Mission Dolores Cemetery
Dates of Existence: 1777 to present (last burial in 1898).
Location: near Mission Dolores; Church, Dolores and 16th streets.
Number interred: 12,500 (1902), including 4500-5000 Native Americans.
Records: San Francisco Cemetery Records.
“…Mission San Francisco de Asis was established in 1776 when Juan Bautista de Anza led a group of people from Tubac, Mexico for the purpose of establishing a permanent settlement in San Francisco. The first mass, which dedicated the mission site, was celebrated on 29 June 1776. The mission was moved from its original site, about 1,100 feet to the east [Albion street], to its current site in 1783, and developed as the center of the mission community that included the present-day Mission Dolores adobe church, housing, workshops and storerooms, gardens and orchards, and a cemetery. Mission Dolores, the adobe church completed in 1791, and its adjacent cemetery, which had its first burial in 1777…” Library of Congress.
“St. Francis, (Church of,) Mission Dolores, Roman Catholic, Rev. R. Flavian, Monk. Services every Sabbath morning, at 8 and 10 o'clock.
“This church (and mission) was established in 1769, since which time there have been 7,323 baptisms, and 2,131 marriages, celebrated within its walls, and 5,387 persons have been buried in its cemetery.”
Source: The San Francisco Directory for the year 1852-53. San Francisco: Parker, James M. 1852.
“From the beginning of 1850, to June 1st, 1854: …At the Catholic ground (Mission Dolores) …300”
Source: Annals of San Francisco, Frank Soulé, et al. (1854), page 596.
“MISSION CEMETERY.—The burial grounds attached to the old cathedral at the Mission Dolores have been recently extended in area and considerably improved. Among the monuments raised to the memory of those who sleep in death beneath the green sod of this cemetery are several of very beautiful design, and the visitor is greatly interested in observing the various evidences of taste in this particular. During the present year there have been no less than two hundred and forty-three [243] interments in these grounds.—S.F. Herald.”
Source: Sacramento Daily Union, 1 October 1855, page 3.
“Mission San Francisco de Asis was established in 1776 when Juan Bautista de Anza led a group of people from Tubac, Mexico for the purpose of establishing a permanent settlement in San Francisco. The first mass, which dedicated the mission site, was celebrated on 29 June 1776. The mission was moved from its original site, about 1,100 feet to the east, to its current site in 1783, and developed as the center of the mission community that included the present-day Mission Dolores adobe church, housing, workshops and storerooms, gardens and orchards, and a cemetery. Mission Dolores, the adobe church completed in 1791, and its adjacent cemetery, which had its first burial in 1777, are significant for their associations with the Spanish era mission landscape and with San Francisco's eighteenth century origins.
“The south sides of Mission Dolores, the courtyard, and the restroom building form the north boundary of the cemetery. The cemetery is enclosed on the other three sides by walls of various heights and chain link fencing, all of which were added at some point in the twentieth century. The concrete wall across the east end fronts onto Dolores Street and is the most decorative; it is constructed of concrete, finished with cement plaster to resemble adobe, and has a row or cap of clay roof tiles; a chain link fence which extends above this wall is attached to poles which are mounted in the ground on the inner side of this wall. A chain link fence which sits on top of a low, concrete, retaining wall spans the south side (Chula Lane). The west end of the cemetery is enclosed by a wall constructed of hollow, clay tile, finished with cement plaster to resemble adobe, and has a row or cap of clay roof tiles; a chain link fence which extends above the wall is attached to poles which are mounted in the ground on the outer side extends of this wall. …
“The cemetery is divided into an irregular grid by the layout of the concrete sidewalks that are generally 2' to 3' wide. These paths have varying widths, scoring patterns, and finishes and were added to the cemetery at different times and without an overall plan. (A review of historical photographs including aerial photographs taken in 1938 and 1946 show similar but different layouts to the present-day path system.) Within this grid approximately 200 stone headstones and burial monuments are arranged into rows. These markers date from 1830 to the last burial in 1898 and are of varying styles—including tablets, flat markers, obelisks, and box tombs—some of which are surrounded by wrought iron fencing. Although the first burial in the cemetery occurred in 1777, the wooden crosses that would have marked the earliest graves deteriorated and disappeared long ago. The approximately 5,000 unmarked Native Americans graves were in the part of the cemetery that is no longer extant (the area located to the west that is now under pavement or buildings.) A stone monument depicting. “Kateri Tekawitha Our Lady of the Mohawks” (the first Native American who was beatified), located in the southwest portion of the cemetery, is dedicated to the Native Americans who were buried in the cemetery. A wooden headstone was added in 2009 to honor two Ohlone neophytes, JOCBOCME and his wife POLYLEMJA who were buried in unmarked graves in 1807 and 1804, respectively. This headstone is located in the southeast portion of the cemetery just east of a traditional Ohlone tule reed house, also added in 2009 as part of the commemoration of the role of Native Californians in the construction and operation of the mission.”
Source: Historic American Landscapes Survey, Creator, Juan Bautista De Anza, Pius Xii, Willis Polk, Harriet Forbes, and Denise Bradley. Mission San Francisco de Asis, 320 Dolores Street, San Francisco, California, San Francisco, San Francisco County, CA. San Francisco County San Francisco California, 2000. Translated by Stevens, Christopher M.Mitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/ca3958/.
“A NEW CEMETERY.—The Catholic Cemetery at the Mission Dolores being nearly tenanted with graves, a new burial place has been selected in the neighborhood of the Red House, beyond the Mission, on a piece of property recently donated by Mrs. Burrell to Archbishop Alemany.”
Source: Daily Alta California, 6 January 1858.
“CITY ITEMS. …An order establishing a Roman Catholic Cemetery at the Mission, was finally passed by unanimous vote.”
Source: Daily Alta California, 18 November 1858, page 2.
“The Cemeteries of San Francisco . . . THE MISSION GRAVE-YARD. The oldest burial ground in the city of San Francisco is that connected with the Church of the Mission. This cemetery was, no doubt, consecrated in 1776, soon after the establishment of the Mission, and it was the only burial ground for Catholics, until within two years. Among the persons buried there, are many Spaniards, French, Portuguese, and Catholics from other countries. A few Catholics have lots, which have been consecrated according to the rites of the Church, in Lone Mountain Cemetery.”
Source: Daily Alta California, 22 July 1862, page 1.
“SIXTEENTH STREET.
“A Petition for Its Extension Filed.
“A large number of property-owners in the vicinity of Sixteenth street, between Dolores and Church streets, petitioned the Supervisors yesterday to extend that street through land which is owned by T.M.J. Dehon, the Leroy estate and the Mission Dolores Church. Dehon some time ago deeded to the city all of the land claimed by him on Sixteenth street, being a strip commencing at the northwest corner of Sixteenth and Dolores streets; thence south 50 feet by 303 feet in depth to the burial ground, also a strip north of the cemetery. Tho heirs of the Leroy estate have agreed to deed to the city the portion of Sixteenth street in front of their property if the other obstructions are removed. The church claims the south portion of the street, 30 feet on Dolores street by a depth of 303 feet to the burial ground, and that portion of the burial ground north of the south line of Sixteenth street. The church has been in possession of this land over since the Mission was established, and the remains interred therein are of the pioneers of the coast.
“It is represented by the petitioners that the property in the vicinity is being improved rapidly and that the opening of the street is a public necessity. They maintain that it is right that the property claimed by the church should be acquired by the city and the bodies there interred be removed at the city's expense, and that Sixteenth street be declared a continuous thoroughfare.
The petition has been referred to the Street Committee.”
Source: San Francisco Chronicle, 24 April 1888, page 6.
“Mission Dolores Cemetery.
“The removal of bodies from that portion of the old Mission Catholic burying-ground required to open Sixteenth street is nearly completed, between four and five hundred bodies having been exhumed since the 1st of last April. There still remain three tiers of graves on the Dolores-street side of the cemetery undisturbed, for the reason that the church does not want to take the responsibility of disturbing them without authority to do so from the Board of Supervisors. When this is given, the ground will soon be in readiness for the opening of the thoroughfare.”
Source: Daily Alta California, 31 May 1889, page 2.
“MISSION DOLORES. The Cemeteries Now Ready to Be Transferred to the City. The removal of the bodies lying in that portion of the Mission Cemetery at Mission Dolores through which the Sixteenth-street extension will pass was commenced on the 8th day of April, and yesterday the workmen engaged in the task disinterred the last three bodies that will be taken up until such time as the $2000 appropriated by the city for the purchase of the property is paid.
“Two bodies still remain to be moved, and they will hold the ground as a cemetery until the purchase is made complete.
“The property abandoned has a cash valuation of $25,000, and the purchase was made partly through the efforts of the Church-street Improvement Club and partly, because the Archbishop, realizing that sooner or later the transfer must be effected, threw himself into the cause with a “hearty goodwill and interposed no difficulties, choosing rather to suffer a pecuniary loss through letting the property go at a figure far below its value than to hinder by opposition a feature in the city's improvement that must necessarily enhance the value of the property in the neighborhood.
“Ten of the bodies have been interred in Mount Calvary Cemetery; 40 at the cemetery of the Holy Cross in San Mateo County; 1, that of Senor Peralta, has been sent to Oakland; 1, named Murphy, sent to Vallejo; 2 children sent to Odd Fellows' cemetery, and the remainder, in number 446, have been reinterred in another part of the Mission Cemetery. One of these is Thomas Ford, a former stock-broker and society leader, and Senor Diaz, an old Spaniard Don.
“The three bodies disinterred yesterday were found beneath the roots of cypress trees that had been planted upward of thirty years ago. In every instance, except two or three recent interments, there was nothing to be found except a few bones, or badly corroded coffin plates. These, as a rule, were placed in new boxes. There was no mixing of bodies. When they were unknown, a simple cross marks the place of reinternment, upon which is inscribed “unknown,” or sometimes the number of the lot or grave from which they were taken. This, however, has seldom been necessary as most of the remains were localized by a slab or tablet.
“The line of the street gives but scant margin to the church in passing, but strikes the school-house in such a manner that it will have be moved back several feet. This will be done, and a new building will also be erected for the use of the priests in the same yard with the school-house. These improvements will be made as soon as the street passes into possession of the city.”
Source: San Francisco Morning Call, 8 June 1889.
“STREET COMMITTEE …The committee decided to report in favor of ordering $2,000 to be paid to Archbishop Riordan as the city's share of the expense of removing the bodies in Mission Dolores Cemetery, which obstruct the opening of Sixteenth street through the graveyard. The money was appropriated last year and has been reserved in the Street Department fund.”
Source: San Francisco Bulletin, 14 June 1889.
“REMOVAL OF THE DEAD.
“Bodies Exhumed at the Old Mission Cemetery Yesterday.
“A GHASTLY COLLECTION OF BONES.
“Memories of a Sacred and Historic Spot Through Which Dolores Street Is to Be Extended-Pictures of the 'Graves.
“Several grave-diggers were busily engaged yesterday exhuming bodies at Mission Dolores Cemetery, preparatory to the widening of Dolores street some twenty feet through the southern end of the graveyard, where it now encroaches upon the street. About twenty-two bodies were taken up, all of which are to be reinterred in Holy Cross Cemetery.
“For a number of years past there have been no burials at the old cemetery, but yesterday was the beginning at the spoliation of a sacred spot, one yet full of tender and sad memories to many an old man and woman in this city by the Golden Gate, although the place is a relic of another era.
“Several of these old people watched the grave diggers yesterday nonchalantly handling coffins, skulls and bones as Hamlet watched the grave-digger preparing the last narrow home for Ophelia, and who, digging away, carelessly tossed aside the skull of Yorick, Hamlet's old tutor, just as Hamlet and Horatio appeared on the scene. Deep as was Hamlet's grief on learning that the new made grave was for Ophelia, it was no more intense than that of one lady at the cemetery, as with tears in her eyes, she watched the movements of the grave diggers with longing looks as if to find some relic of a beloved one long since departed.
” 'That's my mother,' was her agonizing cry, an outburst of pent-up feelings, as suddenly she caught sight of an old coffin plate thrown up by the diggers, which dimbly bore the inscription: 'Elizabeth Sullivan, died-1865.'
“Near the tomb of Don Louis Antonio Arguello, the first Mexican Governor of California, who was buried in 1784, a grave was opened that is supposed to contain five coffins one above the other. Two of them were removed yesterday. The first one was that of a child. The casket was in fairly good condition, but all that could be seen inside was a few small bones and a tiny skull.
“The other coffin was almost decayed and broke in pieces as the diggers worked around it, causing the skull and bones of an elderly person to roll out.
“Don Luis Arguello's grave, and the white monument that marks it, are not to be disturbed. With probably one exception it is the oldest grave in the cemetery, dug at the time when the Catholic missions were the advance guard of civilization in what is now the greater half of the United States, at a time when Mission Dolores and its little band of priests and Indian converts did not dream of fair California and her great city by the sea, and were destined, like Moses, never to see the promised land; dug before Washington became the first President of the nation; before Napoleon's star rose to its zenith, and just at the dawn of the greatest era of progress that has ever blessed the world.
“As the diggers progressed, with their work bones and skulls lay round in little heaps, ghastly sights that made even the small boys on the scene cease their chatter and romping pranks. From some of the graves several shovelfuls of bones and skulls were taken out and placed in a rough box. The bones from other graves were also placed in separate boxes, miscellaneous heaps of dirt-covered ribs, knee joints, jaw-bones and what not.
From another of the graves two tiny coffins were taken out close to the surface. They were in good condition, while within them were the little bones of some one's darlings dead these many years. There are supposed to be six more coffins in this same grave, but they were not reached yesterday. One of the graves to be opened to-day is that of Thomas Murray, a young man twenty-six years old, and a volunteer fireman who lost his life at a big fire in this city, on the corner of Pine and Kearny, in 1855. A smokestack fell upon him, crushing him to death. He was buried by the firemen and subsequently the city erected a monument over his grave, a monument of white marble, that still stands.
Hard by is the grave of James P. Casey, hanged with Cora from a window on Sacramento street by the Vigilantes on May 26, 1856, for the murder of James King of William, editor of the Bulletin.
Casey was a young man and foreman of Engine Company No. 10, and was buried by the Volunteer Fire Company. Underbrush and weeds have for many years covered his grave. His death was a dishonorable one, and all but one friend of his youth have died and disappeared from the scene of his tragic ending. That one friend, unknown, an old and wrinkled woman, now and then quietly steals beneath the somber shadow of his monument, gently lays a bouquet of roses on his grave, sheds tears as the memory of the tragic story and the deed of blood comes back to her with all the freshness of but yesterday and quietly steals away again. His grave, too, is to be broken open and his bones removed to Holy Cross Cemetery.”
Source: San Francisco Examiner, 10 July 1890, page 3.
“FALLEN INTO DECAY. Neglected Condition of the “Dolores” Cemetery. Graves Left Open and Tombs Hidden by the Thick Undergrowth – “Yankee” Sullivan's Grave Found.
“Are you afraid of ghosts?”
It was so very unusual a question that no reply was give, though the inquirer, a policeman, stood with one foot already on the first of the short steps leading into the Mission Dolores Cemetery with the expectant and hesitating air of one whose next movement is to be governed by the answer.
The CALL reporter, to whom the strange words were addressed, laughed in response and prepared to follow the guardian of public peace and morals.
“Well, if you are not afraid of ghosts, at least take a care to your steps as I am leading you into a place that has gone to decay.”
At the very outset the scene was uninviting on being approached from the Dolores-street side. Some time since, it will be remembered, this street was continued through from Sixteenth to Seventeenth street, and to do it many bodies had to be exhumed. Commencing at a point near the old mission chapel the coping that banks the dirt of the cemetery across its entire front serves to divide the present from the past civilization. On the one side of the coping are the fine stone walks, the well-laid cobble-stone gutter and graded street, on the other is a space of unfilled graves for about twenty-five or thirty feet, then an undergrowth that chokes up and hides from view many of the stones that mark the last home of so many people.
Sad, indeed, was the scene as the equinoctial storms, which elsewhere blow in gales but here are more gentle and fitful, swept through the trees and undergrowths, shaking the rain-drops from their crooked limbs and distorted branches into the decomposing bowl of leaves beneath, then to be followed by a dash of rain, than a stray ray of sunlight that made the pendant tears glisten as they played along stem to branch, branch to limb, limb to hole, thence to the ground. While the scenes underfoot and overhead were wild in the cemetery proper, it was hard to cast off the effect those empty graves first had on the mind.
“In the night,” said the policeman, “those empty graves look like shadows only. By all means the front part of the cemetery should be leveled, the graves filled, the steps mended and, perhaps, a high fence built.
“Whether a fence is needed in front is a question some people will be disposed to argue, for some people like to look at unkept graves. With them a well-kept cemetery would never cause a comment.
“This cemetery contains hundreds of graves representing wealth and poverty, power and weakness, the ruler and the subject, and many of its tombstones mark the graves of the fathers of the first families in California, yet it is left to fall into decay. One tombstone has the inscription:
Remember, man, as you pass by,
As you are now, so once was I.
As I am now, so you must be;
Prepare for death, and follow me.
And for that reason it seems the living would care more for the homes of their dead, where they too, will soon be.
“This is a favorite resort of mine,” continued the policeman. “When off duty I often come here and sit on a tomb and meditate. One night I came in here and was walking back to the grave of an uncle of mine. As I went down the path my hat struck against the overhanging branches of a weeping willow. I felt a thrill travel down my body, my heart paused in terror, my hat left its place and my hair seemed to bristle with electricity. I was scared for the second time, then I had to laugh. I thought a thousand things in a second, yet I didn't think at all, for I seemed to comprehend all the terrors in existence. That is the reason I asked you whether you were afraid of ghosts. Whenever I get sad or think too much about some difficulty in life I come here and ponder over it, so naturally I take the greatest interest in these graves. I know many of them, and can correct popular mistakes.”
“For instance, it is generally supposed that the once notorious pugilist 'Yankee' Sullivan—John L.'s namesake—who died in 1856, was among the exhumed, but that is a mistake. I searched several times for the body during the past year, and found it at last about 100 feet back and quite near two large tombs that may easily serve as guides for future searchers, as they are the largest tombs in the cemetery. The stone was erected by James Malley, one of Sullivan's admirers, in the year 1858.
“In contrast with 'Yankee' Sullivan's life and his end there is one to cause much reflection on the other side of the cemetery. It is the grave of James P. Casey, who was hanged by the Vigilantes. Over his grave the members of Crescent Fire Company, No. 10, of which he was foreman, erected a sandstone monument of a peculiar design but it is 'chipping' away and partaking of the common ruin. He was hanged on May 22, 1856, when but 27 years of age, for the killing of James King of Wm. Even in death his tomb reflects a sarcasm in the prayer: 'May God forgive mine enemies.' This grave is one of the most frequented and best known for the violence of the man's career and the manner of its ending.”
Close to the plot in which are the remains of Casey is a tall monument, a broken marble shaft which tells a tale of heroism. It marks the last resting-place of Thomas Murphy, a member of Columbian Engine Company, No. 11, who died while endeavoring to save life at a fire. The shaft was erected by the city of San Francisco, a tribute to the fireman's worth and heroism.
The next grave visited was that of the first Governor of Upper California under Mexican rule. It is marked by a big modern shaft of pure milk-white marble, and stands near the mission chapel. Being in so conspicuous a place and less incumbered with undergrowth and climbing foliage, it is one of the best known. The inscription is in Spanish, as follows:
Aqul Vacen los Restos del Captain
Don Luis Antonio Arguello
Primer Gobernador del Alta California bajo el
Gobierno Mejicano,
Nacio en San Francisco, el 21 de Junio, 1784,
y Murio en el Mismo Lugar el 27 de Marzo, 1830
“Right near the Arguello tomb,” pursued the policeman, “there is a vault, on the door of which is a tablet with the name 'J. G. White.' That man was buried there twenty years ago and was not embalmed, yet to-day his body is in a state of rare preservation, as a dozen people who have seen it can testify. My folks saw the remains three years ago, and they were then merely browned a little, like a mummy, but no so dark, and his hair and beard were very long, having been growing since he was first entombed. It is more than a local superstition, as too many people have seem him for that.”
Source: San Francisco Morning Call, 6 March 1891.
“The Oldest Recorded Grave in San Francisco.
“SLENDER marble shaft looms up conspicuously close to the somber southern wall of the Mission Dolores in San Francisco. It is the most evident feature of the overgrown and long-neglected churchyard. Under that white column lies the remains of Luis Antonio Arguello, who was commandant of the Presidio under Spanish rule, provisional Governor of California under the Mexican empire, first Governor of Upper California under the Republic of Mexico, and, finally commandant of San Francisco again. It is the oldest recorded grave anywhere about the great bay that bears the city's name. Don Luis Arguello was a San Franciscan by birth and by residence, and he died and was burled in San Francisco.
“That grave was made in March, 1830, nearly twenty years before the pioneer goldhunters came flocking into California. …
“Older graves there are in California and in San Francisco, but they are not marked for identification. In the old Mission Dolores churchyard some 12,500 people lie buried. As many as 4500 of the population of that uncared-for city of the dead are Indians of the early days when this peninsula was smoke-flecked at dawn with hundreds of camp fires of lazy savages. All over California are scattered Indian burial grounds, but no one can ascertain from the crude grave relics the identity of the occupants. Governor Arguello's is the oldest recorded grave in San Francisco. But before he was laid to rest nearly 3000 others had been lowered into the earth about the old mission.
“There is a faded handwritten record all those earlier burials, a carefully kept account of the interments, recorded in numerical order by the priest in charge of the mission. The first entry in the oldest of the hide-covered volumes is dated 1776, the year of American independence, seventy-one years before California became a part of the United States. It is written in quaint old Spanish, and translated reads 1776…
“After this initial burial no fewer than 1295 other persons were interred in that old cemetery before the year 1800, but to-day not one of those ancient graves can be identified. …”
Source: San Francisco Chronicle, 7 September 1902, page 26.
”… In the early 1780s, a church was founded near the present-day southwest corner of the 16th Street and Dolores intersection. The existing Spanish burial register notes the first recorded burial 'in the cemetery of the church of this Mission' was recorded on October 2, 1781 (Archdiocese of San Francisco 1776: register line No. 46 cited in Ambros 2001).”
Source: Hervey-Lentz, Kari L. (2002) “Remaking an Unmade Cultural Landscape: Mapping the Space and Exploring the Meaning of San Francisco’s Historical Cemeteries.” [Masters Dissertation, Sonoma State University]
”…The cemetery is divided into an irregular grid by the layout of the concrete sidewalks that are generally 2' to 3' wide. These paths have varying widths, scoring patterns, and finishes and were added to the cemetery at different times and without an overall plan. (A review of historical photographs including aerial photographs taken in 1938 and 1946 show similar but different layouts to the present-day path system.) Within this grid approximately 200 stone headstones and burial monuments are arranged into rows. These markers date from 1830 to the last burial in 1898 and are of varying styles—including tablets, flat markers, obelisks, and box tombs—some of which are surrounded by wrought iron fencing. Although the first burial in the cemetery occurred in 1777, the wooden crosses that would have marked the earliest graves deteriorated and disappeared long ago. The approximately 5,000 unmarked Native Americans graves were in the part of the cemetery that is no longer extant (the area located to the west that is now under pavement or buildings.) A stone monument depicting. 'Kateri Tekawitha Our Lady of the Mohawks' (the first Native American who was beatified), located in the southwest portion of the cemetery, is dedicated to the Native Americans who were buried in the cemetery. A wooden headstone was added in 2009 to honor two Ohlone neophytes, JOCBOCME and his wife POLYLEMJA who were buried in unmarked graves in 1807 and 1804, respectively. This headstone is located in the southeast portion of the cemetery just east of a traditional Ohlone tule reed house, also added in 2009 as part of the commemoration of the role of Native Californians in the construction and operation of the mission.”
Source: Mission San Francisco De Asis, Historic American Landscapes Survey, National Park Service, Washington, D.C., HALS NO. CA-83. Date unknown.
Back to top
