As often is the case, when towns become increasingly populated, the local cemetery is eventually relocated to make more room. One such cemetery, once found at the foot of 9th Street, in Crescent City, California, is now known as ‘Brother Jonathan Point’ and ‘Brother Jonathan Park.’
In 1949, local Kiwanis Club members took it upon themselves to clean up the old cemetery and make it a historical landmark because the victims of the Brother Jonathan sinking were laid to rest there. It would take another 10 years to complete the task.
The Del Norte County Historical Society applied for what was known then as the Brother Jonathan Cemetery to be registered as a state landmark in 1955. The Rotary Club then “reconstructed” the site using 28 original headstones circling a flagpole on raised ground.
The only headstones belonging to Brother Jonathan victims are those of Polina and Daniel Rowell. The remaining 26 are those of various local residents.
Originally, purchased by the Masons in 1854, their records show that it had separate sections for Native Americans, the Masons, Catholics and the Chinese. One of the problems with early records involve the Chinese population.
As per their custom, they would bury their dead in the cemetery, only to dig them up to have their remains shipped home to China for burial with their ancestors. However, no one bothered to record these interments or their removal and the only proof that a body had been laid to rest, then removed, were the divots left behind following a removal.
Masonic records also show that it’s west boundary went to the end of ninth Street, the southern boundary to six street, the eastern boundary as far as A Street, which now encompasses Taylor and Wendell Streets. While building homes, in later years, contractor’s unearthed several caskets, leading to the speculation that some homes came to be built over undiscovered burials.
The wreck of the ‘Brother Jonathan’ on July 30, 1865, brought some of the 224 drowning victims to the cemetery. As many as 90 bodies washed ashore in the Crescent City area, with 66 people being buried in a mass grave, marked only by a row of pine trees.
As time went on, the cemetery fell into disrepair later described as a ‘jungle littered with stones broken by vandals.’ Finally, after a storm in the 1929, that brought caskets to the surface, the city requested that anyone with family buried there, re-inter them at the Crescent City Cemetery on Cooper street.
While relatives of the Brother Jonathan disaster collected some of their loved ones, it’s believed that some remains are still in the area, whereabouts unknown. The same can be said about local residents, as it’s thought that all the headstones were officially relocated, but not all the bodies.
There are no complete records on how many people came to be buried at the cemetery. In fact, there are no known official records before 1905, but after 64 years of use, it’s estimated that some 1,500 bodies were at one time or another, interred in the patch of land.
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