El Campo Santo Cemetery   

2410 San Diego Ave.
San Diego, CA 92110
619-220-5422

San Diego County, Tombstone Photos 

El Campo Santo Cemetery, Old Town, San Diego County

Photos

Submitted by Larry Clark 2004
Submitted by Ed Jepsen May 2008




San Diego's second oldest cemetery, El Campo Santo, dates back to 1849 with the burial of Juan Adams.

Burials continued through 1880, consisting of early San Diegans from varied backgrounds.

In 1889 a horse-drawn streetcar line was built through part of the cemetery, which later became San Diego Avenue.
The cemetery deteriorated over the years. In 1933, the San Diego Historical Society restored El Campo Santo as accurately as possible based on an early photograph and early descriptions. They built an adobe wall, reset markers, rebuilt paling enclosures, and placed a plain white cross in the center of the plot.
In 1942 it was finally paved over, leaving at least 20 graves under the street and sidewalk and 13 graves under Linwood Street.

Excerpt from: City of the forgotten dead By Kelly Davis 04/25/2007(San Diego City Beat)
For all this history, El Campo Santo's a shrunken version of what it once was, squeezed smaller by Old Town's rapid turn-of-the-century development. Mallios guesses that the cemetery's original boundaries were pushed in roughly 20 feet, leaving bodies buried outside the new cemetery walls, set in place in the 1930s. If you walk just outside El Campo Santo's front gate, there are small brass circles that say "Grave Site" embedded in the concrete sidewalk. Just above the sidewalk is a plaque: "Remembering the more than 20 men, women and children who lie buried beneath San Diego Avenue. "Only one guy, a state Assembly member, was exhumed and re-buried within the cemetery's new boundaries. The other graves are known to exist thanks to ground-penetrating radar.

 

SURNAME

FIRST NAME

AGE

BURIAL DATE

PICTURES

ADAMS Juan xx 08-Nov 1849 1   2
AMES Family xx xxx 1   2
ARGUELLO Santiago 44 Years 21-Oct 1857 1   2   3
CASTILLO Ambrosio xx 1873 1

CORNELIA

Juliana

108

02-Nov 1876

1   2

DE CASSIDY Maria Providencia Smith 20 Years Jul 1878 1

DE CASSIDY

Rosa

21 Years

11 Feb 1870

1   2   3

DE HAYES-SERRANO Adeliade 28 Years Apr 1872 1   2

DE LOS ANGELES

Maria

xx

19-Sep 1867

1   2

DE PEDRORENA Don Miguel Telesforo xx 1 Apr 1850 1
DE PENDLETON-ESTUDILLO Concepcion xx Jun 1863 1   2

DILL

John

26 Years

09-Nov 1873

1

ESTUDILAO Juan Antonio 47 Years 20-Jul 1852 1

ESTUDILAO

Jose

25 Days

15-Mar

1   2

GARA

Antonio Sr.

xx

10-Jan 1852

1   2  

GILLIS

Anita

xx

xx

1   2

GREEN

Edward L.

8 Years

02-Nov 1873

1   2   3

LOPES

Edwigis

88 Years

05-Jul 1877

1

LYONS

Jayme

4 Years

Nov 1859

1

MACHADO Jose Manuel 60 Years 18-Oct 1852 1   2

MAMUDES

Rafael   (Grave Digger)

100+ Years

xx 1   2   3
MARRON Juan 45 Years 19 Sep 1853 1   2
MARRON Juana xx xx 1
MARSHALL Bill xx Dec 1851 1   2
MENDOZA Juan 46 Years Feb 1865 1   2   3
OSUNA Juan Maria 84 Years 22-Dec 1871 1   2
PEDRORENA Felicitas 35 Years 12-Apr 1880 1
ROBINSON James W. (Yankee Jim) 31 Years 18-Sep 1852 1   2
SERRANO Luis Gonzaga Infant 13-Mar 1873 1
SMITH George Jr xx 1897 1   2
STILES John xx xx 1   2
TANNER Thomas W. 55 Years 22-Dec 1868 1   2   3

UNKNOWN

Jesus

25 Years

15-Dec 1879

1

UNKNOWN Magdalena 21 Years Mar 1867 1
UNKNOWN Melchoir 97 Years 3-Feb 1867 1   2
UNKNOWN The German xx xx 1   2
VERDUGO Juan xx Dec 1851 1
WALSH John 24 Years 1-Jan 1869 1   2
WRIGHTINGTON Thomas xx Jul 1853 1   2
ZAMORANO Maria Josefa 16 Years 8 Jul 1851 1

Cemetery Photos

File Description Submitter
El Campo Santo Grave Site Marker Larry Clark
El Campo Santo Outside Front Wall  Plaque Larry Clark
El Campo Santo Cemetery Outside Back Wall Plaque Ed Jepsen
El Campo Santo Cemetery (The Holy Field) Plaque Larry Clark
El Campo Santo Cemetery Sign Larry Clark
El Campo Santo Cemetery View From Sidewalk Larry Clark
El Campo Santo Cemetery View Front Larry Clark
El Campo Santo Cemetery View Larry Clark
El Campo Santo Cemetery Street View Larry Clark
El Campo Santo Cemetery View Back Larry Clark
Historical Marker Ed Jepsen
El Campo Santo Cement Marker Ed Jepsen
El Campo Santo Brass Markers Inside Cemetery Walls Ed Jepsen
El Campo Santo Cemetery All 20 Grave Markers Outside Of  Walls Front Ed Jepsen