Russian Hill Cemetery
Dates of Existence: 1842 to 1853.
Location: between Taylor and Jones streets, and north of Vallejo street (northern slope).
Number interred: 30 to 40.
Moved to: probably Yerba Buena Cemetery.
“The number of interments prior to 1850, is thus estimated: …On Russian Hill …25”
“…Coffins and shrouds were luxuries which the dead needed not, and the living could not spare. Sometimes the more intimate acquaintances of the deceased, with a lingering regard for his remains, would bear the corpse up to Russian Hill, on the summit of which was a small unenclosed space that many years before had been made use of as a burying ground by the Russian settlers of the town and bay. Or, if they happened to be closer to Clark’s Point, they would inter the body on the rising slope of Telegraph Hill, in a dreary spot, which, by common tacit consent, had been set apart for such purposes. A thin, flat piece of board, painted white, with a few black letters on it, or a rude wooden cross, stuck in the ground, alone marked the place where the body was deposited ; and even these memorials were of rare occurrence. Generally, however, the deceased was buried near the place where he died; and when the dry, sandy soil, that covered the tomb was levelled by the winds and rains, no monument told what lay beneath.”
Source: Annals of San Francisco, Frank Soulé, et al. (1854), pages 592, 595.
“The Water Project. …I am forced to the conclusion that the principal stream of water by which this lake is formed or supplied, has its rise on the west side of the hill whose highest point, now occupied as a cemetery, is situated somewhere near the junction of Vallejo and Jones sts., and no better or more eligible point for a reservoir need to be desired than this hill. …”
Source: Daily Alta California, 14 July 1851, page 2.
“PIONEER CEMETERIES.—Prior to the discovery of gold in California, in 1848, a Russian man-of-war put into the harbor of San Francisco, and whilst here a number of her men died. The bodies were buried on what has been since that period known as Russian Hill. The graves, some dozen or more, have, we believe, never been disturbed. . .”
Source: Daily Alta California, 25 June 1861, page 1.
“The Cemeteries of San Francisco . . . RUSSIAN GRAVE-YARD. A Russian war-ship came into the harbor once, and while here, a large number of her men died, and, as they belonged to the Greek Church, they could not be buried with either Catholics or Protestants, and they had a grave-yard of their own. It was upon the hill which is now called Russian Hill, because of the Russian graves and the Russian cross there. The cross was still standing in '49, or '50. There may have been thirty or forty graves in the Russian Cemetery.”
Source: Daily Alta California, 22 July 1862, page 1.
“THE CITY'S DEAD . . .Another spot, selected at as early a date as 1842, was the eminence between Taylor and Jones streets, and north of Vallejo street. Here were buried several of the crew of a Russian vessel, stricken with some malarian disease, which occupation of the hill by them resulted in the name of Russian hill being applied to the spot. Not many additional burials were made there, however, as it as considered too inaccessible for funeral corteges, and in 1850 it was abandoned and the remains of those placed there were afterwards removed to other localities. . .”
Source: San Francisco Daily Evening Post. 16 November 1878.
“The First Two Official Hangings in San Francisco. . . .The first hanging authorized by law in San Francisco took place December 10, 1852. . . .The execution took place on Russian Hill, much to the indignation of the cemetery wherein, among others, rested the bones of Don Vicente Nunez. It was the oldest burying-place for the city. . . .”
Source: San Francisco Daily Examiner. 2 October 1887. 15.
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