“Outside the Fence” Cemetery

ROSE MAY- buried “OUTSIDE THE FENCE” of the “Proper Bodie Cemetery.

“Outside the fence” were buried the illegitimate, indigent and the “Questionable Women.” Prostitutes were the “Questionable Women” buried in unmarked graves“outside the fence” of the  Bodie Cemetery.

The “Proper  Bodie Cemetery,” is where the “Respectable Women” were buried.  “Inside the fenced” boundary of the 10 acre Bodie Cemetery consists of three discrete burial sections-the Wards Cemetery, the Masonic Cemetery and the Miners Union Cemetery.

WARDS CEMETERY

A native of England, Henry Ward came to Bodie in Spring 1878 and opened up the Pioneer Furniture Store. Mr. Ward also, began construction on a two story building on Main Street for his business, H. WARD and COMPANY. 

Mr. Ward’s new Bodie  business, included a furniture store and an “undertaking establishment.” It was common for “Cabinet makers” to also make caskets. Carpenters had the tools and the skill, and  although, if it was not their chosen profession, “the coffin business” did get them established  as an “important” businessmen in their community.

The ground floor of the WARD BUILDING was for his furniture business and “undertaking services.” The second floor was rented to the Odd Fellows Lodge No. 279.

MASONIC CEMETERY

Bodie Masonic Lodge No. 252 was  chartered October 16, 1879.  The Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, a worldwide fraternal order, originated in the Middle Ages when stone mason and cathedral builders formed “brotherhoods.” Bodie Masonic Lodge No. 252 built a meeting hall and  acquired land for burials- the Bodie Masonic Cemetery. 

MINERS’ UNION CEMETERY

BODIE MINERS’ UNION

DEATH BENEFIT ALLOTMENT

By June 30, 1878, the 190 member Bodie Miners’ Union had constructed a “Union Meeting Hall” on Main street, Bodie.

The miners’ Union Dues helped pay for the care of a sick, or injured miner, or if death occurred- paid “his cost of burial.” 

The Death Benefit Allotment  was $75 for funeral expenses, (which could cost from $80 to $100), depending on the level of “undertaking services.” 

The Bodie Fraternal Burial Association was organized June 13, 1898, and chose pioneer resident M. J. Cody, as its first president. The B.F.B.A. provided burial services for the the “three fraternal organizations” and handled indigent burials or burials “outside the fence.”