Ventura’s Diverse Inhabitants

Ventura’s Diverse Inhabitants. Cemetery Memorial Park. , Below are some of the many prominent individuals interred at Cemetery Memorial Park who represent Ventura's cultural diversity and earliest residents: Native Americans who, along with Spanish missionaries, built the San Buenaventura Mission; Mexican settlers; European American farmers; Italian, French and German immigrants; and Chinese railroad workers who established Ventura's Chinatown. , Henry Dubbers (1819-1890) , Henry emigrated from Germany in 1851. After living in San Francisco, Dubbers arrived in Ventura around 1865. The California Petroleum Company. hired him to ship supplies and manage well machinery for Ventura's recently discovered oil fields, enabling him to purchase 930 acres of Rancho Santa Ana to raise wheat and barley. , Jesse Allan Shaw (1827-1900) , Jesse came to Ventura from Massachusetts in 1868 to become, with son Selwyn, a prolific builder in the growing town. , Ynez Sanches (d. 1862) , Ynez was the first person to be buried here in the Catholic Cemetery on October 21, 1862, by Mission San Buenaventura priest Juan Comapla. , Yee Heung (1878-1913) , Born in Santa Barbara, Yee Heung "Minnie" was married to Soo Hoo "Charlie" Bock (1853-1907), who arrived in Ventura from China around 1877, and became a partner in the Wing Tai Yuen and Company store on Figueroa Street in Ventura's Chinatown. Yee Heung ran the family's second store when opened at Main and Ventura Avenue. Soo Hoo purchased the lot in 1906 with a partner, and Yee Heung inherited it upon her husband's death. , Augustino Fazio (d. 1911) , Augustino came here from Italy in 1879, and eventually went to work as head carpenter for the Ventura Wharf Company for 24 years. Brothers Frank, Bernardo and Caesar followed and by 1884 they had established the Fazio Brothers general merchandise store on East Main Street.