Sacramento County Cemeteries By Billie Harris - RootsWeb

Sacramento City Cemetery
Prior to the City Cemetery, many interments had been at Buckeye Knoll, situated
near W Street between 9 th and 10 th Streets. Ten acres for the City Cemetery was
selected in December, 1849, and was located between 9 th and 11 th on Y Street
(Broadway).
It has grown considerably in acreage, now contains some 44 acres and many
groups are located in its enclosures, including the Masons, Odd Fellows, Red
Men, Firemen, Printers, Pioneers, Veterans of the Mexican War, Veterans of
Foreign Wars, and the State. A plaque at the entry to the cemetery reads:
"Sacramento City Cemetery. Resting place of California pioneers, this cemetery
was established in 1850. Many of the victims of the cholera epidemic of that year
are buried here. Included among the graves of illustrious Californians are those
of Governors John Bigler, Newton Booth and William Irwin; General George
Wright, hero of the Mexican War; Mark Hopkins, co-builder of the Central Pacific
Railroad; General Albert M. Winn, founder of the Native Sons of the Golden
West; Hardin Bigelow, first mayor of Sacramento; William S. Hamilton, son of
Alexander Hamilton, E. B. Crocker, founder of the Crocker Art Gallery; and Rev.
O. C. Wheeler, organizer in 1850 of the First Baptist Church."
Also near the entrance is a monument which reads:
"JOHN A. SUTTER, JR. 1826-1897. Founder and planner of the City of
Sacramento 1848. Died in Acapulco, Mexico. American Consul for 24 years.
Reinterred in Sacramento with his only surviving daughter, Anna Sutter Young.
Born Acapulco September 18, 1888. Died San Francisco January 24, 1970."
The earliest marker in the Cemetery is that of Franklin B. Davis who died in 1846.
Markers bearing dates earlier than 1850 indicates that bodies were probably
moved from other burial grounds. At the rear of the cemetery is a monument
which is the only identification to the 600 people who died during the cholera
epidemic in Sacramento in the early 1850’s. The cemetery contains
approximately 35,000 graves. (1979).