To Remember the Forgotten...
To Honor the Lives of Those Whom We Have Not Known...
Is to Extend One’s Hand Outward to Touch Humanity
Sign up for Cemetery Advisory Commission meeting updates
Meetings:
The Commission generally meets the second Thursday of each month at 9:30 am at the Office of the Coroner, 4800 Broadway. Meetings are open to the public but it is best to confirm the date and time before attending. Volunteers are needed for many of our projects and to work on our three sub-committees (District Cemetery, Historic Cemetery and Indigent Memorial).
Contact:
Dr. Bob LaPerriere, - Chair
Sacramento County Cemetery Advisory Commission
Phone: (916) 874-9103
Email: cemeterycommission@saccounty.gov
(please include your email address for correspondence)
Background
Sacramento County Cemetery Advisory Commission was established by the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors on June 12, 2001.
Its purpose is to:
- Advise the Board of Supervisors of citizens’ concerns and issues related to cemeteries.
- Provide recommendations to preserve, protect and maintain cemeteries.
- Raise funds for the protection and maintenance of cemeteries and make recommendations to the Board regarding appropriations for funds raised.
- Encourage the preservation and designation of historical cemeteries.
Its three major projects to date are the Indigent Memorial, the recommendation to the Board of Supervisors of cemeteries which should be designated historic and providing a plaque to those sites, and the development of a comprehensive database of Sacramento County Cemeteries.
The Commission is composed of a representative from each Supervisory District, a representative from each Cemetery District, a Veteran’s representative, a representative from the “Public at Large” and a representative from the Coroner’s Office who serves ex officio.
The Indigent Memorial Project also includes plans to develop a computer database of indigent burials in Sacramento County which would eventually be available on a County web site. The five granite and bronze memorials that were dedicated in 2004 are a reminder to the community that there are, indeed, over 15,000 persons buried in those five sites, without evidence of markers, monuments, or tombstones. These “County Burials” generally had no available family and no financial resources to pay for their own funeral. Some were lost through time…the “unknowns.” Yet they all at one time had family, and not uncommonly distant family that are still searching for their final resting place. We hope to, through this project, reunite some of these relatives. With genealogy becoming an increasingly common pastime, we feel this project is even more important.
The Historic Cemetery Designation Project is in progress. The initial phase involved the designation by the Board of Supervisors of 21 “Historic Cemeteries”, upon our recommendation. Additional cemeteries will be so designated in the future. A plaque is being provided to each of these cemeteries.
The Cemetery Database development has been in progress since before the Commission formed. Due to many duplicate names for the same cemetery, many cemeteries referred to in historic sources but not evident today, and name changes, this project is very complex and requires much additional research. However there appear to be more than 60 cemeteries currently in Sacramento County, plus more no longer evident. An extension of this project is to ensure that all the cemeteries are on the GIS mapping system of the County through the use of GPS.
The Cemetery Publication Project is now underway with plans for three tri-fold brochures and an eventual book on the history of our numerous cemeteries.
If you believe you may have lost a loved one. Please note that decedents with no known family will not show up when a Website search is conducted.
Decedents that have no known family will be cremated after efforts to locate family have been exhausted. The cremated remains will be held for at least one year before the ashes are scattered at sea. Please contact the Sacramento County Coroner's Office.
