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This project is for those who are buried in Smith Mountain Cemetery, Dinuba, Tulare County, California.
Smith Mountain Cemetery was started by the Odd Fellows Lodge in 1910. The original Board of Directors; A.G. McCracken, W.G. Osterhout, W.L. Muncy, A.L. Dickey and E.C. Dickey, were all lodge members. The cemetery is named for the hill located just north of the cemetery, Smith Mountain.
In 1910 a group of local men took their buggy up to Haden Heights, a point overlooking the local area, looking for a site to start a cemetery. It was too rocky in that particular area but, while looking down, they saw a dry spot where apparently no grain or other crop would grow. Shortly after that, a deal was made, and 40 acres of land was purchased. Never expecting to fill the cemetery, a portion of the original acreage was sold.
The first burial in the cemetery was a little girl, Irma Dean, who was killed by a runaway team of horses on September 22, 1911. It was three months before the next burial.