Santa Clara Cemetery Project May 11, 2011 Goals We set out to survey the period between 1860-1910, and to explore identity markers within this time period and what spacial relationships revealed about affiliation. Within the Jesuit graves, we sought to examine changes in ages at death and ages when they entered the orders, and what aspects about the organization of the graves themselves revealed about Jesuit world views. Evidence -- Early Graves Irish and British markers:Several tombstones with Irish surnames, said “Native of Dublin” or “Native of Ireland” or “Native of Genova, Italy” or “Native of England.” Some monuments had intricate Celtic knotwork, but were without dates. These people identified enough with their native lands to mark it on their gravestones. Italian tombstones: Children were together under a single family name. 1897. A lot of husband and wives were buried together with their last name as the heading of the tombstone, and their first names and specific dates separated below. Additionally, family buria ls seemed to be a pattern for the Italians. Figure 1 is an image of the ‘Martinelli Family’ burial plot. Spouses: Some spouse buries were marked with a single tombstone that had the names of each on eitherside. Time of death did not seem to be important, because they would still be buried together. Theirspacial relationship in life was continued in death. Charter Oak No. 321: (Figures 1 and 2) “Dum Tacet Clamat”(Though silent he speaks) This latin phrase on the Charter Oak seal on graves fro m the early 1900s. “He was a Woodman of the World ” There were several graves with this marker on them and it signifies that the tombstone was paid for by the CharterOak insurance company. Two examples from: 1907,1908. This seal is reflection of the business that was involved in the process of death, and it reminded us that somebody was paid to carve all these tombstones and made a living off of the needs of the dead. War Veterans: War veterans were buried in the cemetery, not in a military cemetery. If they died in action, where, when, and in what conflict was noted on the stone. We found a few from WWI. Dying in a conflict had some value then, in this period, enough that it was noted on grave sites. Religious Sisters : The Sisters of Notre Dame of California were buried together. The Provincial had a large monument in the center of the plot, while the other sisters were buried in several orderly rows around the center. Each grave was marked by a small bronze plaque, with the name of the sister that she chose when she took orders. Their original family names, their places of origin, or when they took orders was not recorded on the graves. See Figure 6. Children: The younger children were given small graves, sometimes recording how many months and days old the child was when he or she died. The markers would include the names of the parents. Children’s graves were were harder to see, and buried separately from the family, put in the odd corners of the cemetery. Figure 3 is an example of this. Evidence -- Jesuit Graves The Jesuit graves from 1904-1936 were simple and standardized. They were almost all made ofwhitish marble, or a polished grey marble. The words were in Latin, and the names of the fathers were latinized. Up until 1908, the dates were in Roman numerals, and then the style switched to Arabic numerals. There was only one gravestone which was in English, that of George Norris and a position was not included. They were identical in size and simplicity and set up in rows which seemed indicative of the
