Richard V Beymer

Richard Vani Beymer, according to his WWI Draft Registration, was born July 10, 1873 while his Death Certificate indicates he was born in 1872. Regardless, we do know that Richard worked at a mine in Ely, Nevada in 1918 while in 1920 he was living with his parents and working as a laborer in a sawmill in Falls City, Oregon. Richard never married. Richard died at home at 9704 SE 59th on July 1, 1926. Friends were invited to attend his funeral on July 3rd. He lies in Section A in the Park.

The Morning Oregonian, July 3, 1926, pg 16.

Godfred Erickson

Godfred, like so many Swedes seeking a btter life in America, immigrated to the U.S. in 1905. We don't yet know what part of Sweden he came from, but we do know that in 1910 he is living in Nehalem, Tillamook County, and working on the railroad. After working for a time in Tillamook he moved south to Coos County to again, work on the railroad. We know that from his death certificate.
Whatever Godfred's dreams were they were cut short by the Influenza pandemic of 1918. Godfred has the unfortunate disctinction of being one of the first people to die in Multnomah County from Influenza in the late fall of 1918. He wasn't the first to die, but he is the first to die of those unfortunates who died of Influenza in that terrible winter and who are buried at the Park. He became sick on October 10th, had pneumonia by the 13th and was gone just after midnight on the early morning of the 17th.

UNDERTAKER: Final Journey Begins Here

Back in the good old days Funeral Homes did not exist. Rather, the people who would frequently undertake the final preparations of a person's final trip would be a furniture store. One of those furniture stores in Portland was the A D Kenworthy furniture store in Lents. They were located on the ground floor of the IOOF Halls on "Main" Street, Lents at what is now the corner of S.E. 92nd Avenue and Ramona Street.

The building still remains, but the furniture store "undertaker", like many of it's customers is now long gone.

Spruce Squadrons - WWI

While wandering the cemetery looking for graves of veterans that will be marked for Memorial Day Weekend I found several gravestones indicating that the deceased was a member of the Spruce Squadron. Having not heard of them - I confess I've not really been all that interested in things military - I decided to learn more about what they were about and was not too surprised that there isn't that much information about them. What I did find out is that during World War I we needed old growth spruce wood to make airplane wings and the Pacific Northwest (Oregon & Washington) supplied the spruce wood to the allies. Robert Swanson (2008) reported that 50,000 soldiers supervised 100,000 lumber workers in Oregon and Washington, while 10,000 worked at building railroads and roads in to the forests.

Carl J Tittle was one of those men who were a part of the Spruce Squadron. He was from Ohio, but served in Company 23 of the Spruce Squadron. Carl is part of the Garden of Untimely demise since he died too soon in a house fire on his farm near Damascus. He left a wife, Mary Esther (Bowder). He is also listed in our WWI garden since he served during the Great War in an important support role. He is buried in Section F, near Arthur Watson who served in Company 64 of the Spruce Squadron.

Jay Dee Boyer

Located in what was the wilds of western Washington County, Oregon is the now former town of West Timber, where a Post Office and railroad station were located west of the town of Timber. This is where J D Boyer found employment after moving from Pennsylvania to Oregon in the early twentieth century. The trees would have been big at that time since that was before all the big ones were laboriously cut down, and before the Tillamook burn fires occurred later on a few miles west. What prompted Jay Dee to move from home in Pennsylvania where he was born in 1895 to parents who moved from Germany we will most likely never know. But move to Oregon he did, and found a job working for the Eagle Timber Co., in West Timber.

We know little of Jay Dee's life, other than his parent's names were Chas., and Veronica and they were both born in Germany. We know that Jay Dee was single at the time of his death from heart issues and pneumonia. Jay Dee died at St Vincent's Hospital on 9 October 1927. According to his Certificate of Death he was buried two days after his death on 11 October 1927. A funeral service to which friends were invited was held at St Stevens church at E. 42nd and Taylor on Wednesday, October 12, 1927. Jay D Boyer is buried in the back of the cemetery in Section G.

J D Boyer, 1895-1927

Hamilton Sandridge

Several times Eric and I have talked about episodes that we refer to as 'serendipity'. Eric isn't quite used to it yet - it freaks him out a bit. I take the events of 'serendipity' for granted. These events happen to everyone who researches their family history. It happens to us at the Park. It is very much like the people at the Park are asking us to tell their stories. To oblige we use information that is easily found online in the Oregonian files, courtesy of the Multnomah County Library, and at ancestry.com.

Today, as an example of some of the serendipity events we experience, Eric was looking for a specific grave and was wandering around looking for it, but couldn't see it. He stopped, put his probe in the ground and it hit a buried temporary marker. Many of the temporary markers, which are pretty plain cement markers, are buried under up to several inches of sod and are not visible. After uncovering the temporary marker that his probe hit he realized that he had just found the marker he had been searching for.

This week someone sent me a link to a story on CNN about 'invisible graves' in Northwest Georgia. Please take some time to read the story - now, before finishing this posting.

When Eric and I fulfill photo requests on Find A Grave we look at all of the markers in a Lot. Sometimes there may only be 4, normally 6, sometimes 10 and maybe more depending on how many infants are buried in the lot. Today while fulfilling a photo request I found a buried temporary marker that was hidden by several inches of soil. It was just another one of the many temporary markers the are at the Park that are hidden under the soil.

While we were enjoying a post cemetery coffee at Starbucks Eric asked me if I had a headstone I wanted to write about for this week's memorial. I didn't at the time, but thought about a cool surname that I came across today in the Park. While looking for Alice Petrie in Section H I located and photographed the temporary marker for Hamilton Sandridge. I hadn't heard of the surname Sandridge before and thought it sounded cool!

Hamilton Sandridge, born ~1879 Virginia; died Oct 28, 1940, Portland

According to the Oregon Death Index Hamilton died in Portland on 28 Oct. 1940. He was buried five days later on Novemeber 2, 1940 at Multnomah Park Cemetery according to the funeral notice on page 10 of the November 2nd issue of the Oregonian. He lived at the time at 6410 SE 60th. No friends were invited to his funeral, or burial. No flowers were not asked for. No next of kin were listed.

We do not yet know the cause of death, or who is parents are. However, we do know that in the 1930 U.S. Census Hamilton is recorded living in Portland on SE 9th. He is about 51 years old, he is listed as a roomer and is single. His occupation is listed as "Car cleaner" working for the railroad co. It must have been dirty work cleaning out rail cars. Both of his parents were born in Virginia and he can read and write but has not attended school within the last 5 years. His race is listed as "Nig".

We do not yet know if Hamilton's parents, or his grandparents, were forcibly removed from their ancestral homes to work the plantations of the south. We don't yet know how the surname of Sandridge came to be. This morning Hamilton's temporary marker was hidden from view - it was an invisible grave. This afternoon it no longer is hidden from view. We know more than we did, but not by much.

Two of the people for whom I was fulfilling a photo request for will have their story told. It will be told with sensitivity and care, but it is going to be a difficult story to tell since it involves love, a tormented soul, and unclaimed cremains.

In the meantime we honor Hamilton Sandridge.

Albert Weideman

In late May 1927 young Albert was one of 32 boys who took swimming lessons at a local YMCA.

Six years later on May 29, 1933 he is out with a group of boys playing at what was called May's Lake, just a short distance from Parkrose Highschool where he was a Junior. The boys were having fun playing with a raft in the water. Who knows, maybe they had read about the adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer and wanted to build a raft? During playing with the raft they thought it would be fun to try and overturn it. In their attempt to overturn the raft Albert got hit in the head by a piece of wood that knocked him out. He sank in to deep water and drowned. He left his parents Otto and Emma and a younger brother Richard. Albert is our latest addition to the Garden of Untimely Demise.

OH JOY

I just could not pass this one up. I was walking through Section D, on a beautiful early autumn day and there he was, Mr. Obediah H. Joy. I love some of the names in the cemetery!

Infant Bair

We've noticed several unmarked markers in the cemetery. We've each come up with different theories as to why there would be an unmarked marker. One of my theories was that they were for the unknowns who are buried here. But that doesn't appear to be the case.
While looking for Infant Bair's marker today in Section F, Lot 7-8, grave nr 3 I cleaned off this marker. This infant was buried on February 20, 1926. Maybe soon we may have an answer as to why there are unmarked monuments in the cemetery.

Civil War Veterans

The new TV show on NBC, Who Do You Think You Are, featured Matthew Broderick who found out that one of his ancestors was a Civil War Veteran who survived Gettysburg, but who did die in a later battle in Georgia. It is a very interesting show and well worth watching. There are quite a few Civil War Veteran's graves at Multnomah Park from all parts of the Union. Here are a few of them. You can discover them scattered throughout the cemetery.

Corporal James M. Tefft.
Company G.
7th Kansas Cavalry


Born: April 18, 1843, Michigan
Died: June 9, 1910, Portland, Oregon











Benjamin H. Stone.
Co. A.
50th Wisconsin Infantry


Born:
Died: August 23, 1910, Multnomah County





Stephen D. Cole
Co. O.
1st Oregon Infantry

Born:
Died: July 24, 1922, Portland, Oregon













Corporal David Fessler
Co. B.
2nd Indiana Cavalry

Born: ~1835, Pennsylvania
Died: March 17, 1915, Portland, Oregon














Private Isaac Clark
Company K
1st New York Dragoons

Born: January 10, 1839, Pennsylvania
Died: January 20, 1910, Multnomah County, Oregon

Who is HATT-- AD-- ?

So, who is HATT-- AD-- ?

Mysteries abound in the old cemetery. Of that we all know full well. We also have an "Ethel A". We have eleven "Unknowns": one unknown burial; 3 unknown infants; and seven unknown man's. The unknown infants and four of the unknown mans were buried in 1930-31; while the effects of the Great Depression were still being felt. We can only speculate as to their cause of death.

Of HATT-- AD-- we know no more. We can speculate that she was buried close to the time that people surrounding her were also buried - possibly in the 1920's era. What is the name? Possibly Hattie Adam(s)? If so there is a Hattie Adams who died in Portland in July of 1917. This could be her, but again, it probably is not.

Why was her name recorded as such? Was someone's handwriting that illegible? Maybe. We'll have to look at the original records - if they are extant.

Meanwhile, the more we find, the more we are intrigued.

David

Abbotts

Their eyes stare out from their photos for us to see. I'd really like to know what everyone at Multnomah Park looked like, but that won't happen. But, here are photos of a Mother and a Son who are at Multnomah Park. Photos that were identified by someone who took the time to record their names, and photos who have been given from one family member to another. I feel sad when I see unidentified photos in 'antique' shops. It is almost akin to seeing a grave of an 'unknown'.

There has been a request for a photo of Alfred Abbott's monument on Find A Grave. It's not where it is supposed to be. Why, I don't know. He is supposed to be in A, 160, somewhere, but I've not found him there. There are seven other people who are recorded on monuments there, but his is not one of them. We'll keep searching for him though. We have been a bit more lucky with his Mother's monument though. Her's is in Section H, Lot 5-5, nr 1.

The search for Alfred's monument goes on. Hopefully we'll find it as we mothodically continue our work verifying monument locations.

Photos of Alfred and Ruth Ann are courtesy of Kay Weeks.

Birds in the Cemetery

There's a fair number of birds in the Cemetery. I've seen a female Anna's Hummingbird collecting nesting material in February, and today heard a male Anna's displaying.

During the last several weeks there's been a Coopers Hawk in the cemetery, and today I got a photo of it as it flew in to a tree we were near. A few minutes later it flew out of the tree with a twig in it's talons and flew off to a tree in a far corner of the cemetery. Twice I saw it carrying sticks to the same tree today. That's pretty cool to have a Coopers Hawk nesting in the cemetery!

People...

I love humanity - it's people I can't stand. People have been defacing monuments from the time they were put up. Don't understand it though. Probably the worst example of monument destruction in recent times were the Buddhas destroyed by the Taliban in Afghanistan a few years back.
Someone knocked over at least five monuments in the cemetery sometime between Saturday evening - the last time I was there - and Monday morning.

Infants

.
After doing some work this afternoon in Section A I went over to pay my respects to the latest interment in the Cemetery. On my way over I looked down and discovered the monument for Robert Lee Ross who was on this earth just a short time. It is always sad to see markers for those who don't get to experience a full life.

I think Robert's parents are nearby in Section E. There is an Olive Ross who died on October 31, 1918, just 6 days after Robert's birth. Olive's husband (Robert's father?) George lived until 1933.







There are quite a few infant burials within the cemetery as would be expected for this time period. However, the ones that are the most poignant are the four that are found in Section A, Lot 127A. These four infants were all buried in this corner in 1930. All of these markers were buried at least 2 inches below current ground level. They are now visible for all to see and ponder on.
Dave

Infant Bokoski


Infant Oleson



Infant Henry

Infant Clark

Facebook!

Well, it is the 21st Century, and right now, in the early days of that Century, facebook is a popular way to communicate. We've now started our facebook page! Check it out! We'll post our "work" days, news, and who knows what else!

I can't believe it's been just a few short months since Eric and I have undertaken this project of ours. In this short period of time we have added over 4,000 names to the Find A Grave website database. In the beginning we were transcribing information from photographs taken in the cemetery, but now thanks to Metro we're using data from their database. Still a time consuming process, but it is much easier and quicker using data already on spreadsheets. We've also taken over 5 photos for people with relatives in the cemetery.

During this time Eric has also dug up the history of the Morningside Hospital to which Alaska sent it's mental patients until the 1960's. Several of the patients who died while at the hospital are buried here at Multnomah Park.

This is the marker for Harry Loud, or Lold, who died in 1915. His marker is along the fenceline at the back of the cemetery, along with several other Morningside patients.

Neither Eric or I know where this project will lead us, but we would like to have a user friendly website showing the cemetery and the lots, photos of the markers, and a brief bio of each person. Wouldn't that be grand?!