THE QUESTING HEIRS ARCHIVE 
Some Early Southern California Burials

Forty-one years ago, in 1974, QHGS published its second book. This 100-page volume contained transcriptions of records from three local cemeteries and included photographs of the cemeteries’ grounds as well. Our member-volunteers worked for two years to complete this project.

Synopses of our organization’s yearly accomplishments tell the story:

1972: “The Society began its project of recording the three oldest cemeteries in the Long Beach area—Banning Cemetery in Wilmington and the two oldest in Long Beach [Sunnyside and Long Beach Municipal] located at Willow Street and Orange Avenue. Plans were to record the deaths up to the time the state began its vital records and to publish the results for sale.”

1973: “The cemetery records project was completed by Martha Hess’ committee and included 5,400 names. Printing costs were estimated at $210.00. Members pledged $5.00 or $10.00 as pre-payment for one or two books to underwrite the publication expenses.”

1974: “Typing was completed on the cemetery records and printing contracted for. Delivery and sales of the book began in the fall.”

Obtaining a FREE copy of Some Early Southern California Burials is easy today. Download the 9MB pdf at our website! Go to http://www.qhgs.info/publications.html and click on the “download” link.

RESEARCH TIP: Don’t ignore cemetery and census transcriptions made years ago by genealogy society volunteers. They may hold the name and location of an “unfindable” ancestor who has been mis-indexed online at Ancestry.com.