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Guadalupe Cemetery (Guadalupe, California)

USA / California / Guadalupe / Guadalupe, California / West Main Street, 4655
 cemetery  Add category

4655 W. Main St.
Guadalupe, CA 93434

The cemetery dates back to 1874 when the Masons and the Odd Fellows purchased the property in which to bury their deceased members. When non-members approached them about burying their dead, a side business began, and lots began to be sold for $5 and $10 gold pieces.

Unfortunately, few records were kept, and those that were kept, were mostly haphazard. Although some of the burials show dates going back to those early dates, many of the burial sites are unknown. In addition, in some cases, it's almost impossible to determine if the names shown are the names of the deceased or the persons who bought the lots.

Before World War II the ashes of many of the Japanese people were kept in the Buddhist Church. When the Japanese people returned from the Internment Camps and found that a law had been enacted prohibiting ashes to be so stored, the ashes of many of the deceased were moved to family burial plots, while others were placed into a common gravesite. The gravesite containing the ashes of about 30 people is covered with a cement slab showing the names of those interred within the site. However, at least two of those containers of ashes have been moved to family burial sites during the ensuing years.

A number of the headstones of the Japanese people show the dates of death as occurring during the World War II years, and they most likely died in one of the Internment Camps (most likely Gila River). According to Japanese officials who have been researching the camps, few death records were kept at Gila River.

In October of 1920, after the County of Santa Barbara took over the cemetery, deeds were prepared for a number of sites, sites in which the "grantees" had been buried, in some cases, 20 or more years before the 1920 date.


www.cagenweb.com/santabarbara/sbcgs/guadalupe_cemetery/...
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Coordinates:   34°57'29"N   120°34'31"W
This article was last modified 14 years ago