Throughout the cemetery, the graves of some of Salem's prominent citizens are marked with informational signs describing their lives. Here are the ones I found.
James Harvey Wilbur, D.D.
Lucretia A. Stevens
James Harvey Wilbur
James Harvey Wilbur was born on September 11, 1811 in Louville, New York. He was married to Lucretia A. Stevens, who was born on April 9, 1812 and died on September 30, 1887. Reverend Wilbur was ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church on January 4, 1842. He and Reverend William Roberts emigrated to Oregon in 1847 with their families. In the West, Wilbur helped build nine church buildings and seven parsonages, including the first churches in Salem, Portland and Oregon City, the Portland Seminary and the Umpqua Academy in Southern Oregon which he founded. He also founded the Portland Female Academy, and spent 20 years of his life as educational agent for the Columbia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Indian agent and instructor at an Indian training school at Fort Simcoe near Yakima, Washington from 1861 to 1882, when he moved to Walla Walla, Washington in 1882. He died on October 27, 1887 in Walla Walla, Washington.
Tombstone of James Harvey Wilbur and Lucretia A. Stevens
Reverend Wilbur gave half of his lot in the Lee Mission Cemetery to Reverend William Roberts, believing that as they had come to Oregon together and worked together for many years they should be buried side by side, and thus they share a large monument. Wilbur’s side of the monument bears the inscription "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace."
Tombstone of James Harvey Wilbur and Lucretia A. Stevens
Rev. William Roberts
Hannah W. Roberts
Tombstone of Reverend William Roberts and Hannah W. Roberts
William Roberts was born in Burlington, New Jersey on March 28, 1812. He was a prominent minister in Philadelphia when he met and married Pennsylvania native Hannah Webster. In 1946, Reverend Roberts was selected by the Bishops to succeed George Gary as the third Superintendent of the Oregon Mission. He and his family sailed from New York on November 27, 1846 with Reverend Wilbur and his family. They arrived in Portland on June 27, 1847. Two years later, Reverend Roberts organized the Oregon and California Mission Conference and served as Superintendent, or Presiding Elder, of the churches in Oregon. Roberts was one of the original incorporators of Willamette University. He died in Dayton, Oregon on August 22, 1888, having served in the Methodist ministry for 55 years, 41 of these years in the Pacific Northwest. He shares a large monument with Reverend James Wilbur, who gave half his lot in the cemetery to Roberts. His side of the monument bears the inscription "I have fought the good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith." Hannah Webster Roberts died on December 29, 1901.
Tombstone of Reverend William Roberts and Hannah W. Roberts
Jesse Quinn Thornton
Jesse Quinn Thornton
Jesse Quinn Thornton was born on March 24, 1810 in Point Pleasant, Virginia. He studied law at the University of Virginia and was admitted to practice before to Missouri in 1835 and settling in Palmyra in Marion County. He married Mrs. Nancy M. Logue (born in 1911) on February 8, 1838 and they moved to Quincy, Illinois. They started their journey to Oregon in the spring of 1846. Thornton held a position on the bench of Oregon's provisional government and served a term as a representative in the state legislature from 1864-1865. He lived the last 16 years of his life in Salem. He died on February 5, 1888. His wife Nancy died the following year.
Tombstone of Jesse Quinn Thornton and Nancy M. Thornton
Historical Photos:
Portrait of J. Quinn Thornton, 1848 (Salem Public Library)
Dr. Eugene R. Fiske
Charlotte S. Fiske
Tombstone of Dr. Eugene Fiske, Charlotte Fiske & Ernest Fiske
Dr. Eugene R. Fiske was born on June 4, 1817 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was a graduate of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and of the Harvard University Medical College. He came to Oregon in 1849. He met and married Charlotte S. Grubbe of Roseburg (born 1840) in 1861. They moved to Salem in 1864. Dr. Fiske was a founder of Willamette University's Medical Department and held the chair of Theory & Practice for eight years. He was also principal editor of the Oregon Medical & Surgical Reporter, a founder and president of both the Salem Academy of Medicine and the Marion County Medical Society (which was merged into the Third Judicial District Medical Society, in which he also served as president) and was a founder of the State Medical Society of Oregon. Dr. Fiske died on August 27, 1877. His wife Charlotte lived until 1929. Also buried here is a baby named Ernest W., who was born in 1863 and died July 9, 1864. A small piece of Ernest's original headstone remains here, with the inscription "And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in their midst."
Part of Original Tombstone of Ernest W. Fiske
Rev. Isaac D. Driver
Reverend Isaac D. Driver
Isaac D. Driver was born on August 27, 1824 in Fort Defiance, Ohio to Thomas and Thankful Travis Driver as the seventh of their twelve children. Isaac first married Rebecca Crumley in 1848, but she passed away the following year. He married Mary Hardenbrook in 1852. That same year, they began a journey to Oregon, spending the winter in Iowa and arriving in Oregon in the spring of 1853. They settled in Douglas County, where Isaac raised livestock for four years before deciding to join the ministry. He joined the Oregon Conference in 1858 and first served as pastor in Jacksonville, later serving in Eugene, Corvallis, The Dalles and Oregon City. He was appointed as agent of the American Bible Society for Oregon, Washington, Montana & Idaho. His wife Mary died in 1868. In 1871 he married Leanna Iles, but she died shortly after their marriage, and Isaac married Anna Northrup that same year. Anna died in 1875. Reverend Driver served a Presiding Elder of the Salem District. He was assigned to Monroe, Oregon in 1876. In 1877, Isaac married his final wife, Mary E. Williams. From 1882, Reverend Driver served as Presiding Elder of the Eugene District, and then of the Portland District. While serving in Portland he was appointed as general agent to build the Portland Hospital. In 1906, he purchased a farm in Tangent, where he lived until his death on October 30, 1907.
Driver family plot at the Lee Mission Cemetery. The marker shaped like an open Bible is that of Reverend Isaac D. Driver.
Benjamin Franklin Bonham
Benjamin Franklin Bonham
Benjamin Franklin Bonham was born in October 8, 1828 in Nashville, Tennessee. He attended the Delaware County Seminary in Muncie, Indiana before emigrating to Oregon in 1853. He taught school in French Prairie and Salem while studying law, and held offices of auditor, librarian and superintendent of schools in the territorial government. After being admitted to the bar in 1856, he served on the last territorial and first state legislature. He married Mildred A. Baker in Salem in 1858. After returning to the private practice of law, he was appointed to the Oregon Supreme Court in 1870, and served as Chief Justice from 1874 to 1876. He left the court and returned to private practice in partnership with Judge W. M. Ramsey until 1885, when he was appointed to the consul generalship of British India and represented the United States in Calcutta. He returned to Oregon in August, 1890 and returned to practicing law in partnership with W. H. Holmes. He served as Salem postmaster from 1894 to 1898, then returned to the practice of law in 1899 in partnership with Carey F. Martin. He also served as president of the Marion County Bar Association for eight years. Bonham died on June 2, 1906.
Tombstone of Benjamin Franklin Bonham
William Holman Odell
Carrie Bright Taylor Odell
Elisabeth McClench Thurston
Tombstones of William Holman Odell, Carrie Bright Taylor Odell, and Elisabeth McClench Thurston
William Holman Odell was born on December 25, 1830 in Carrol County, Indiana to John and Sarah Holman Odell, one of their eleven children. The family moved to Oregon in 1851 and settled near Dayton. Odell married Elisabeth McClench Thurston (born December 23, 1816), widow of Samuel Thurston, Oregon's first delegate to Congress. Odell studied civil engineering at the Oregon Institute. He was deputy United States surveyor in Eugene from 1863 to 1871, when he was appointed surveyor-general of Oregon, a position he held until 1877, when he purchased the Statesman newspaper. Odell was proprietor and editor of the paper, as well as state printer, until he sold the paper in 1884. He was appointed Salem postmaster until 1889. In 1891, he started working for the Indian department, surveying and allotting lands to Indians on the Siletz Reservation. He retired in 1899. His wife Elisabeth died on March 31, 1890. Her marker carries the inscriptions "He giveth his beloved sleep " and "Memoria in aeterna."
Tombstone of Elisabeth McClench Thurston
In 1894, Odell married Mrs. Carrie Bright Taylor, widow of Dr. Gynem Taylor. She died on July 4, 1919. Her marker bears the inscription "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord." Odell served on the Willamette University Board of Trustees for over 40 years, and had been president of the board for many years. He was a member emeritus of the board when he died. Before his death, he furnished two rooms in Willamette University's new Lausanne Hall, as memorials for each of his wives. He died on April 26, 1922. His marker carries the inscription "He grew for service strong."
Tombstones of William Holman Odell & Carrie Bright Taylor Odell
Rev. Isaac Dillon D.D.
Tombstone of Reverend Isaac Dillon
Isaac Dillon was born on October 28, 1823 in Zanesville, Ohio to John and Edith Hussy Dillon. After moving to Oregon, he met Quebec native Marie Clarrisse Plamondon (born April 18, 1823) and they married in May, 1853. Dillon served as a Methodist minister for 58 years, and was a member of the Oregon Conference from 1852 to 1884. He was elected to serve as editor of the Portland-published Pacific Christian Advocate in 1868 and 1871. His wife died in Seattle on April 7, 1883. While serving as Presiding Elder in Washington, on June 6, 1902 he was lost and presumed drowned while traveling to Newhall on Orcas Island. They share a large monument in the cemetery. His side bears the inscription "He adored the gospel of the grace of God by a holy and upright life."
Tombstone of Reverend Isaac Dillon
Her side of the monument bears the inscription "All for Jesus, none for self."
Tombstone of Marie Clarrisse Dillon
John H. Roork
Tombstone of John H. Roork
John H. Roork was born on January 20, 1826 in Tennessee. He married Latitia Witten in 1847, but she died in 1849, and Roork moved to California. There he met and married Eveline Herrick, and they moved to Salem in the fall of 1861. Reverend Roork was the principal fund-raiser for the 1870 construction of the South Salem Methodist Episcopal Church, and he served a term as agent at the Klamath Indian Reservation. Eveline Roork died in April 1884. John Roork married Mrs. Betsy Levar of Coos County on August 3, 1890. In 1893 and 1894, Roork served as financial agent for Willamette University, and was responsible for the construction of the university's gymnasium. He was an early member of Salem Lodge #4 of the Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, and he presided as chaplain for the order at the 1895 funeral of former Governor Stephen Fowler Chadwick. Roork died on February 18, 1895. His marker carries the inscription "He hath entered into rest."
Rev. George Minor Booth
Tombstone of Reverend George Minor Booth
George Minor Booth was born on January 2, 1852 in Iowa to Reverend Robert and Mary Minor Booth. Later that year, the family emigrated to Oregon, where Reverend Robert Booth served as a pioneer minister and circuit rider and was a member of the Oregon Conference from 1855 to 1917 (the Circuit Rider statue on the grounds of the Oregon State Capitol was placed in his memory by another son). George followed in his fathers footsteps, becoming a Methodist minister himself. He married Clara Ellen Staats in 1878 in Monmouth in Polk County, Oregon. At the time of his death on July 14, 1905, he had been serving as Presiding Elder of The Dalles District of the Methodist Episcopal Church for three years. His marker carries the inscription "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. They rest from their labors, and their works do follow them."
Samuel Arnold Randle
Ellen T. Randle
Tombstone of Samuel Arnold Randle and Ellen T. Randle
Samuel Arnold Randle was born on November 29, 1839 in Alton, Illinois and grew up on a farm near Shipman, Illinois. He taught rural school and was studying for the ministry when the Civil War started. He enlisted in the 122nd Illinois infantry in 1862. After the war, he taught school and attended Asbury University (now DePauw University) in Greencastle, Indiana. On August 26, 1874, Samuel married Ellen Taggart of Shipman, Illinois (born in 1857) and that fall they moved to Salem. Samuel continued teaching and attended Willamette University, graduating in 1881 and later receiving an A.M. degree. He was principal of La Creole Academy in Dallas from 1880 to 1885, Salem first city school superintendent from 1885 to 1889 and was principal of Santiam Academy in Lebanon from 1892 to 1902 after Ellen's death in 1891. Samuel spent time in eastern Washington before moving to Portland in 1917 for the rest of his life. He died on December 28, 1933.
Aldine M. Clough
Adelia Clough
Tombstone of Aldine M. Clough and Adelia Clough
Aldine M. Clough was born on September 4, 1850 in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, the son of Gardner and Laura Joslyn Clough. He married Illinois native Adelia Ryder (born 1856) on May 25, 1873. They came to Salem in May 1876, and Aldine Clough entered the cabinet-making business in partnership with F. J. Babcock, where he remained for 12 years. After Babcock's death, he was elected coroner. He became the senior mortician in the state, and served as Marion County Coroner for 26 and a half years. He was a member of the Odd Fellows lodge and the Woodmen of the World. He died on April 27, 1932. His wife Adelia died in 1934.
Professor Edwin Sherwood
Elizabeth Ellen Sherwood
Tombstone of Professor Edwin Sherwood
Edwin Sherwood was born on November 8, 1867. He entered Ohio Wesleyan University at the age of 16, receiving his A.B. degree in 1890 and his master's degree a year later. He then attended the Drew Theological Seminary in Madison, New Jersey, receiving a degree in 1894. During that time he received a foreign fellowship and studied in Leipsic, Germany for a year. He made his way to Oregon and became a pastor. In 1907 he was offered the chair of Ancient Languages at Willamette University, which he held for two years before taking the chair of Biblical Interpretation at the Kimball School of Theology, where he also served as secretary and treasurer. He received his D.D. from Ohio Wesleyan in 1913. Dr. Sherwood died on February 13, 1921. His marker indicates that he was a Methodist minister for thirty years.
Tombstone of Elizabeth Ellen Sherwood
Dr. Sherwood's wife, Elizabeth Ellen Sherwood, was born in 1867 and died in 1943. Her marker carries the inscription "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills."
Continue to 5 (continued): Large Monuments…
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