, please contact me. Ernst was Ada's brother. Both were from New South Wales, Australia.
My old home over on the corner of Hughes Ln, and Terrace Way was also the area of the old Chinese Graveyards. I had friends constantly digging around my place when I was a kid.
Wow Job's Daughter huh? I have family that are 32ND degree Mason's. And all the girls are into Eastern Star and Job's Daughter's. Seems for the girls a big social thing, for the men it's a bit hmmm more mysterious!
Kindra- No wonder you are so conspiring ;) lol jk. And, I know I can go to the office to find info I need, but I don't have all the names. That's where digging comes in. Should be interesting.
Mason's and Eastern Stars run deep in my family ... *shhh ... I was a Job's Daughter* ;)
I've been to Union Cemetary, did you know the Chinese immigrants weren't allowed to be laid to rest there until many years later when where they were laid to rest began to be developed and people kept digging them up? Yep, off of South Oleander while people were putting in pools etc. So there is a section at Union where there are many who are unnamed. You can simply go into the office to find out where your relative is buried.
MY G-MA & G-PA AND AUNT ARE THERE, BUT I HAVEN'T EVER BEEN THERE. VISITING CEMETERY'S (TO ME) ARE POINTLESS. THEIR DEAD.... MOVE ON..
i LOVE HUNTING GHOSTS THOUGH, SO I MIGHT GO CHECK IT OUT FOR THAT.
My wife does photography and has been searching for the perfect cemetary... she hasn't had a chance to visit this one. We made a long trip to Kernville last year to visit their "historic cemetary" and we found ourselves outraged by the horrible condition that they have let that cemetary fall into. I'm glad that there are still cemetaries that are being treated well. Thanks for passing this along.
With all the tombstones it reminds me of back east/down south where my family is from, but strangely enough my Dads side of the family is laid to rest in Hanford at the Grangeville Cemetery. I love Union Cemetery! Very Interesting