Gravestones mark the lives of Simi's settlers
Digging up stories from the past at the pioneer graveyard
By Angela Randazzo Special to the Acorn

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers SO VERY LONG AGO- Eliz Davis is one of several people born before 1850 buried in the pioneer portion of the Simi Valley Cemetery, which contains the remains of Simi's first settlers and their ancestors.

In a fenced-off graveyard at the Simi Valley Public Cemetery lie some adventurous souls who settled this area in the 1800s.

Set apart from the polished gravestone markers that dot most of the cemetery is a section of cracked and weathered tombstones dedicated to those men and women who sowed the first seeds of a community that's blossomed into a city of 120,000.

"We have a section of the early settlers here in Simi Valley and their ancestors," said cemetery manager Barbara Scroggins.

The inscriptions on some gravesites have eroded over time. Still, many of the tombstones are intact, and the names and dates legible.

One of the oldest birth date belongs to Andrew Rodriguez, who was born on Dec. 28, 1820. He lived a long life, especially for that time, dying on Dec. 11, 1916.

Photos by IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers

The name J.F. Sawtelle is inscribed on another tombstone in the pioneer cemetery. Known as "Honest John," Sawtelle was born in 1834 and died in 1913.

According to city historian Pat Havens, Sawtelle opened the first store in Simi in 1888 at the corner of Los Angeles Avenue and Third Street.

He also owned a blacksmith shop and a livery stable run by his son, George. George Sawtelle, who died in 1933, is buried near his father's grave.

"There's a photograph of his (Sawtelle's) store that everybody loves," Havens said. "He put the store together with whatever he had handy. I think part of it was a railroad car."

Commemorated on the tombstones are private tragedies, like the brief life of a child named Preston- from July 30 to Aug. 4, 1909- and public tragedies, like the shooting of Warren Willard (1879 to 1912).

Warren, a son memorialized in the Willard family tree marker in the cemetery, grew up to become a constable in Simi, Havens said.

On March 21, 1912, Warren Willard was in Oxnard delivering a prisoner to the county jail. Willard and an undersheriff named Hayden had gone to a hobo camp to look for suspicious characters.

According to the police report, as Willard chased a suspect into a gum tree grove, four shots rang out, one bullet hitting the officer in the abdomen and coming out his back. Willard was driven by motorcar to the hospital, but doctors were unable to save his life.

The March 22, 1912, edition of the Ventura Daily Democrat said of his untimely death: "Mr. Willard, who had been a resident of Simi since boyhood, was held in high esteem by all who knew him, and his sad end is a matter of universal regret."

A posse on horseback searched the mountains for the suspect, described as a man about 40 years old with fair complexion and wearing dark clothes. The newspaper reported that every able-bodied man in the area turned out for the search but "the assassin escaped."

Among the early settlers who lie in the cemetery are John Sparhawk Appleton and his wife, Laura.

The couple ran a ranch and had eight children, according to the city historian.

Charles Albert Havens, the town's first rural mail carrier, and his wife, Annie, are also memorialized.

Members of the Paranteau family also have a place at the site, which was once reserved for farmland.

"A Paranteau woman started the cemetery," Havens said. "There had been an attempt to start a cemetery on property on what's now Madera Road, but it was too muddy in the rainy season, so it was moved to the current site."

Under the shade of trees in the corner of the pioneer graveyard, the hopes and dreams of the two men buried there are unknown.

Perhaps the only clues to their personalities are inscribed on the the markers: Charles E. Dunn, 1872-1958, known as "Ed," and Joe McDonald, 18731969, known as "Just Joe."