pionpark.html

The Enterprise, White Salmon, WA., March 11, 1982, page 3

Resting Tombstones
HISTORY BURIED IN PIONEER PARK CORNER
by Elaine Greear
includes photographs of the headstones

     "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."
     The above quote was taken from a tombstone of a beloved and signifies the beginning and the end of a life. It also, however, appropriately describes the beginning and the end of White Salmon's first burial ground, Pioneer Cemetery.
     Like other prospering communities in the late 1880s, White Salmon was growing by leaps and bounds. Feeling a need for some type of cemetery, A.H. and Jennie Jewett on March 23, 1897, deeded a parcel of land to the then Board of School Directors No. 19, Klickitat County, "to be used for burial purposes."
     Located behind the present Town Mart grocery store, the former Town & Country, the deeded property was designated and known as "The Pioneer Cemetery."
     Although the exact date of the first interment is not known, many prominent White Salmon homesteaders of the time or their relatives were buried in the cemetery during its existence.
     Much of the cemetery's history is foggy and been lost over the years, however, it appears the designated use of the cemetery ceased to exist with the beginning of the Goodwill Lodge No. 188 Cemetery, located on Snowden Road, in about 1908.
     Cemetery secretary Marie Splawn said no definite date for the beginning of the Goodwill Lodge Cemetery was ever recorded, but the earliest date on a tombstone of a deceased was 1908.
     The International Order of Odd Fellows remained caretakers of the cemetery until 1963, Splawn said, when the Klickitat County Cemetery District No. 1 was formed.
     As for Pioneer Cemetery, it became rundown and overgrown with grass through the years of non-use. Looking into the problem, the city council on March 5, 1955, under the Mayor pro tem W.C. Manly Sr., petitioned to remove the Jewett's dedication of the property as a cemetery.
     In the petition to Klickitat County Superior Court it was slated that the town of White Salmon agreed to convey certain portions of the property to Bethel Congregational Church; that no interments had been made in the cemetery for many years and that both the petitioner and the church had made efforts to contact the descendants of those who might have been or were interred there; those descendants, who have been contacted, consented to the disinterment of their ancestors from the property and all those interments had been removed and reinterred in the White Salmon Cemetery.
     It was also stated that the heirs of A.H. and Jennie Jewett had released the petitioner from the conditions of the original deed.
     In the late 50s or early 60s, the White Salmon Business and Professional Association approached the city council about the mis-used area again, said Dick Crothers, one of the former Town & Country owners.
     According to a letter written by White Salmon Planning Commission Chairman George P. George, considerable work had been done and repeated in the past on the cemetery project, "but snags had prevented its completion."
     In the same letter, the planning commission recommended that the town of White Salmon consider the feasibility of converting the memorial cemetery to a memorial park.
     Thus, in 1962, the area was cleaned up, tombstones were moved to the southwest corner of the property, Columbia High School Future Farmers of America rotovated the area and planted it and the property was dedicated as the "White Salmon Pioneer Park -- In memory of the early pioneers of White Salmon Valley."
     Once again, however, a snag cropped up. A one William Lauterbach brought a  lawsuit against the city on behalf of his deceased relatives who had been interred in Pioneer Cemetery.
     The ideas of a splendid park died with the suit, as did the upkeep of the now somewhat minute cemetery.
     Currently, the city takes care of the park, mowing its lawn when needed, but no longer keeps op the tombstones, which are secluded in the park's corner.
     Remaining tombstones of the deceased buried on the property indicate that the following persons, many pioneers of our budding community, were interred at Pioneer Cemetery.
     -- Monroe Allen Ziegler, infant son of Mr. and Mrs. S.C. Ziegler, died February 17, 1903, at the age of one year, seven months. Monroe's father Samuel Connor arrived in White Salmon in 1894. He was a successful sawmill owner and fruit grower. Samuel was the first to introduce commercial fertilizer in the White Salmon area.
     -- Harry, son of S.C. and A.M. Ziegler. He was born May 12, 1901, and died Sept. 7, 1901.
     -- Bethewel Hendryx, born Dec. 12, 1835, and died Feb. 25, 1908. He arrived in the White Salmon area in 1887 and homesteaded on Rattlesnake road.
     -- Reinert B. Hansen, born in Norway Nov. 4, 1849, died April 21, 1884. He came here in 1870 and homesteaded the area halfway from the Congregational Church to the then City Hall. Hansen and Jacob E. Jacobson owned most of the present townsite. His home was located at the site of the present Rainier Bank.
     -- Anne Rankin, 1874-1899. Daughter of Albert J. Thompson, she was a school teacher at Husum.
     -- Sgt. William Willets; Company D 6th Kansas Cavalry, Willets came west from Kansas in the mid 1800s. He was in partnership with James Warner until 1874 when the partnership was dissolved. Shortly after dissolving the partnership, he died on his property from a gunshot wound in the head, to this day the cause of death is unknown. Stories spread saying it  was accidental, suicide and even murder.
     At the time of his death there was no cemetery, so he was buried on the hillside near his home. On Oct. 14, 1922, the remained of Willets were removed to the little Pioneer Cemetery. After being buried for 48 years in an unforgotten grave, Mr. Willets was paid the respect due a veteran of the Civil War. He is also the last known person buried in the cemetery.
     -- Emerson P. Williams, born Oct. 28, 1894, died June 18, 1904. He became the Husum postmaster Nov. 18, 1903.
     -- Son of A.B. and Katie Groshong, died Feb. 21, 1896, aged 10 years, 11 months, 15 days. Lloyd's father was Abraham B., known as Judge Groshong. The judge was a member of the first town council and a charter member of the Missionary Baptist Church. Abe lived in White Salmon until his death in 1950.
     -- Katie M., wife of A.B. Groshong, died Feb. 21, 1896, aged 25 years, five months, 29 days.  "twas hard to give thee up but thy will O Lord be done," was inscribed on her tombstone.
     -- Ernie, son of Rudolph and W. Lauterbach, born Jan. 17, 1892, died Aug.26, 1896. "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord," was inscribed upon his tombstone.
     His father, Rudolph, moved to White Salmon in 1892. He established the second mercantile business, was postmaster from 1893, helped build dock grade, was  instrumental with Teunis Wyers in developing much of the town, helped organize the first public school, was partial owner of the city water works and the director of the Columbia State Bank.
     -- Margarette, wife of John Lauterbach, died Feb. 12, 1899, age 73 years. She was the mother of Rudolph Lauterbach.
     -- Harvey Dunn, 1888-1904. He was the father of Mary Dunn who later became Mrs. Charles Mansfield.
     -- George S. Church, 1820-1906 and Mary A. (his wife), 1816-1905. Mary was the daughter of Clinton Wolfard, who owned C.M. Wolfard and Co. Store. Clinton served on the school board and was White Salmon's first mayor. Both George and Mary were members of Bethel Congregational Church.
     -- John J., son of J.P and M. Egan, born Nov 14, 1880, died March 25, 1902. John and Maggie Egan moved here in 1880. John Sr. served as mayor of White Salmon, a Klickitat County Commissioner, a school director and the justice of the peace.
     Although others were buried within the cemetery, these names were some of the more most prominent in the historical beginnings of White Salmon.

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