Savannah Pioneer Cemetery (aka Savannah Cemetery and El Monte Cemetery) is very likely the first Protestant cemetery in Los Angeles County.  It is essentially the last remaining evidence of El Monte's rich pioneer legacy as the End of the Santa Fe Trail and those who lived to make it there. 

If time has been kind, weathered and damaged gravestones stand or lie, fallen, to memorialize hard-fought pioneer lives.  In many other cases, only the cemetery records remain to whisper names of many of the San Gabriel Valley's founding and most important families: Blackley, Cleminson, Cuddeback, Dodson, Dobyns, Durfee, Elliott, Ellis, Franklin, Freer, Guess, Jackson, Johnson, Samuel King, Lewis, Maxson, Mings, Shobe, Shugg, Slack, Nicholas Smith, Snoddy, Steele, Stout, Thurman, Tweedy, and Waldron, among others.

The cemetery holds several Civil War veterans, both Union and Confederate soldiers, at least two veterans from the War of 1812; and several veterans of the Spanish American as well as more recent wars. Samuel King was killed on a Monday afternoon in a gunfight with Micajah Johnson. John Holt, one of the veterans of the War of 1812, was a Mormon who, with his two wives, fathered at least 15 children over a span of about 50 years.

Situated in a commerical area in Rosemead, the future looked bleak for the historic cemetery until a revitalized Board of Directors was elected in 2006. 

SCGS and the El Monte Cemetery Board have enjoyed a supportive and collaborative relationship, and we are honored that the Board has permitted the publication of the Savannah Cemetery interment list on the SCGS website.  The Savannah burials (including many obituaries, biographies and headstone photos, as well as individual photos) are also documented on FindAGrave.com.

If you believe that you have family members interred in Savannah Pioneer Cemetery, or if you would simply like to offer your support and encouragement to the Board, you can search the online cemetery directory or:

1. Visit their website at www.savannahcemetery.org


2. Ask to be added to their contact list by emailing


3. Contact them by postal mail at:


4. El Monte Cemetery Association
   
   PO Box 4247
   El Monte, CA  91734


5. Visit the cemetery blog at  http://savannahpioneercem.blogspot.com/


6. Read the Cemetery's newsletters 
   
   December 2009
   September 2009
   June 2009
   March 2009
   December 2008
   September 2008
   March 2008
   December 2007
   September 2007
   June 2007
   March 2007
   December 2006
   September 2006