--part1_7a.1589d492.284402cc_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable History of Lakewood Cemetery News Article dated May 28, 2001=20 Hughson, Stanislaus County, CA=20 Pioneer section off-limits to shovels because graves, as well as stories, li= e=20 hidden among the headstones there By PATRICK GIBLIN=20 Modesto Bee Monday May. 28, 2001=20 =20 Pioneer section off-limits to shovels because graves, as well as stories, li= e=20 hidden among the headstones there By PATRICK GIBLIN=20 BEE STAFF WRITER=20 (Published: Monday, May 28, 2001) =A0=A0=A0HUGHSON -- No more burials take p= lace in=20 one section of Lakewood Memorial Park. =A0=A0=A0It is not for lack of room.=20= It is=20 for lack of knowledge. =A0=A0=A0The section is the original Hughson-Empire=20 cemetery, located in what is now the center of Lakewood Memorial Park.=20 Details are sketchy on who is buried where, so cemetery crews do not dig=20 there anymore, said Glen Byrd, field supervisor at Lakewood. =A0=A0=A0What r= ecords=20 are available indicate that the cemetery has a long history and some lively=20 stories associated with those who rest there. =A0=A0=A0One person, buried mo= re than=20 100 years ago, had been hanged in Empire (then the Stanislaus County seat)=20 after being convicted of stabbing another man to death. =A0=A0=A0The killer=20 warranted no headstone. "They didn't even indicate where his grave was," Byr= d=20 said. =A0=A0=A0The cemetery is believed to have been started by Col. John C.= =20 Fremont as he marched his troops through California while fighting the=20 Mexican army during the Mexican-American War, 1845-48. =A0=A0=A0"Several of=20= his=20 soldiers died from dysentery and were buried here," Byrd said. =A0=A0=A0Thos= e=20 soldiers also did not get proper grave markers. =A0=A0=A0The oldest headston= e in=20 the cemetery belongs to Mary F. Hudelson, who died on April 13, 1855. =A0= =A0=A0"Not=20 lost, but gone before," her marker reads. Other Hudelsons surround her.=20 =A0=A0=A0Just a few feet away is the grave belonging to Jane Turpen, who was= =20 "Leveled by the hand of death" on Jan. 14, 1865. =A0=A0=A0A few feet south i= s a=20 grave marked "Unknown." =A0=A0=A0Over the years, the Hughson-Empire cemetery= became=20 overgrown with weeds until the cattails became so high that most people did=20 not even know it was a cemetery, Byrd said. =A0=A0=A0Then, in 1953, Lakewood= came=20 into being, with land acquired around the original cemetery. =A0=A0=A0"The o= wners=20 said if all the county records were turned over to us, the old cemetery woul= d=20 be put under endowment care and be maintained by us," he said. =A0=A0=A0Work= ers=20 mapped all the graves in the original cemetery. Then they removed the=20 headstones, cleared the land of rocks and weeds, and installed a sprinkler=20 system before returning the headstones, Byrd said. =A0=A0=A0The cemetery now= is=20 part of Lakewood's Pioneer Garden, the only area in the 55-acre park where=20 headstones are allowed.=20 =20 (for archives) =20 --