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As It Was: Shasta County Cemetery Contains 57 gravesites

Many pioneer gravesites have been lost over time, requiring great effort to locate them.  One of them is the Turtle Gulch Cemetery in Shasta County, Calif., where 57 identified gravesites are barely visible from a road in the Bald Hills.

The earliest grave marker is dated July 20, 1864, for the infant Anna E. Thompson, believed to be the daughter of Ann [sic] Thompson, buried nearby, who died at age 19 on Feb. 5, 1866.

Also buried in the cemetery are Henry Jefferson and Martha Frances (Duggins) James, although she does not have a tombstone.  Henry was born in 1828 in Kentucky and Martha in 1854 in Missouri.  They married in June 1875 in Meridian, Sutter County, Calif.  His first wife was Mary A. Goodwin.

The Jeffersons, Henry and Martha, had five children, four boys and one girl, including Moses Amador, William David, Seth Alexander, Clara Elizabeth James (Johnson), and Jesse Smith.

Martha’s parents, Moses and Elizabeth (Smith) Duggins, are also buried in the cemetery.
 

Source: Geissner, Jo. "A Tuttle Gulch Cemetery History." Shasta County, California Cemetery Records, Access Genealogy, 2013, www.accessgenealogy.com/cemetery/shasta-county-california-cemetery-records.htm. Accessed 18 Apr. 2019.

Gail Fiorini-Jenner is a writer and teacher. Her first novel "Across the Sweet Grass Hills", won the 2002 WILLA Literary Award. She co-authored four histories with Arcadia Publishing: Western Siskiyou County: Gold & Dreams, Images of the State of Jefferson, The State of Jefferson: Then & Now, which placed in the 2008 Next Generation Awards for Nonfiction and Postcards from the State of Jefferson.