LEBANON EXPRESS, Friday, May 27, 1949

Linn’s Historic Pioneer Cemeteries Await Annual Memorial Day Rites

Families Will Honor Wagon Train Forebears; Century of History Written in Remote Burial Places

By Katherine Harris

            On Memorial Day a traditional ceremony will be re-enacted at the pioneer Sand Ridge cemetery a few miles southwest of Lebanon.  Accented by a sprinkling of majestic fir trees, it lies at the base of Peterson Butte in a fold of lower foothills, viewing the Willamette valley and the misty coast range.

            Here on May, 30, George W. Simons, a native son of Linn County,--tall, white-haired, scholarly,--bearing his 80 years with erect dignity, will raise one of Oregon’s historic flags on a pole erected there by him years ago.  Beside it is a bronze plaque placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution to honor the final resting place of Linn’s wagon-train pioneers.  Here lie the parents of George Simons and the patriarchal heads of the McKnights, the Shedds, Coyles, Kirkendahls, Wheelers, Hustons, Morgans, Frums and Hazens.

            The flag which George Simons raises each year was made by his mother during the winter of 1862 eight years after their covered wagon came to rest in the valley of the South Santiam.  Fashioned of fine cotton, it has retained to a remarkable degree its original colors.  It is a large flag with 36 stars in its field and every tiny stitch is hand sewn.

            It was first publicly displayed at a Fourth of July celebration in Brownsville in 1863, on a day epochal in American history, but the outpost of Brownsville was not to know for many weeks of the Gettysburg drama being played to its end on a far battle front.

            The raising of this treasured flag each Memorial Day is symbolic of other rites in more than a score of pioneer cemeteries throughout Linn county’s Cascade lowlands, where other commemorative services will be held by the clans whose forebears blazed the foothill trails.  From far and near they come, the older members to recall bygone days, as they clean and tidy these grounds, endeared to them through records written in worn family Bibles.  The younger ones will listen to the oft repeated tales of these past times, or they will gather wild flowers and read the faint, inscriptions on time darkened headstones.

            By accepted custom this is Linn’s annual homecoming for her native sons and daughters.

Reads Many Services

            It is doubtful if any man now living knows so well the location of these pioneer cemeteries as does George Simons.  Certain it is that no one has been called on more to pay the last tribute to passing members of the old families.  During the past 50 years he has conducted so many services in these remote spots that he himself is unable to calculate their number.

            Tranquility marks these hallowed grounds of Linn’s first families.  Pockets of peace in a rapidly growing tapestry of industry.  Without exception they are sentinelled by great trees, beloved by the founding fathers after cruel months of struggle through flat horizoned plains; the sagebrush wastes; the passive rocks of the Snake and Columbia gorges.

            For the final resting place of their people, high knolls were sought, marked with stands of fir, oak and cedar; their roots strong in the soil, matching the pioneer’s determination to sink deep his life line in the lands of the South Santiam.  To these people the tree was a mellow thing, balanced between sun and earth, chording them both together; their presence in these early family plots became a symbol of man’s struggle toward the eternal.  Hence though many of these spots have been little used for many years, the great trees remain intact.

Historic Providence

            The Providence church with its adjoining burial spot is as quaint a scene as any of old England.  Situated near Scio, it occupies a rolling knoll with a view of the lush valley farms and the mighty Cascades as a backdrop.  Stately firs guard these grounds and line the winding roadway to the hillcrest.

            Here lies Joab Powell, famed circuit rider of the 50’s, for Providence was his church and formed the nucleus of his wide ranging gospel missions throughout the foothill settlements.

            Joab Powell first came to Oregon in 1845, according to the records of his great, grand nephew, Cortis Stringer.  Acquainting himself with the westward trail, he then returned to Missouri to bring back his family and other relatives, including his sister and brother-in-law, Jane Powell Beeler and John Beeler.  All settled in the Providence vicinity, John and Jane acquiring the donation land claim from which they set aside the knoll on which the church was built.  From the time of the arrival of the Powell train in 1852, this knoll was used as a general meeting place for religious and civic conclaves, and in 1854 the church was built so that winter gospel meetings could be held there.  This spot was used by all the settlers in the section from 1854 until 1865, when ended the first phase of pioneer development.

Church Remodeled

            Beside the Powell and Beeler families, other clans of this early decade who used the church and its cemetery were the Gaines, Pomeroys, Smalls, Bilyeus, Thomases, Daveneys, Leevers, Stringers, Arnolds, Sheltons and Rodgers.

            After the church had served the community for over 50 years and had become in need of major repair, a new church was built, an exact duplicate of the original one.  It stands today serving the community as in days of a century ago.  Its cemetery continues to be a favored resting place for descendants of many of the old families.  It is used annually for Easter sunrise services, and every summer the Powell family picnic and runion is held there, bringing together members of the clan from widespread points of the West.

Bear Family Names

            Most of Linn’s early cemeteries bear the names of the families on whose donation land claims the ground was located.  Neighbors on adjoining claims likewise brought their dead here, and as the claims were broken up into smaller holdings, the cemeteries continued to be used by the entire community until the early 1900’s when interment began to follow a formal and established line.

            With one notable exception, however, not one of these historic spots can be said to be entirely abandoned.  Impelled by associations of the past, the clans still bring their loved ones back for the last, sorrowful homecoming.

Child Mortality High

            In wandering through these remote grounds, one is impressed with the great number of early markers inscribed with the names of infants and young children, for mortality was extremely high amongst the little ones of these early days.  Far from any medical aid and without facilities for proper feeding and sanitation, only the more rugged of these children survived.  In a number of cemeteries the marker carrying the oldest date is found to be that of a child.

            In a number of these cemeteries, markers are indicated for Civil war veterans who migrated to the region at the close of the war, their greatest numbers being found in the grounds of the Sweet Home area.

Oaks Stand Guard

            Magnificent oaks identify the old Dodge cemetery near Rock Hill.  Established in the early days for the Dodge family, members of the Wilson, Blackburn, Nichols, Jackson and Steen families also lie there.  Their descendants are well known Lebanon citizens.

            The Klum cemetery near Waterloo is reached by means of a pasture trail, hence up a steep incline to a hill top.  As is the case with many of these spots, its roadway is almost impassable in rainy weather.  During the past winter a service was held there, and all vehicles had to be pulled by tractor to the hill top.

Franklin Butte

            The Franklin Butte grounds near Scio commands a panoramic view of mountains and valley, through it is the most barren of these historic spots.  Few trees are to be found here but native and planted shrubs somewhat modify its severity.  George Sutherlin, born in Sutherlin, Oregon, March 13, 1858, has lived near its site for 91 years and remembers many members of the first families who rest here.  Among the Crabtree family’s numerous headstones are those of Joe Crabtree, born in 1806, and Ike and Newton Crabtree, twin boys born on a log raft which ferried their parent’s wagon train across the Columbia river.

            The Shelburn cemetery southwest of Scio is marked by widespread oaks.  Both Franklin Butte and Shelburn grounds are in current use.

Grounds Still Cared For

            The Claypool and Richardson cemeteries are being rapidly reclaimed by nature but the families still tend them each Memorial Day.  Such is also true of the Bellinger-Powell grounds near Berlin, the old Baptist cemetery at Brownsville and the Keeney and Union cemeteries near Crawfordsville.

            On a secluded hill off the road from Foster to Quartzville, is the Lewis burial ground.  So steep and rockribbed is the trail leading to it that it is the current practice for a farmer living nearby to furnish a team and buckboard to transport the casket up the hill.  The mourners follow on foot.  Interments there are infrequent but they still follow the pioneer pattern.

The Sweet Home Group

            In the Sweet Home vicinity are the Nye, Gilliland and Ames cemeteries.  According to John Russell who is well acquainted with the pioneer lore of that section, Ames was named for the first family to settle there.  In the Gilliland ground lies John F. Settle who with Andrew Wiley and other pioneers blazed a trail through the Santiam Pass for later arriving wagon trains.  Settle lake was named for him, John Russell says, but due to some error in spelling on the first maps, it has acquired the name of Suttle lake.

            Sam Kimball, son of a pioneer family of Sweet Home, often known as Elder Sam Kimball, is frequently called upon to read the services for members of the first families of the Sweet Home area.

Completely Abandoned

            There is one pioneer cemetery which will receive no commemorative attention on this Memorial Day, nor has it for many years past.  It is unlikely that any public or private sign will so much as acknowledge its existence, for it is a scar that covers an old wound, and it lies in the vital heart of Lebanon.

            Sightseeing visitors are routed away from it.  Curious new residents ask questions and are given evasive answers,--for there is no answer.  Its area grows more valuable by the year.  A closely knit residential district nudges it.  Even industry eyes it speculatively.  But all schemes of encroachment stop dead at its boundaries. 

            Through the years civic groups have planned to clear and improve this tract, restoring its original quaint charm and utilizing a part of it for a memorial building and park.  Complete frustration has met every attempt.  Progressive Lebanon seems seized with a strange lethargy when it comes to doing anything about the old cemetery.

Records Scattered

            Here lies Lebanon’s founder, Jeremiah Ralston and his wife, Jemima, they, whose wagon train made its final stop so near the spot, 102 years ago.  Many of the city’s proudest names are carved on its headstones.  Here also rests Morgan Kees, owner of vast lands in pioneer days.  It was he who set aside a sizeable sum whose income was to provide a perpetual fund for the ground’s grooming.  In the course of years the entire fund disappeared and with it, records vanished.  Investigations came to naught.  Bitterness arose, and soon after the old cemetery was suddenly abandoned.

Neglect Is Total

            Nature took over.  Tenacious vines climb the headstones, many of which are reduced to rubble.  Brambles run riot and the exact locations of many graves is now impossible to identify, for marauding youths have moved the markers and broken what they could.  Now, however, such a density of undergrowth clothes the entire area that even the most aggressive vandals are thwarted.

            A strange and forbidding aura hangs over the deep shaded expanse, and it seems protected against the inroads of change by some explicable fate.  Lost records involving legal complications, or sentiments of descendants of the pioneer clans foil every effort to modernize the area.  Even the state highway department seeking to carve through a corner for one of its two through streets, was discouraged by the prospect.  Many believe that it will require a much higher jurisdiction than that of the City of Lebanon to effect any change, and that nothing short of action by the state legislature will end this peculiar stalemate.

Trees Stand Guard

            In the meantime it lies, defiant in its desolation.  Above its chaos rise its great trees, aloof and imperturbable.  They guard the strange secret of its obscure history, even as they watch over the last resting place of the founding fathers.  Serenely they stand in the clutter of transitory life at their feet.  Among their group, the mightier cedars saw the dying fires of the vanishing Calapooya tribes, as they faded into the mists of racial oblivion.  They looked down on the vanguards of Western civilization as their wagon trains wound through the tall grasses of the valley to establish a toe-hold west of the Cascades.  They saw the retreat of the pioneer as the era of expansion drew swiftly to its close and a new mechanical way of life moved into place.

            Still in the hearts of men and women there are deep spiritual links with the past generations, forging an indestructible chain of history.

Captions for a number of related photographs.

Holds Family Traditions Dear

Kindly Benevolence . . . marks the features of George W. Simons, son of wagon train pioneers who, during the past 50 years, has read countless rites for departed members of Linn’s first families in their remote cemeteries.  Born near Berlin, March 10, 1869, he attended the old Santiam Academy and was educated for the ministry.  For a number of years he has conducted an insurance business in Lebanon.  (Miner Studio)

Hand Carved Yew Marks Englishwoman’s Grave

British Born Anne Loat . . . withstood the rigors of months of wagon train travel, but died in 1868 after she and her husband, Edward, settled in the Providence community.  For Anne, her husband carved a marker of yew wood, commemorative of their native England.  It has withstood the weather of more than 90 years and still stands in Providence cemetery in a good state of preservation.  (Lebanon Express photo)

Rider at Rest

The Paths Of Glory . . . for Joab Powell were the foothill trails of the lower Cascades, where he ranged widely bringing the gospel to pioneer settlements.  He was a short but powerful man, noted for his robust humor and brimstone interpretation of the scripture.  Above, his headstone in the Providence cemetery.  (Lebanon Express photo)

Records Century of Memories

Quaint Charm . . . of a century ago accents the Providence church, many of whose timbers were raised in 1854 by the powerful hands of Joab Powell.  In such a peaceful setting might Gray have composed his Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.  (Lebanon Express photo)

Circuit Rider Memorialized

Massive Powell Memorial . . . fronts the highway marking the site of Linn’s earliest pioneer conclaves.  Near it a winding road bordered with firs, leads to the crest of a hill occupied by the Providence church and its cemetery.  The roughly hewn granite of the memorial typifies the rugged characteristics of the pioneer circuit rider.  (Lebanon Express photo)

Historic Sand Ridge

Peterson Butte . . . landmark of the eastern Willamette valley, was named for Asa Peterson, one of the first settlers.  It guards one of the county’s old burial grounds, the Sand Ridge cemetery.  For a brief time in territorial days the county seat was located near this spot.  (Lebanon Express photo)

Donated by Patricia Dunn March 2003