The Kishi Cemetery
Located in Old Terry Community. (from I-10 turn on FM-1135 South, go approx. 2 mile to Southern Pacific tracks. Go additional 0.5 mile, turn right, go approx.1/4 mile to rice canal. Crawl through fence on left side of road and walk down rice canal right bank to cemetery. There is a way to drive in from FM-1135 if the gate is not locked. This should only be used in dry conditions.
There are at least 20 graves in the Kishi Colony cemetery, begun primarily for the Japanese colony, although there are at least two non-Japanese buried there. Inscriptions on several of the gravestones are etched in Japanese characters and include the name of the emperor and the year of his reign. Kichimatsu Kishi and Tokuzo Hirasaki inscribed the Japanese lettering on the stones. Hirasaki and his wife Toki assisted Frances Reid, Orange County Historical Commission chairman and Stan Garrison in listing and interpreting the inscriptions on the stones.
Several of the graves in the cemetery are for infants or very young children. The first to be buried in the cemetery was T. Toba, a young colonist who was killed May 1, 1910 when he fell off a mule-drawn disk-harrow. Taro Kishi recalled that on a trip back to Japan after the accident, his father visited the parents of the young man.
“I heard my father, K. Kishi, tell of his visit to Mr. Toba’s parents in Japan after the accident,” recalled Taro Kishi, “He was told by the mother that before the cable message of her son’s death arrived, she felt there was a message from the victim. She said that she saw him vividly in a dream wherein he appeared and kept repeating he was so sorry. Perhaps he knew he would not be able to fulfill his dream of being of help to his old folks, and hence, projected himself to his mother’s consciousness.”
Kishi Cemetery Headstones
Rev. F.A. BURTON
May 19, 1847
Mar. 25, 1919
ALODIE WINFREE
Sept. 6, 1879
Nov. 4, 1902
DONNIE WINFREE
Sept. 13, 1875
Dec. 15, 1902
Infant son of
D.& A. WINFREE
1901-1901
SATARO KONDO
July 15, 1874
Aug. 16, 1966
FUMI KONDO
Dec. 17, 1881
July 18, 1944
KIYO KONDO
No. 11, 1923
No. 4, 1934
RISABURO OGAWARA
(Husband of TSURU OGAWARA)
D. May 29, 1914, age 32
(Drowned in creek, 1914 flood)
TSURU OGAWARA
(wife of RISABURO OGAWARA)
1912 A.D.
J. TURNER
(child of Joe Turner, Negro employee on farm)
(unable to read headstone)
T. TOBA
D. May 10, 1910 A.D age 24
(Farm Accident)
EMPEROR MEIJI 43-1910
Japanese characters on headstone
K. KAMADA
Age 30 Jan.23, 1913
EMPEROR TAISHO 3
Japanese characters on headstone
KAZUKO OKUMA
March 26, 1922
Jan. 4, 1927
Japanese characters on headstone
ETSUKO KISHI
(Baby girl of Tora Kishi, nephew of K. Kishi)
Japanese characters on headstone
ICHIRO KISHI
(Baby boy of Tora Kishi, nephew of K. Kishi)
Japanese characters on headstone
OTSUKI, HARUMI
No. 2, 1921 EMPEROR TAISHO 11
FUJI KISHI
Oct. 6, 1877
Mar. 2, 1951
KICHIMATSU KISHI
(Father of Mrs. Toki Hirasaki)
Jan.7, 1872
July 15, 1956
Japanese characters on headstone
DR. HACHITARO KISHI
(Killed in auto accident)
1936
MOTO SAKAI KISHI
(Wife of Hachitaro Kishi)
Japanese characters on headstone
SAMUEL KISHI
(Son of Dr. Kishi)
Age 3 years, Feb. 14
Japanese characters on headstone
ASAKO KISHI
(Newborn daughter of Dr. Kishi)
Died after 1923
Unable to read headstone
ROBERT CHRISTIAN TANAMACHI
(New born, died ca. 1928)
Unmarked grave by persimmon tree
(Mexican employee on farm, died about 1916)
TOKUZO HIRASAKI
July 4, 1895
June 7, 1980
TOKI KISHI HIRASAKI
Dec. 15, 1906
Dec. 2, 1981
TARO KISHI
Jan. 4, 1903
July 24, 1993
ELIZABETH C. KISHI
Jan. 5, 1913
Jan. 4, 1984
Japanese characters on headstone
MASAKICHI ABE
(Was a carpenter)
D. Feb.4, 1916
References
Frances Reid, “Kishi Japanese Cemetery,” Las Sabinas, The Official Quarterly Publication of the Orange County Historical Society, Vol. V, Fall 1979, Book 3.
Frances Reid, “The Kishi Colony,” Las Sabinas, The Official Quarterly Publication of the Orange County Historical Society, Vol. VIX, 1983, Book 1.