People's Cemetery, San Andreas

We are surrounded here by small towns with their origins in gold mining. One of these places, now famous for other reasons, is San Andreas. It is not their fault 😊. Our favorite way to learn about the people who pioneered here is to visit them and see what they have to say.

Perhaps the most interesting resident in this cemetery is George Washington Cox. We find a synopsis of his story at Find a Grave:

George Washington Cox abandoned his family in 1875 and returned in August of 1887. He was wearing a suit of armor, was well armed and appeared to believe that others were conspiring against him.

On November 3, 1887 he shot his unarmed son in law Henry Cook with no warning while he was eating his noon meal. Cox's daughter Mary Cox Cook managed to push her father out of the house and locked the door. Cox was tried and the jury was out around 1/2 hour before returning with a verdict of guilty.

Calaveras Prospect 1/27/1888. Sheriff Ben Thorn sent out engraved invitations to the hanging, which took place in the jail courtyard.

You can read the San Francisco Chronicle article about him with full details of his life, deeds, and death. The cryptic epitaph refers to the fact that unbeknownst to Mr. Cox, the law that said he could shoot someone if he thought his family was in danger had changed and shooting his son-in-law for some perceived danger to his daughter was no longer legal but instead, murder.

Most other residents have a more sedate life and are memorialized with stones on the grave.

This guy has a boat propeller and float on his to mark his love of boating as indicated on his headstone.

As always, there as plenty of children here.

Phebe, below, did not make it as long as Clintie, above. Sad, short lives. Tremendous losses for the parents.

We don't know if this mother below is gone due to illness, childbirth, or some other calamity. But dying at 33 seems young even for the 1880's.