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African American Cemeteries Forum
My 2nd great-grandfather was William Adams, who reportedly drove a wagon in a wagon train to California ca 1861. He died in Sacramento, CA in 1871 and was intially buried in New Helvetia Cemetery. A genealogy friend from Sacramento sent me a copy of the cemetery record card and a note citing his death notice in the newspaper, "The Sacramento Bee" (1871).
The New Helvetia Cemetery was re-developed in 1955 to build a school and the bodies buried there from 1849-1912, estimated to be near 5,000, were re-interred at Sacramento's East Lawn Memorial Cemetery in a mass grave. There was a notification sent to the families of those interred at New Helvetia about the removal and the family could claim the remains of their ancestor(s) for burial elsewhere. I don't know if our family ever recieved notifiaction, so William Adams' remains are in that mass grave.
Art Thomas
