Having spent considerable time in the local cemeteries, it is not always quiet resting place many would believe. It actually has a long history. Just because one is initially interrred there, does not mean its that person final resting place. When Fannie Knoch died in 1910 she was buried in the Susanville Cemetery. When her husband David Knoch passed away in 1911, his remains were taken to San Francisco where he was interred. He was not alone, for his wife’s grave was exhumed and transported with him.

In 1921, William S. Brashear filed a complaint with the Lassen County Board of Supervisors because in September of that year a non-family member was buried in his family plot. This I have learned is more common than you think. I received a call from Jack Rager’s family who upon arrival at the Lassen Cemetery were ready to intern his ashes in the family plot, only to find someone, with a headstone, was buried in his place. Then I had to deal with a good samaritan genealogist, who purchased and had placed a headstone for her relatives. It turns when the immediate family saw this, they were incensed, because while the family’s name were the same, they were not related. The headstone was removed, who knows whatever became of it.

Tim