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Aug 21, 2008 · Historical memoir of the Springfield cemetery, read to the proprietors at their meeting, May 23, 1857
Springfield was founded in 1850 with up to 2000 inhabitants. Its downfall soon commenced, however, owing, in great part, to the foreign miner’s tax. This cemetery, located on a hill above the town, was first used in 1852 and the last burial was in 1997. Of the 34 known graves in the cemetery, nine were children under the age of six.
Jun 27, 2014 · It has been reported that a wildfire during the '20s ripped through the graveyard, burning many a wooden cross. Nobel died in 1932, and his family continued to run the cemetery for a time. In 1939, the state of California passed stringent new laws that made graveyard ownership much less desirable.
- San Martin Chapel & Cemetery & The Murphy Family
- Old St. Mary Cemetery & St. Mary’s Parish in Gilroy
- Recognizable Names in Old St. Mary Cemetery
- Interesting Facts
- Veterans Honored
- Mysteries That Remain
- Maintaining The Cemetery
- Getting There
- Walking Tour of Old St. Mary Cemetery
- More to Explore
Before the Old St. Mary Cemetery and St. Mary’s Parish in Gilroy existed, there was another church that preceded it. In 1844 Martin Murphy, Sr., an Irish Catholic, brought his family to the south Santa Clara Valley, where he purchased a large amount of land and established a rancho. In 1853, Murphy, Sr. suffered a great loss when his son Bernard Mu...
The Old St. Mary Cemetery was established by the St. Mary’s Parish in Gilroy in 1865. Father Thomas Hudson, who was serving as pastor at the San Martin Church in 1864, realized that most people were settling in Gilroy. He purchased 15 acres in Gilroy for a new church and cemetery, and the church building was built on Monterey St., close to where Th...
John Gilroy
John Gilroy, our city’s namesake, is buried in the Old St. Mary Cemetery. John was originally born John Cameron in 1794 in Scotland to Duncan Cameron, who was Scottish, and Jane Gilroy, who was English. John supposedly ran away to sea around 19 years of age aboard an English ship, the Isaac Todd, that was headed to Astoria, Oregon, to take over a rival post. After sailing around the Cape Horn, the ship eventually arrived in Monterey on January 15, 1814. There are differing reports on how John...
Jose Maria Amador
Jose Maria Amador is another well-known person buried in Old St. Mary’s Cemetery. Amador City, County, & Valley in California are all named after him. Jose was born to Spanish settlers in San Francisco in 1794. He was a Spanish soldier and explorer. In 1835, Amador was granted over 16,000 acres of land from the Mission, called Rancho San Ramon, and there he made leather, soap, saddles, blankets, shoes and wagons with the help of Mission Indians. He became very wealthy. In 1848-1849, Jose disc...
Catherine O’Toole Murphy Dunne
Catherine Dunne is also buried at the historical cemetery. At one time, Catherine Dunne was the richest female land owner in California, with property covering large portions of what is today Morgan Hill to Gilroy. She was originally Catherine O’Toole, a daughter of Irish immigrants, who came to the area via Canada. She married Bernard Murphy in 1851, and they lived on his 4,000-acre land near Gilroy. As mentioned previously, he died on the Jenny Lind in 1853. She was left with their only chi...
The monument for John Gilroy and the monument identifying the cemetery were both made from St. Mary’s marble altar that was destroyed in the 1989 earthquake.John Gilroy’s wife is not buried in the cemetery. It is believed she is buried in San Jose, but the location is up for debate. (Another mystery to pursue?)The names and dates of those buried reflect the historical immigration of different people groups into the area—the Irish Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Mexican. Most local native Americans were...Not everyone buried at Old St. Mary Cemetery is Catholic. In the 1970s, the church entered a ten-year contract with the county—for income—to bury a certain number of indigents (those who couldn’t a...It was recently discovered that several veterans had been buried here. So far, two of them have been identified by name (Edward Leonard, who died in 1914, and his son, Ignatius Leonard, who died in 1928). To honor them for their service, volunteers installed a flagpole with an American flag—with lights—by the cemetery’s marble monument stone with t...
Local history and genealogy buff Dave Peoples has been working hard to pore over various records and plot maps to identify those who are buried in the Old St. Mary’s Cemetery, including many who are unidentified because their headstones or markers have been lost or stolen over the years. He has been marking the areas of those who were unmarked or w...
The care of the cemetery is only done by volunteers. It is still the property of the Diocese of San Jose. Current and recent volunteers include Evening Gilroy Rotary and the Knights of Columbus. About six years ago, an ad-hoc committee (made up of a collaboration of different local groups) added fencing.
This cemetery is close to St. Mary’s Church on First St. & Monterey St. It is accessible by the alleyway between Church St. and Hanna St., across Church St. from St. Mary’s Church, just after Gurries Dr. if you’re heading north from First St. Because of its alley location, it has no street address. On GPS maps, the cemetery can be found under “Sain...
Typically, once a year the Gilroy Historical Society leads a free docent-led walking tour of Gilroy’s historic Old Saint Mary Cemetery. The tour usually goes from 10:00 a.m.-12 p.m. Reservations are recommended but not required. Check out their schedule at Gilroy Historical Museum.
For more historical points of interest in Gilroy, check out History Highlights in Gilroy . Amid your historical pursuits, you’re sure to need some sustenance. Continue your history-themed adventures on a Historical Dining Tour, which includes dining in some historical buildings downtown, along with learning their fascinating history. You’ll need mo...
May 2, 2021 · SPRINGFIELD — Their new book is called the “History of the Springfield Cemetery,” but editors Wayne E. Phaneuf and Joseph Carvalho III say it is about much more than that.
Born in Mineral Point, Iowa County Wisconsin Aug. 6, 1850 - Died May 21, 1852. Note: Mary was the daughter of William and Mary Wallis Vincent. She died 5 days after arriving in California from Wisconsin. Cause of death was Panama Fever. She is believed to be the first person buried in Springfield Cemetery.
People also ask
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This list of cemeteries in California includes currently operating, historical (closed for new interments), and defunct (graves abandoned or removed) cemeteries, columbaria, and mausolea which are historical and/or notable.
