Last Wednesday, Oct. 29, two days before Halloween, the Piedmont Recreation Department’s Walking on Wednesdays group held its annual pre-Halloween tour of Mountain View Cemetery. Instead of gathering at the Exedra, walkers met in front of the cemetery’s main mausoleum. The turnout was strong, with 54 walkers and three K-9 best friends on hand.
Longtime docent Jane Leroe led the tour for the fifth time. A retired and ground-breaking San Francisco trial attorney who describes herself as a feminist before there were feminists, Leroe brings deep knowledge of Mountain View Cemetery and a clear love of sharing it. Her theme this year was “Famous Families” of the historic cemetery.
Leroe began with the cemetery’s origins. In the early 1860s a group of 12 local businessmen, led by Samuel Merritt, a San Francisco physician who served as Oakland’s 13th mayor from 1867 to 1869, concluded the area needed a better private cemetery. Two public cemeteries existed, but maintenance was poor. The group purchased 200 acres of fields for $13,000. Mountain View Cemetery was established in 1863 and officially dedicated on May 25, 1865, which was Memorial Day that year. Organizers believed it would remain far from Oakland’s center. Twenty-six acres were later added, bringing the total to 226 acres. About 170,000 people are buried there today, with room for another 170,000.
The founders contracted with Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect who also designed Central Park and Stanford University, for a $1,000 fee, although it is unclear whether he was paid. No women took part in the cemetery’s development. Leroe noted, however, that some of the wealthy men interred there had wives who would later put family fortunes to public use.
After the background, the group stepped inside the three-story mausoleum, built in 1929. With its marble and quiet light, the interior has a serene feel. Leroe noted that crypts remain available for those who want, and can afford, one. She began with the crypts of husband and wife Dr. Ying Wing Chan, a diplomat and professor in China, and Dr. Betsy Jeong, who left China to avoid a likely forced marriage and went on to graduate from Stanford University and become a physician.
From there, walkers moved through the back of the mausoleum and up the hill to the Colton tomb. Ellen Colton shares it with her husband David, the business manager for the so-called Big Four who built the transcontinental railroad. Leroe suggested the group could be considered the Big Four and a half. After David’s death, Ellen became involved in a lawsuit that revealed correspondence detailing bribes to lawmakers.
Nearby stands the Lux tomb. Charles Lux, a butcher, made his fortune selling meat during the Gold Rush and used it to buy 1.4 million acres across California, plus holdings in Oregon and Nevada. Known as the Cattle King of California, he left a legacy that his wife, Miranda Lux, advanced through philanthropy, including $500,000 for California schools.
Leroe continued through family histories that echoed both progress and exclusion. Washington Bartlett became the first Jewish governor in the United States. His cousin, Chloe Buckel, was barred from serving as a physician in the Civil War because she was a woman, so she organized a nursing group that treated the wounded. William Keith became a noted Scottish-American landscape painter. His wife, Mary McHenry Keith, was the first woman to graduate from Hastings Law School and later helped lead the suffrage movement in California and nationally.
The Edson Adam tomb prompted a discussion of Oakland’s founding. Edson Adam, one of the city’s three founders, questionably sold parcels from the Peralta family’s Spanish land grant to new residents. Adams Point is named for him. Hannah Janye Adams more honorably started Oakland’s first public school.
John Gill Lemmon survived the infamous Andersonville Prison during the Civil War and later became known as the Botanist of the West. His wife, Sara Lemmon, championed the California poppy as the state flower. It took her 13 years of persistence to secure approval from the Legislature.
There were more families along the way, including the Swifts, the Chases and the Fishes. Leroe’s stories were tightly researched and clearly told. The morning offered a brisk walk, a sweep of regional history and a reminder that familiar Bay Area names carry complicated legacies.
At the tour’s end, the group thanked Leroe for another engaging pre-Halloween visit and many said they look forward to returning next year.
Walking on Wednesdays meets every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. at the Exedra at Highland and Magnolia avenues. Everyone is welcome to join. There is no charge. New walkers and their friendly K-9 best friends are especially welcome. To register, visit https://tinyurl.com/3ethkehu or call at (510) 420-3070 for more information.
