Potter's Field

This book tells the story of the old Sonoma County Cemetery, a place of burial for those who had no family, friends, or money to provide for themselves. "Pauper" cemeteries like this one also served as one of few places where disadvantaged groups could bury their dead; in nineteenth-century California the Chinese were such a group. The history of the cemetery and its eventual abandonment, rediscovery, and restoration is followed by a biographical list of burials in the cemetery. This previously unpublished material is intended for genealogists seeking that distant relation who "went west" and vanished. It is bad enough that these people had to be buried in disgrace. If we can do nothing more for them, we should at least not ignore them. Visit the Chanate Historic Cemetery online at www.chanatecemetery.org