Purissima, California

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Purissima is a ghost town in southwestern San Mateo County, near the junction of California Highway 1 and Verde Road. The name "Purissima" means "purest" in Spanish. Originally settled in the middle of the nineteenth century, in a rural area four miles south of Half Moon Bay, the town was one of the earliest settlements on the San Mateo County coast. Some buildings still remained as late as the 1930s, but the town was largely abandoned before World War II.[1]

All that remains of Purissima today is the cemetery and a part of the school. Some farms are found in the surrounding area. There are numerous evergreen trees and heavy vegetation at the site.[2]

[edit] Cemetery

Dayna Chalif researched the cemetery, which is now largely overgrown with weeds, vines, and poison oak, and compiled a listing of the gravesites. He observed there are many snakes in the area.[3]


  • Bartels, John, b. 1819, d. 1902
  • Bartels, John, b. 9 Mar 1850 Germany, d. 18 Mar 1878
  • Behn, Anna, b. 30 Nov 1830 Holstein, Germany, d. 9 Jun 1895, age: 54y6m10d, "Our mother has gone to a mansion of rest from a region of sorrow and pain..." (remainder unreadable), s/w Otto Behn
  • Behn, Otto, b. 22 Nov 1841 Germany, d. 24 Jun 1924, "No sorrow, pain or troubled fears disturb our loved one resting here", s/w Anna Behn
  • Brutt, Henry, b. 1839, d. 1922
  • Brutt, Margaret, b. 1847, d. 1914
  • Butts, John, b. Hanover, Germany, d. 6 Feb 1889, age: 58y, next to H. Dennemark
  • Cherington, James Johnston, d. 30 Jun 1869, age: 31y8m10d
  • Dennemark, Henry J., b. Germany, d. 27 May 1876, age: 38y, next to J. Butts
  • Dobbel, August A., b. 1864, d. 1910, Beloved son of H & M Dobbel, s/w all Dobbels
  • Dobbel, Henry Jr., b. 1858, d. 1916, s/w all Dobbels
  • Dobbel, Henry, b. 1 Jul 1829 Holstein, Germany, d. 22 Dec 1891, s/w all Dobbels
  • Dobbel, John C. C., b. 29 May 1859 California, d. 15 Jun 1902, age: 43y17d, s/w all Dobbels
  • Dobbel, Julius C., d. 21 Aug 1870, age: 1y1m20d, s/w all Dobbels
  • Dobbel, Margaretha L., n. Hanover, Germany, d. 3 Sep 1885, age: 54y, w/o Henry Dobbel, s/w all Dobbels
  • Fell, Hattie A., d. 27 Oct 1870, age: 15m, d/o FM & Jennie Fell
  • Frey, Anna, b. 1827, d. 1896
  • Frey, Helen, b. 1880, d. 1882
  • Frey, Henry, b. 1821, d. 1898
  • Frey, Willie, b. 1886, d. 1887
  • Griffith, Eva F., b. 12 Dec 1861, d. 6 Feb 1864, d/o WH & A Griffith
  • Hale, Charles, d. 16 Oct 1872
  • Hale, Frank B., d. 24 Sep 1886, age: 57y or 87y
  • Hale, Julia C., d. 14 Feb 1864, age: 6y8m7d
  • Harsha, Josephine V., d. 13 Sep 1885, age: 48y4m3d, w/o John B. Harsha
  • Hartley, Mabel, d. 5 Sep 1871, age: 6m3d, d/o GP & JE Hartley
  • Hatch, Anne S., b. 1828, d. 1871, Our Mother, next to James Hatch
  • Hatch, James, b. 12 Mar 1827 Canada, d. 26 Oct 1912, Our Father, next to Anne S. Hatch
  • Hovious, James Henry, d. 13 Mar 1868, age: 1y3m15d, s/o JH & AH Hovious, s/w all Hovious'
  • Hovious, Samuel Miller, d. 11 Jan 1875, age: 4y18d, s/o JH & AH Hovious, s/w all Hovious'
  • Hovious, Silas, b. Kentucky, d. 25 Jan 1871, age: 63y, s/w all Hovious'
  • Johnston, Charles Francis, d. 6 Oct 1865, age: 8m, s/o Charles & Mary Johnston
  • Keifer, Phoebe A., inscription illegible, except that she died on the 10th"
  • Marsh, Alvah, b. 13 May 1796 Vermont, d. 20 May 1881, Our Father, s/w Hannah Marsh
  • Marsh, Hannah, b. 5 Jun 1803 New York, d. 15 Jun 1882, Our Mother, s/w Alvah Marsh
  • Merrill, Nellie, d. 6 Dec 1895, age: 40y 5m, w/o Reuel C. Merrill, "Only surviving stone in large fenced plot, top of stone missing"
  • Moore, Erastus, b. 1854 Iowa, d. 3 Aug 1878
  • Moore, Mary, d. 30 Jan 1873, age: 2y9m20d, d/o Erastus & Ellen Moore
  • Morrell, Fred Foster, d. 24 Mar 1881, age: 3y15d, s/o GW & Kate Morrell
  • Morrell, Susan H., d. 11 Aug 1872, age: 22y5m2d
  • Munro, Agnes, b. 1872, d. 1884
  • O'Brien, Francis, d. 8 Mar 1864, age: 36y
  • O'Brien, George Francis, b. 27 Sep 1860, d. 18 Jun 1882
  • O'Brien, Walter J., d. 29 Sep 1875, age: 12y7m4d, s/o Francis & Josephine
  • Ostermann, Andreas, b. 5 Jan 1839 "Holstein, Germany, d. 22 Aug 1893, age: 54y7m7d
  • Pitcher, Anita M., b. 21 Feb 1877, d. 4 Oct 1880, s/w all Pitchers except Fidelia and Thomas
  • Pitcher, Fidelia (Ambrose), b. 1872, d. 1940, Next to Thomas B. Pitcher
  • Pitcher, H. S., b. 1834, d. 1897, s/w all Pitchers except Fidelia and Thomas
  • Pitcher, John, b. 25 Jul 1827 "Vincennes, Indiana, d. 24 Feb 1924, s/w all Pitchers except Fidelia and Thomas
  • Pitcher, Louisa B., b. 9 Dec 1835 "London, England, d. 28 Jan 1893, w/o John Pitcher, s/w all Pitchers except Fidelia and Thomas
  • Pitcher, Mary M., b. 24 Jan 1858, d. 20 Jan 1861, s/w all Pitchers except Fidelia and Thomas
  • Pitcher, Thomas Benton, b. 1873, d. 1963, Next to Fidelia A. Pitcher
  • Purser, John, no dates
  • Purser, Mary Elizabeth, b. 27 May 1833, d. 10 Apr 1868, "Sister, thou were mild and lovely, gentle as the summer breeze, pleasant as the air of evening when it floats among the trees. Peaceful be thy silent slumber…"" (the rest is unreadable)", "Archives record: top part of the stone is broken & missing, only dates remain which faciliatated identification"
  • Shields, Willie Alexander, d. 6 May 1881, age: 7m 9d, s/o William & E. Shields, Next to Marsh graves
  • Solton, Jacob, b. 16 Aug 1858 Germany, d. 16 Jan 1886
  • Young, Elizabeth (Bower), b. 18 May 1920, d. 18 Mar 2001, "LTJG US Navy, World War II", "Pitcher family plot, next to Gertrude P. Young"
  • Young, Gertrude (Pitcher), b. 1893, d. 1953, "Pitcher family plot, next to Elizabeth B. Young"

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Federal Writers Project guide book
  2. ^ Eyewitness account by Robert E. Nylund
  3. ^ Internment.net website
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