This is the story of St. John's Cemetery, a small rural burial ground, approximately a mile west of town in fashionable Baywood, a residential neighborhood of San Mateo. While the cemetery dates from the 1880s, it is still active and continues to fill important needs in the community.
Although a six-acre gift to the "Catholic Church of San Mateo:” by Abby Eastman Meagher Parrott, in memory of her recently deceased husband John, one of the town's original pioneers, the lady was emphatic about her gift. Following her express wishes, St. John's was to be a non-sectarian burial ground for all the people of San Mateo.
Parts of the cemetery were thought to have been consecrated, but in any theological sense, there is no evidence they ever were. Initially, three acres north of the cemetery's main avenue, were reserved for Roman Catholic burials. Two acres south of the avenue were designated for people of all denominations. And at the northeast corner of the property, highlighted by an elegant domed mortuary chapel, one full acre was designated exclusively for John Parrott and his extended family. Indeed, since 1886 when the cemetery opened, generations of Parrotts have been buried here.
Besides pioneers John and Abby Parrott, at rest at St. John's are a number of other truly noteworthy historical personalities, many of whom are often looked upon as "great" or at least representatives of moneyed families. And these people genuinely deserve mention.
But on the other hand, names of the greatest number buried in this cemetery are to a very large degree unknown, at least unknown today. For residents of the twenty-first century, their names alone bear little meaning and, at least without some form of explanation, have no apparent significance. Nevertheless, their accomplishments do definitely have meaning.
These were individuals whose dreams, sweat and dedication built San Mateo. They were the type of unique personalities without whom no successful community could prosper. Here rest firefighters and policemen, priests and doctors, teachers and educators, entrepreneurs, garage mechanics, chicken farmers, grocery men, gardeners and a myriad of others. Unquestionably, San Mateo's pioneers are here.
From “Underground San Mateo, The Story of St. John’s Cemetery” written by Michael Svanevik & Shirley Burgett.