Page 69 - Historical Study of Yerba Buena Island, Treasure Island and Their Buildings

The second double grave was that of Captain Edward F. Lindsey and his son Edward L.
Lindsey. Captain Lindsey, who transported convicts to Tazmania, lived there for ten years
before coming to San Francisco in 1848 with a load of bricks and lumber for the gold mines.
Though a resident of the City, he had fallen in love with Yerba Buena Island and often went
there with his family for day outings. He had expressed the wish to be buried on his beloved
Goat Island and when he died of a heart attack at the age of 38, his wife, Virginia, fulfilled his
wishes. His son, who died 2 years later at the age of 17, was buried with him. Virginia placed a
headstone for them that read in part "from the bereaved widow and mother." In 1979, Captain
Lindsey's ship, the brig Palmyra, was found under what is now the Levi Strauss Plaza in San
Francisco. Just about the time Captain Lindsey died, an adrift ship, abandoned by its crew in
their rush to the gold fields, rammed the Palmyra and put a large hole in its hull. Rather than try
to repair the brig, Virginia had the ship grounded and there it remained, covered over with
landfill, until its unearthing 125 years later. (Ref. SS.)

Other graves also include that of a Russian soldier, whose original headboard was burned,
leaving only a part of his headboard which read "Lai - loff - Sitka." An Italian noble committed
suicide by digging his own grave near the top of the island and arranging the dirt and some
boards in such a way that when he shot himself and fell into the hole, the dirt would be dropped
over him. His plan worked, but the soldiers who found the grave the next day exhumed him and
the coroner took his remains back to the mainland where he was buried in a pauper's grave. A
few days later, someone else tried to commit suicide the same way, but drank too much and
passed out before he could shoot himself. D.R. A. Dowling, one of Thomas Dowling's sons, is
buried atop the island. He happened to be playing on a stone scow when it broke loose of its
moorings and was dashed against the rocks. Sadly, the boy was swept overboard and drowned.
(Ref. E)

The older graves were marked with various markers. The markers had worn to the point of
mutilation and were eventually replaced by uniform granite markers. When the new markers
arrived, it was found that the old ones had already been removed; however, no one had recorded
their locations. The plot naming the different graves had also been misplaced. The job of
replacing the headstones was assigned to a Marines sergeant, who attempted to install them in
alphabetical order! Fortunately, the Navy files in Washington turned out to have the correct plot
identifications and the headstones were replaced properly. (Ref. E.)

The actual site location of four unmarked graves remains unknown. Of the four graves, the first
grave is that ofDowling's son who drowned. The second grave was that of the mate of the bark
Melanchton who was killed in a fall from the rigging on board the ship. The third grave is that
of a young woman who came to Y erba Buena Island with her husband, an officer in the Army
Engineer Corps. After finding out that he was cheating on her, she supposedly died of grief. Her
grave overlooked San Francisco, but it had no marker and in one of the fires that swept the island
in the late 1800's, the fence around her grave burned, leaving no indication of the actual location.
The fourth grave is that of a horse, Mathilda, who faithfully pulled the Victoria (coach) of the
Commandant from his home to Assembly in front of the Administration building every day in
the early 1900's. The horse was quite the character and after her demise she was buried with
mementos from all the men serving on the base at the time. These included a Good Conduct
Medal that the owner commented she (being Mathilda) deserved more than him. Since
Mathilda's grave was marked with a concrete slab, "undefiled by epitaph", it is no longer known
where exactly the "horse of Good Conduct" is buried. (Ref. E)

September l, 1995 Historical Study ofYerba Buena Island, 1-45
Treasure Island, and their Buildings