Illustrious Residents | Stockton Rural Cemetery

George Henry Tinkham

(1849-1945)

Block 6, Lot 56

In 1880, Mr. Tinkham was a Stockton historian and author who wrote numerous histories including a comprehensive book, “The History of Stockton,” chronicling the city’s founding and development. His other books include, “California Men and Events 1769-1890,” “History of San Joaquin County,” and “The Half Century of California Odd Fellowship.”

Benjamin Tunis (monument only)

(1795-1859)

Block 6, Lot 60

Benjamin Tunis became famous before he came to Stockton in 1849. He was a veteran of the War of 1812 and wounded on the Frigate President and taken as prisoner to Bermuda. He is the only known War of 1812 veteran to be buried in the vicinity of Stockton.

Anna Gray Fairchild

(1835-1923)

Block 5, Lot W½ 54

Anna Fairchild was a Scottish immigrant who successfully managed the family’s large homestead ranch in Stockton after the death of her husband, William.

Odd Fellows

Plot Block IOOF

This location is reserved for members of the Odd Fellows Temple in Stockton. The lodge emblem is distinguished by a three-link F.L.T. design that reminds members of Friendship, Love and Truth. First founded in England during the 1700’s, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows is a non-political, non-sectarian co-ed international fraternal order.

Russ Meyer

(1922-2004)

Block 4, Lot 3, Space 11

Russ Albion Meyer was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, film editor, actor, and photographer. He is known primarily for writing and directing a series of successful sexploitation films that featured campy humor, sly satire and large-breasted women. His grave includes the inscription “King of the Nudies. I was glad to do it.”

Austin Sperry

(1819-1881)

Block 19, Lot S½ 635

Mr. Sperry was an unsuccessful miner who found gold in making flour for livestock feed, then shifted to grinding flour, thus founding the legendary Sperry Flour company. At its peak, there were 17 mills throughout the Pacific Coast.

Thomas Cunningham

(1838-1900)

Block 18, Lot 4

Mr. Cunningham was known as one of the greatest, most courageous lawmen of early California. From 1872 to 1899, he was the Sheriff of San Joaquin County and played a part in every major manhunt. Among the many he helped track down were Mexican bandit, Tiburcio Vasquez, the infamous stage-coach robber, Black Bart, and serial murderer Antonio Laver, whom he captured single-handedly.

George Augustus Shurtleff

(1820-1902)

Block 18, Lot 16

Dr. Shurtleff arrived in Stockton in 1849 and became a pillar of the community. In 1856 and 1863, he was appointed director of the California State Insane Asylum. In 1865, he was also elected the asylum’s medical superintendent.

Thomas Kent Hook

(1816-1888)

Block 18, Lot S½ 19

Mr. Hook was a pioneer and Odd Fellow lodge member who, in 1849, came down with cholera while traveling the last 100 miles into town. He was deserted to die by his companion. Three Odd Fellows brothers found him along the road. Hook gave the distress sign of the lodge, which they immediately recognized, and got him the care that saved his life.

Benjamin Holt

(1849-1920)

Block 20½ Lot 8

The inventor of the Caterpillar tractor, Mr. Holt was the co-founder of the Stockton Wheel Company that in 1883 manufactured street cars, horse harvesters and steam harvesters. Changing the name to the Holt Manufacturing Company, he developed the now-famous tractor, the first workable track-laying machine for plowing soggy farmland. Used in military tanks dating from World War I, his invention brought him international recognition.

Lodowick U. Shippee

(1835-1896)

Block Fountain, Lot D

As a renowned entrepreneur, Mr. Shippee owned an ice cream and confectionary store, a grocery store, a gravel company, and later a huge sheep and horse ranch. In the 1880’s, he founded a combined harvester company and was a leader in harnessing the Mokelumne River for irrigation. Mr. Shippee served as Mayor of Stockton in 1888. Shippee Lane in Stockton is named after him.

Daniel Rothenbush

(1835-1906)

Block 24, Lot 81, Grave Vault

In 1853, Mr. Rothenbush founded the El Dorado Brewing Company that shipped Valley Brew beer to many parts of California and Nevada for 102 years.

Charles Wagner

(1837- 1917)

Block 24, Family Vault 58

As one of the first Wagners to arrive in Stockton, Mr. Wagner was a pioneer business leader who, along with his brother, Jacob, founded the Pacific Tannery in 1856. It successfully produced leather products developing an international market for the leather. In 1928, it was repurposed as the Pacific Storage Company.

Henry Brack

(1857-1941)

Block 24, Lot S½ 58, Grave Vault

Mr. Brack is a prime example of the “rags to riches” story. He came to California in 1849 with just 10¢ in his pocket. The following year, after hard work and a few deals, he was able to buy land west of Lodi that eventually became Brack’s Tract of 10,000 acres. He raised cattle and grain and had his own ship for transporting the goods to San Francisco. He also built a railroad between Lodi and Valley Springs, and even founded a winery.

James Herbert Budd

(1851-1908)

Block 29, Lot E½ 7

Governor James Budd was Stockton’s only Governor from 1895 to 1899. Smilin’ Jim Budd, as he was called, came across the plains by covered wagon, graduated in the first class of the University of California in 1873 and was a Congressman in 1882. As a Democratic nominee for Governor in 1894, he won over the state’s Republican majority, touring the state by horse and buggy campaigning and making friends.

Henry Barnhart

(1830-1897)

Block 29, Lot S½ 36

Mr. Barnhart was a major land owner who amassed a fortune through land speculation and development throughout the San Joaquin, Solano and Yolo Counties.

Lewd Plot

Plot Block 27

Along the railroad tracks, this section bears the graves of 35 prostitutes, four of them are unknown.

Asa Clark

(1824-1912)

Block 13, Lot 3

Dr. Clark established the prominent Clark’s Santorium in 1871 for the care and treatment of mental and nervous diseases and of morphine, cocaine and alcoholic habits. He acted as general superintendent for a well-respected hospital and institution.

Gen. David F. Douglass

(1821-1872)

Block 14, Lot 2

The Douglass Township was named after General Douglass who came to California in 1848 from Mexico. He was the first land owner in the township, owning a farm on the Mokelumne Hills Road. He was a member of the 1849 Constitutional Convention in Monterey. He was also one of Stockton’s pioneer merchants owning a store and freight teams.

George Gordon Belt

(1822-1869)

Block 11, Lot 8

At the age of 24, George Belt, one of Stockton’s earliest merchants, was appointed the first Alcaide (Judge of the First Instance) of Stockton under American rule. Judge Bolt is given credit for establishing Stockton’s first city government in 1850. In 1869, local alderman William Dennis assassinated him, the result of a feud stemming from a property dispute several years earlier.

Snyder Children

(1877)

Block 11, Lot 39

The distinctive four-sided obelisk tells a tragic tale of the Snyder family, whose four children ages 11, 9, 5, and 3 all succumbed to diphtheria within nine days of one another, a not very uncommon occurrence in the 19th Century. Each side of the monument offers a remembrance of each child.

Harriet M. Smith

(1824-1898)

Block 11, Lot 74

A major landowner in Stockton, Mrs. Smith was a well-known philanthropist. In her honor, her son donated the original 40 acres on which the oldest university in California, College of the Pacific, was built.

Charlotte Wheeler Clowes

(1863-1939)

Block 11, Lot 31

The talent and management skills of Ms. Clowes resulted in her founding the state’s most prosperous dairies located on the notable Clowes Ranch.

Reuel Colt Gridley

1829-1870

Block 9, Lot GAR, Grave A

Reuel Colt Gridley was a local grocer who became famous for losing a political bet that ended with his having to carry a fifty-pound sack of flour a mile between towns. Someone suggested the sack be auctioned off to raise money for a charity for disabled Civil War veterans. The sack first sold for $250 which was then returned to Gridley to auction off again in different cities. He ultimately raised $275,000 for the charity. As a result, he is considered one of the greatest unarmed heroes of the Civil War. A monument in his honor is inscribed with “The Soldier’s Friend.”

Sarah Althea “Allie” Hill Terry

1850-1937

Block 14, Lot 1

An uninhibited beauty and socialite, Sarah married her attorney, David S. Terry, who had represented her in a property court fight. After losing, threats were made against Judge Stephen J. Field, and both husband and wife were jailed. Field’s bodyguard later shot David Terry to death when the couple happened upon the judge. Insane with grief, Sarah spent the rest of her life in the state asylum.

David S. Terry

1823-1889

Block 14, Lot 1

A California jurist and Democratic politician best known for the famous Broderick-Terry duel in 1859 where he killed Senator Broderick. Known as a fire-eating attorney, he defended his second wife, Sarah A. Hill Terry in 1885 over a property dispute. He battled with Supreme Justice Field who ruled against Sarah. In a chance meeting at the Lathrop train station, he was killed by Justice Field’s bodyguard.

Antoinette Olympe Bradna Wilhoit

1920 – 2012

Block 6, Lot 10, Space 12

Antoinette Olympe Bradna Wilhoit was born in Paris, France into a theatrical family. From the age of 13 months, she performed across Europe before royalty and on every stage. In 1936, Paramount Pictures signed her to a contract and starred in many films including "Say It In French" with Ray Milland, "International Squardron" with the future President, Ronald Reagan and "Souls At Sea" with Gary Cooper & George Raft. In 1942, Olympe and her husband moved to Stockton and became involved in many charitable organizations.

George Spafford Evans

1826-1883

Block 18, Lot 10

A native of Michigan, Evans first entered military service during the Mexican War when he went to Texas to serve with the Texas Rangers. Evans moved to California to follow the Gold Rush. With the outbreak of the Civil War, he was commissioned back into military service as a Major assigned to the 2nd California Cavalry Regiment. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel one month later. In February 1863, Evans was promoted to Colonel in command of the 2nd California Cavalry and was brevetted Brigadier General of Volunteers on March 13, 1865. Later, in civilian politics, he served as Adjutant General of California and for many years as California State Senator.

Jeremiah King

1803 -1883

Block 27, Lot 928, Space 4

A founding father of Stockton’s African-American community, Rev. King spent 50 years in slavery in Georgia. Freed, he ventured to Gold Rush California and struck it rich in the Southern Mines. With his gold money, King bought 300 acres outside Stockton and several properties in the infant city. In 1854, he founded African Baptist church on Washington Street. It became Second Baptist. During the US Civil War, Rev. Jeremiah King successfully petitioned the Trustees of the Stockton Rural Cemetery to establish a Section 27, “a colored section” as the final resting place for people of African ancestry.

Daisy Dryden

1854 - 1864

Block 25, Lot 251

Daughter of a Methodist minister, Daisy Irene Dryden was born in Marysville, California, on September 9th, 1854. In the summer of 1864, ten-year-old Daisy was attacked with “bilious fever." In the last three days of her life, without any previous experience of spiritualism, she began having visions of the “other side,” which she reported to her family. After her passing, her mother wrote a book about their experience entitled, "Daisy Dryden, A Memoir.” She is buried, along with her two siblings, in Lot 251.