Plot Thickens on Monument
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What a fabulous photograph on the cover of your OC Live! of Oct. 28. And, what an interesting article regarding the pioneers of Orange County found in “Plots to Think About” by Rick VanderKnyff.
It’s a shame, however, that Rick was unable to link the cover photo to the story in a direct way.
The cover’s featured cemetery monument, WILLIAMS, belongs to our family.
Isaac Williams, my great-grandfather, was an early California pioneer. Arriving with his three brothers in 1843, he settled first in Northern California, then purchased vast amounts of land with his friend, William Henry Spurgeon, in the Costa Mesa-Santa Ana area.
The Times Orange County offices are sitting directly across the street from my great-grandfather’s land, which bordered Sunflower Avenue. The general area became known as Gospel Swamp before Santa Ana or Costa Mesa were established.
Spurgeon went on to become one of the founding fathers of Santa Ana. Isaac’s farmland was eventually sold around the turn of the century.
By the way, my father is also buried in one of the Williams plots.
I am a third-generation Los Angeles-born native, and I too will eventually end up in the Santa Ana Cemetery.
B. DAN WILLIAMS
Newport Beach
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