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 burials 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 either side. Time of death did not seem to be important, because they would still be buried together. Their spacial 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 from 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 Charter Oak 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. Childrens 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 of whitish 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

worldview that was more communal and egalitarian. The terms Sacerdos and Coadjutor are Latin terms referring to the hierarchy within the Jesuit order and are included on most Jesuit tombstones. Sacerdos is translated to mean Jesuit priest, while Coadjutor means Jesuit brother, implying that the Sacerdos position is above the Coadjutor. Like the the sisters, rank within the order was noted on the stones, however the size of the stone did not correspond with rank as it did with the Sisters. Discussion There were noticeable differences between the burial markers regarding social class; plaque size was a good indicator of an individuals or a familys socioeconomic status. Generally, wealthier families would have larger plots with big monuments where the entire family would be buried. The ornate monuments signified the different levels of wealth and prosperity of the families of the family members buried.In a addition to indicating socioeconomic status, size and style of burial markers may also signified the importance of family. The size and monumental style of family markers signifies that in death, the concept of family still mattered and was important to the people who spent the resources to purchase the elaborate sepulchres. This seemed to be a trend among many of the Italian family markers. The markers were also reflective of the ethnic transition that took place in Santa Clara/San Jose during the early 1900s. Many of the early tombstones (1890s-1910) belonged to Italian immigrants while many of the later plots (after 1910) bore Hispanic and British surnames. Within the rows we took samples of, the average age at death did go up from 1900s to the 1930s (57 to 61.5 years old). In this brief 30 year period, there was change in average age in the Jesuits. Interestingly Row 5 had a lower average age of death, when examined more closely, there are series of deaths in 1918 of several 20 years, which probably skewed the data. These deaths occurred during the winter months, and it may be evidence of the 1918 Spanish Flu. Of course, we sampled only 3 rows, which is not the complete set of data available. There is also the homogeneity of the Jesuit population, which was all male and well-educated, making the data less reflective of Santa Clara during this time period. The order and the simplicity of the graves and the Latinized tombstones are indications of how the Jesuits saw themselves as part of the Roman Catholic Church, and their places of origin and family status were not considered as important to record as the date they took orders. The language used could also be a signifier of identity. There was one grave of Maria Liunor Mendonsa from 1896 that was carved in Portuguese. Latin was used on several graves, but most notably on all the Jesuit tombstones in the 1900-1937 period. Because this is a Catholic cemetery, Jesuits distinguished themselves by using Latin on their tombstones. The majority from the time period of 18601910 were in English, which may indicate that it was the formal language in Santa Clara at the time. There were not many German names in the cemetery, which considering the proximity of the German immigrant population to the church and college, probably means they were not buried in this more Catholic part of the cemetery. Religious differences influenced who was included and where in the cemetery. Some of the limitations of our project included collecting data in an unsystematic way. Although we did record information from the Jesuit graves, our data mainly takes the form of observations and photos from the cemetery. Because so many time periods and dates are spread through a small area (a 1996 grave next to 1906 grave), it was difficult to get a sense of organization and pattern. The data was collected unsystematically, as we tried to make sense of the area, but the photos we did take are good type photos for some of the patterns were observing. The photos we chose were examples of tombstones and

inscriptions which kept reappearing in the north part of the cemetery. Conclusion: Our project revealed many differences amongst the tomb stones based on the individuals heritage, socioeconomic status, and family relations. Italian families buried their children under the family name, whereas the Irish and other cultures did not. It appeared to be common for husband and wife to be buried together, or at least side by side, and the size of their tombstone, as well as the amount of ornate details, reflected the socioeconomic status of their family. An additional component of the size of the tombstone, was the age of the individual buried in it. Children frequently had small plaques or tombstones, whereas adults were buried in much larger structures. We noticed the same seal recurring on a couple different grave stones and found that it was a Latin phrase signifying that the tombstone was paid for by a specific insurance company. The tombstones of religious sisters provide an example of the importance of Catholicism at the time, in that they only stated the name the sister chose upon entering the order, and there is no indication as to their real or family name. In comparison to the older graves, the Jesuit graves were much more standardized and simplified, which may reflect a world view of order and equality.

Photos

Bibliography:

Neill, Paul R., and Paul K. Williams. "Founding and Early Years." Georgetown University. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub., 2003. 25. Print. Photograph collection: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150188477068513.303939.661103512&l=f40164dfda