Oak Knoll Cemetery - Part 6 - Mendenhall Headstone Back in Livermore!

I contacted the President of the Livermore Heritage Guild, Jeff Kaskey, earlier this week. People are curious, myself included, if William Mendenhalls headstone made it back to Livermore after being found down south. (William Mendenhall was the father of the founder of Livermore and he was originally buried in Oak Knoll Cemetery)

I thought I would have seen or heard something regarding this in the newspaper and was surprised when I didn't. I figured if anyone would know anything Mr. Kaskey was the one to ask, he could always direct me elsewhere if need be. Lo and behold, I contacted THE right person!

Mr. Kaskey responded promptly to my email, even though he was out of town on personal business. He informed me that he personally went down to El Monte, which is in Los Angeles County, to pick up the headstone. It has been about two weeks since the headstone has been returned to Livermore. When it came to town it was placed in the Historical Society's History Center for a few days. Oh, how I wish I had been aware of this!

Even though I wasn't aware of the news, the local newspaper was! Mr. Kaskey informed me that the town newspaper, "The Independent," posted an article and a picture on the front page of their newspaper. I hunted down the article online, which was in the Independent's August 6, 2009 Weekly Edition. I received permission from the Independent Newspaper to reprint the picture here. A newspaper photographer took this picture of the stone when it was at the Heritage Guild's History Center in the Carnegie building located in downtown Livermore.



The Heritage Guild has made contact with distant family members of William Mendenhall who will ultimately decide what will be done with this headstone.