Upcoming Event: Celebrate Day of the Dead at Mission San Antonio de Padua

Mission San Antonio de Padua as it appears today.

Join historian Daniel Krieger for a rare opportunity to experience a traditional religious ceremony celebrating the Day of the Dead at California's third-oldest and most remote mission, San Antonio de Padua, at 1:00 p.m., Saturday, October 29, 2011.

The mass will be the same Latin Mass that was celebrated on that site in 1771. There will be prayers chanted in the Salinan language by tribal elders and children.

An especially joyful part of the liturgy will be the music by Remie Campomenosi, John Warren, the choir from Mission San Miguel and guest singers.

The "Angus Dei" (Lamb of God) is from "La Misa en Sol," composed by Padre Juan Bautista Sancho, O.F.M. (1772-1830), who led the best-known of mission orchestras at Mission San Antonio. Father Sancho is buried at the foot of Mission San Antonio's altar.

Mission San Antonio is about 30 miles northwest of Camp Roberts along Monterey County Road G-18, reached at the Jolon turnoff.

Be sure to carry your auto registration and proof of insurance, as well as identification for all passengers, to enter Fort Hunter-Liggett, which surrounds the mission. MAP.

For more information, see Dan Krieger: Past lives at mission on Day of the Dead.

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Daniel E. Krieger Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus of history at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and past president of the California Mission Studies Association. He is the author of TIMES PAST, Historical Features Column, San Luis Obispo County Telegram-Tribune, a weekly column dealing with Central Coast History which has run uninterrupted since January, 1984.

Photo from Wikipedia Commons.

Copyright © by Elizabeth O'Neal

Upcoming Event: Old Mission San Luis Obispo Cemetery Tour

Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa c. 1909

Families and individuals are invited to join historian Daniel Krieger this Halloween, Monday, October 31, 2011, at 4:30 P.M., for a free tour of the Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa Old Cemetery.

Meet at the Bridge Street entrance, near the intersection of Beebe and Bridge, in back of the Pacific Coast Center.

You will be taking a look at the last resting places of San Luis Obispo's pioneers Ah Louis, Josefa Carrillo Dana and her husband, William Godwin Dana, Pierre Hypolite Dallidet, and many more final resting places of San Luis Obispo's "gone but not forgotten."

This is a "non-scary" (great for children) look at how graveyards reflect periods of history such as the sentimentality of the Victorian era and the role that the deceased played in the making of our community.

Bring flashlights and wear brightly colored clothes.

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Daniel E. Krieger Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus of history at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and past president of the California Mission Studies Association. He is the author of TIMES PAST, Historical Features Column, San Luis Obispo County Telegram-Tribune, a weekly column dealing with Central Coast History which has run uninterrupted since January, 1984.

Photo from Wikipedia.

Copyright © by Elizabeth O'Neal

Upcoming Event: Santa Barbara Cemetery Talk and Tours

Founded in 1867, The Santa Barbara Cemetery is unique. It has not only passed through the five distinctive stages of cemetery development in the United States, but has melded these eras into the remarkably beautiful, functioning "Best Last Place." Author David Petry spent eight years researching, while traveling to over 1,000 cemeteries around the country and around the world.

He has given tours of the local cemetery since 1996, covering it's development as well as some of the many notables buried there including many Santa Barbara business, political, and arts leaders; captains of industry, writers, screen actors, and a princess.

Lecture and Reception at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum
136 East De La Guerra Street
October 27, 2011 at 5:30 p.m.
$25 Museum Members ~ $35 Guests

Walking Tours at the Santa Barbara Cemetery
901 Channel Drive
$10 Museum Members ~ $15 Guests

Saturday October 29, 2011 at 1:00 p.m.
~ or ~
Sunday October 30, 2011 at 10:00 a.m.

Walking tour notes:

Meet at the Cemetery Chapel

Tour is approx 2.5 hours, walking approx 1 mile.

Bring water, hats, and a camera.

Santa Barbara Historical Museum members, please call 805-966-1601

for reservations for the talk or walks.

Be sure to follow David's blog, Decomposing Santa Barbara!

Copyright © by Elizabeth O'Neal

Bernice (Faivre) WILLIAMSON (1892-1965)

BELOVED MOM

BERNICE WILLIAMSON

1892 - 1965

Bernice (Faivre) Williamson died on 14 March 1965, and is buried in Ivy Lawn Memorial Park in Ventura, Ventura County, California. She was 73 years old.

Born on 26 January 1892 in Mount Sterling, Brown County, Illinois, she was the daughter of Andrew and Louise (Rudity) Faivre. She became a resident of Ventura County in 1927.

My daughter at the grave of her 2nd great grandaunt.

At the time of her death, Bernice was married to Alen Elmo Williamson. He is not buried at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park, according to cemetery office records. At the time of her mother's death in 1942, she was married to a gentleman with the last name of Tripp. It is possible that she also had a marriage prior to Mr. Tripp. I do not know for certain if she had any children.

Bernice was my great grandaunt. I was not quite 2 years old when she died, and until recently, was unaware that a branch of this family made it out to California. I would love to connect with other members of this family; please contact me if you are a cousin!

Read more about Bernice and family on Little Bytes of Life.

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Headstone of Bernice (Faivre) Williamson photographed by Elizabeth O'Neal on  9 December 2010, Ivy Lawn Memorial Park, Ventura, Ventura County, California.

Copyright © by Elizabeth O'Neal

Susan (Records) WALKER

SUSAN E.

Wife of

Rev. W. A. Walker,

and daughter of

T. B. & M. Records,

Died

Feb. 10, 1880

Aged

19 years and 2 mos.

Susan WALKER is buried in the Arroyo Grande Cemetery in Arroyo Grande, San Luis Obispo County, California.

Susan is found in the 1880 U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedule for Arroyo Grande, and is listed as having died from typhoid fever.

Click to enlarge

She had been married to Rev. Walker for just a little over a year before she died. According to a transcription taken from the San Luis Obispo Tribune, they married on 21 October 1878.

Click to enlarge

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Headstone of Susan E. Walker photographed by Elizabeth O'Neal on 13 September 2008, Arroyo Grande Cemetery, San Luis Obispo County, California.

1880 U. S. Census, San Luis Obispo County, California, mortality schedule, ED 78, page 1, line 5, Susan Walker; digital image, Ancestry.com, from National Archives microfilm publication T655.

Extract from the San Luis Obispo Tribune from the "Stereopticon," provided by the San Luis Obispo County Genealogical Society.

Copyright © by Elizabeth O'Neal

John Leslie ZEYEN (1899-1968)

JOHN LESLIE ZEYEN

MISSOURI

CPL 305 FIELD RMT SQ QMC

WORLD WAR I

APRIL 15 1899   NOV 12 1968

John Leslie ZEYEN was born 15 April 1899 in Oklahoma and died 12 November 1968 in Ventura, California. He is buried in the Ivy Lawn Cemetery in Ventura.

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Headstone of John Leslie Zeyen photographed by Elizabeth O'Neal, December 9, 2010, Ivy Lawn Cemetery, Ventura, Ventura County, California.

Copyright © by Elizabeth O'Neal