#8 Thompson Mize

March 27, 1823 – November 21, 1854

This area is actually the oldest section of the cemetery. Oliver Beaulieu purchased farmland including this area from Julio Carrillo in 1851. Beaulieu granted permission for the first burial here in 1854 – for Thompson Mize.

Mize died only three months after arriving here by covered wagon from Iowa. He got very drunk one night and fell into a pond near Santa Rosa Creek. He left behind his wife, Ruth Fulkerson Mize, and their five children.

For the most part, the vegetation we see around here is native California growth with California live oak trees and California valley oak trees. However, we see interspersed quite a few vegetation specimens that were obviously planted at the time of burials. For example, off to the right, you see an olive tree which is in the Bacigalupi family plot. Just in front of us, we see an Italian cypress tree. Italian cypress were regarded as signs of mourning during the Victorian period, as were other conifers and cypress type species. Roses were a popular graveside planting and many old roses are found only in old graveyards. The Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery is lucky to have many of these roses still existing from early plantings.

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