Announcing the Second Printing of San Francisco, California, I.O.O.F. Crematory Records

The California Genealogical Society proudly announces the second printing of San Francisco, California I.O.O.F. Crematory Records by Barbara Ross Close. 

First printed in 2001, San Francisco, California I.O.O.F. Crematory Records is an index of eight registers (volumes A–H) for the now defunct Independent Order of Odd Fellows Crematory of San Francisco. Approximately 10,000 cremation records are indexed, dating primarily from 1895 to 1911. Some cremations were of disinterred remains from prior burials; the earliest date for a disinterment seems to be 1857.

Nancy Simons Peterson gave a short history of the crematory in Raking the Ashes: Genealogical Strategies for Pre-1906 San Francisco Research (2011):

A crematory was once located on the grounds of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) Cemetery. Originally exempt from the ordinance that disallowed burials within the San Francisco city boundary, it was demolished following the passage in 1910 of a similar ordinance applying also to crematories.

Abstracts include the deceased's name, birthplace, sex, date of death and age, place and cause of death, and whether an obituary is available in the original record. San Francisco, California I.O.O.F. Crematory Records is now available for purchase at our Lulu bookstore.

Volunteer Anna Junglas took on the project as part of a push by the Publications and Marketing Committee to re-issue our older books using print-on-demand by Lulu.com. With the re-printing, the committee decided a cover redesign was needed and turned to volunteer Cathy Paris who designed the covers of the Deaths and Probate series. She photographed one of the original I.O.O.F. register books which are in the care of the society, and integrated it into the new cover design.

San Francisco, California, I.O.O.F. Crematory Records is one of a set of California Genealogical Society publications related to the Odd Fellows facility in San Francisco. As part of the re-printing process the publications team made an effort to correlate the content with the original books located in our manuscript vault. This revealed some inconsistent terminology within the original manuscripts. The terms "register" and "ledger" caused confusion about how many sets of originals existed so for the re-print we settled on the term "register" because it was most commonly used in the original manuscripts and because it is a general term that was most applicable.

The California Genealogical Society acknowledges the many volunteers who were part of Barbara Closes' team and who contributed to this publication when it was first published in 2001. They include Jane Cassedy, Julie Collins, Vernon Deubler, Lew Ellingham, Cynthia Elliot, Wil Frye, Gloria Hanson, Marilyn Jaeger, Paul Jones, Melissa Kelley, Esther Mott, Harry Neumann, Lee Penland, Anne Robinson, Marilyn Rowan, Christine Scott, Laura Spurrier, James Thansute, Bill West, and Marjorie Wyatt.

Anna Junglas noted, "It was a pleasure to work with the publications team on the re-printing of San Francisco, California, I.O.O.F. Crematory Records. The collaboration, support, and conscientious feedback from everyone on the team made this project very enjoyable."

Congratulations, volunteers, on another job well done!

San Francisco, California, I.O.O.F. Crematory Records

First Edition, Second Printing

411 Pages

Softbound, 8 1/2 x 11" format 

ISBN 978-0-9672409-2-3 

Published by the California Genealogical Society

Copyright © 2013 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library.