On a tree-shaded 25 acres at the west end of St. Helena, three generations of women keep watch over untold generations in a quiet community of more than 13,000.

Since 1970 Ruby Archibald, then her daughter, Paula Soekland, and more recently Soekland’s daughter, Connie, have served as record keepers for the 137-year-old St. Helena Cemetery, working in a light-filled building near the cemetery’s main gate.

It’s a far cry from the rustic stone workshop that originally served as Archibald’s office. The cold and spare setting wasn’t appropriate for meeting with grieving relatives, Archibald believed, and she immediately began campaigning for a more gracious — and warmer — space. The cemetery board agreed and the new office was built, with a second floor added years later. Archibald, now 84 and ostensibly retired, also went on to become the first woman on the board.

Although the official job descriptions are office manager and bookkeeper, the work of the three involves more than numbers, Paula Soekland said.

“I’m dealing with emotions, trying to help people feel comfortable, trying to help them with loss,” she said. “Many times they are going through hard times as you do when you’re grieving ... So when they come back ... I let them talk.”

St. Helena Public Cemetery, whose records date to 1872, was incorporated in 1873 — although the first burial, that of 42-year-old Sarah Hudson, whose family owned the original site, dates to 1856. For more than 100 years the property has been maintained by endowments overseen by the board of directors.

The cemetery is an orderly, restful place shaded by pine, cedar, oak, dogwood and a remarkable specimen of a false monkey puzzle tree. Paved streets border blocks of burial plots containing the graves of young and old, pioneers, war veterans, town leaders and townspeople, scoundrels and a murderer or two. One section of plain, numbered markers is a potters field for the county’s indigent or unknown.

In addition to running the business and ensuring the cemetery meets existing regulations, Archibald, her daughter and granddaughter have guided families and individuals in their decisions on selecting grave sites, crypts, cremation niches or the newest option, the ossuary, as well as worked out the designs for headstones and markers.

Crypt by crypt

The women have also become accomplished sleuths for those trying to locate a long-dead relative or historic figure.

The searches often start with the slender and historic green books whose pages are filled, line by line, with cryptic references to the earliest cemetery residents, settlers of St. Helena and the upper valley.

“You can see when a wave of illness went through the valley and large numbers of people died,” Paula Soekland said, as she ran a finger down the column listing cause of death. Diphtheria, typhoid, cholera and consumption show up frequently. Old age appears occasionally, as does suicide.

One unknown man is described only as “red haired with teeth filled with gold.”

The well-worn books — genealogical treasure troves — hold thousands of individual stories reduced to a stretch of columns noting name, age, gender, birthplace, date and cause of death, and final resting place — all entered carefully in a faded hand as fine as a spider web.

It’s this last detail that often serves as an emotional bridge between past and present, Connie Soekland said.

No seance needed

“You feel the connection when you’re looking at the old burial book. You’re looking back to the 1800s and you see the handwritten information on your great-grandparents, how old they were, where they were born, their cause of death. It makes it that much more authentic.”

“And sometimes it’s very emotional,” her mother added, “especially when they find someone they’ve never been able to find before. It might be a mother they never knew because she died in childbirth. They may be up there in years but now they’ve found where their mother is buried... ”

“Or babies,” Connie Soekland said, picking up the thread. “There are lots of babies buried here. People can put together pieces and fragments of information about their family by finding this baby and learning what time in her life their mother or grandmother had her. It may be a baby who was a sibling or an aunt or uncle that nobody in the family would talk about. There are chapters of somebody’s life hidden in the books.”

For readers-between-the-lines like the Soeklands, the notations offer up a wealth of information.

Last year their detective work helped locate the unmarked grave of Civil War veteran Capt. Augustus Starr, and they joined in a celebration by Civil War re-enactors the day the site was marked by a modest headstone.

A good plot

This summer the Soeklands were able to locate a family plot for a woman and arrange for headstones for her great-great-grandparents, who for decades had rested in unmarked graves.

The woman, an Arizona resident, was from a large Italian family, Connie Soekland said,  “but the last burial here was probably about 50 years ago and nobody had had money for markers. Now she and her husband are paying for them ... It is part of her family legacy.”

Not all grave sites are filled. American journalist, short story writer and satirist Ambrose Bierce has a plot in the cemetery, but he isn’t buried there. He disappeared in Mexico in 1913 and was never seen again.

Sometimes the burial book will have a listing for a murder victim and a few lines down, another for the murderer.

“A woman came in once and said, ‘My father never spoke of his sister. It was very, very strange,’” Paula Soekland recalled. “Well I found the sister, Victorina Sasselli, 17, and she was murdered in 1898 near Nichelini winery ... When we looked at this book it showed she was murdered and right below that entry was the name of the man who had killed her. They were within a few spaces of each other.”

Every year the St. Helena Historical Society unveils a section of the cemetery’s rich history during an annual tour. One year the focus was noted pioneers, another was crimes and misdemeanors. This year the November tour will spotlight the men whose names grace familiar St. Helena streets.

Rest in peace

The cemetery’s green lawns are still lush in late summer, thanks to a well discovered by Ruby Archibald’s late husband, Jim, and the ministrations of superintendent Frank Barra and his crew of two.

With its towering trees, intricately carved tombstones and paved roads it’s a favorite spot for walkers and bike riders. Classes of school children regularly come to read headstones, take notes and make stone rubbings.

And it’s a spot where Connie Soekland spent a part of her childhood exploring the grounds, studying inscriptions, and attending family funerals, “Probably as many funerals as weddings,” she said, noting that she is related to families who have lived in Napa and Sonoma counties for six generations.

Since joining the staff full-time three years ago she has overseen the development of a new burial block and criss-crossed the cemetery, plot books in hand, collecting data for a computerized mapping system utilizing Geographic Information Systems technology.

Neither she nor her mother find anything eerie about their choice of workplace or the job they’ve taken on.

“You just hope you can help the families,” Paula Soekland said. “The cemetery is a place ... for those who have passed on but it is also a place for the living. You can come here and feel comfortable. It’s like a park; it’s beautiful.”

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