by Jeanne Gentry Robinson

I first visited the Lebanon Pioneer Cemetery in Linn County, Oregon, in February of 1987. I was shocked as everywhere I looked were damaged stones; pillars toppled from their bases and tabletstones snapped and broken, many resting face down in the mud or propped against trees. Weeds, vines, and briars thrived. And, to my horror, dozens of those pitifully mutilated stones memorialized my family members! I decided then I had to do something, but I had no idea what. I didn’t know how to repair stones, where they belonged, or who was in charge. I did know that to hire a professional to repair all those markers would cost far more than I could afford. I felt overwhelmed, and the cemetery looked hopeless.

How I helped to save the Lebanon Pioneer Cemetery is the subject of this record. It is my desire that others might be inspired to undertake a similar project in order to raise money to restore a neglected cemetery or historic structure.

In the fall of 1989 I decided to find out if anyone else cared for or could help the Lebanon Pioneer Cemetery. I live about two hours by freeway from Lebanon, so I began by writing letters to several individuals and societies throughout Linn County. I sent a few Xeroxed flyers to different societies asking anyone with an interest in the cemetery to contact me.

I discovered that the City of Lebanon owned the cemetery, so I wrote a carefully worded letter to the Mayor. I introduced myself and briefly related the history of my Lebanon pioneer ancestors. I remarked on the deterioration of their graves. I DID NOT BLAME THE CITY FOR THE CONDITION OF THE CEMETERY! Instead, I offered several possible solutions to the problem. I also offered to help.

Within a month, the city held an informal gathering of about a dozen people who were interested in the cemetery. There we met with Jim Ruef, Lebanon’s Director of Public Works. He informed us of his own goals for improving the cemetery and told us the city did have funds budgeted for that purpose. We were then asked for ideas on how to spend the money. Someone mentioned publishing a book, so I raised my hand and volunteered my typing and computer skills and my background in printing and publishing toward a book if someone else would do some of the research. That’s when I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to meet Pat Dunn and the iron box.

Pat is a native of South Dakota who moved to Lebanon in 1978. When she first saw the cemetery she was drawn to it. Walking among the broken and toppled stones she began to feel curious about the people buried and forgotten there. Mentioning this to her friend Erma Brown, who had published several books, Pat was advised to begin researching the burials.

She started by visiting City Hall where she was given copies of old newspaper articles, maps, and cemetery listings done in the 1930’s. She revisited the cemetery, list in hand, and came immediately upon a stone that wasn’t on the list! She decided the best thing to do was start a card file with a 5’’ x 8’’ card for each burial. Her file box was the cardboard container in which a Proctor-Silex iron was sold—the iron box.

About that time Pat became a volunteer at the Lebanon Public Library. This allowed her ample and frequent access to their genealogy department. Pat found what she could in the local history books, then started checking newspapers for obituaries. Microfilmed copies of the Lebanon Express, the city’s oldest newspaper, start in March of 1887. Pat found earlier records of Lebanon pioneers in censuses, marriage books, county clerk’s files, and county histories. She utilized every record available to her at the library, in the city and county offices, as well as important family documents found by tracing and contacting many pioneer descendants.

On December 7, 1989, the night I met Pat Dunn, she handed over to me, a total stranger, her iron box stuffed to overflowing with the results of five years of thorough, conscientious and well-documented research. I added my family research and within a week mailed Pat the first draft of our book.

Over the next sixteen months we kept the mail carriers busy handling research, photos, maps, flyers, and revisions, revisions, and more revisions between my home in Boring and Pat’s in Lebanon. We wanted our book to be something other than a cemetery listing. We decided to put some flesh on the bones of the Lebanon pioneers. The following is an example of an entry from our book:

ELKINS, Adaline (nee Burkhart) ``Wife of WS Elkins’’

b.    4 Dec 1843 Des Moines Co., IA d/o Raymond Sanderson and
       Elizabeth Jane (Wassom) Burkhart 
m.   William S. Elkins 29 Jun 1865 Linn Co., OR
       b.  1 May 1837 OH s/o Luther and Philotheta (Williams) Elkins
       m. #2 Margaret J. Grant 1 Oct 1868 Polk Co., OR
d.    9 May 1866 Linn Co., OR aged 22y4m15d
c.    Willie Chester (est. 26 Feb 1866 OR)

"Sleep on dear daughter and take thy rest
For God that’s called thee home
The lord is my shepherd
I shall not want."

(Underlined or in quotation marks are words found on the stone. Names of people buried in the cemetery are in bold type.)

History of the Willamette Valley, H.O. Lang, 1885, p 762

ELKINS, W. S. — Born in Ohio, May 1, 1837, and came with his parents to Oregon in 1852; settled with them in Linn County, being among the first settlers there. He and his brother built the Lebanon flouring mills in 1872, and were in business until 1878, when they moved to Polk County, where Mr. Elkins followed merchandising for seven years. Was elected a member of the legislature in 1870; was instrumental in building the Cumberland Presbyterian church in Lebanon, and is an elder of the church; also a member of the Masonic fraternity. Married Miss Addie Burkhart, in 1866, who died in 1867, after one child had been born to them that died in infancy. Mr. Elkins married again, in 1868, to Miss Maggie Grant and they have now four children—Nettie, Eva, Arthur G., and Attie. Reside at Dallas.

In addition to the information shown above, we included obituaries, maps, donation land claim information, newspaper articles, a medical glossary (in case you don’t know what dropsy, palsy, and summer complaint are), an index, and a brief but carefully researched history of the settlement and growth of the city of Lebanon.

Working together, Pat and I also developed a special friendship and mutual respect. We are both more interested in the cemetery and getting results than in personal recognition. And we agree, we’d rather be accurate than right.

We decided that all research, photo costs, binding supplies, labor, and typesetting for our book would be donated so all proceeds could be put into a fund for restoration of the cemetery.

We shopped around for a printer who would give us a good price. In dealing with all businesses we explained our purpose and that we were trying to keep costs down because all profits were going to a cemetery preservation fund. Almost everyone was willing to help. We found a small but busy printing shop that offered laser copies of 8 ½’’ x 11’’ pages at 2 ½ cents per page.

We chose to use plastic comb binding that we purchased direct from the manufacturer. We needed 200 pieces but purchased 500 in order to take advantage of quantity savings and in anticipation of future reprints. We bought a larger size than needed to allow book owners to easily Xerox pages without damaging their copy.

The text for our book was prepared on my personal computer using a word processing program. It was set in Roman typeface, chosen for its readability. We printed on 20 lb. white bond paper. Our printer provided typesetting for our cover and title page at no additional cost.

We were advised that librarians need the state, county, and city of cemeteries on the cover for filing purposes. Our cover reads: Oregon, Linn County, Lebanon Pioneer Cemetery. We also gave author, date, and publishing information. We chose a 65 lb. cover stock in a light gray linen-finish.

We were very fortunate to locate 36 pictures of pioneers and homesteads that were included in our book. Many pioneer descendants were kind enough to loan us their priceless original photographs. We took these to a local processor who has the equipment to make copy negatives and prints. This is important because many photo stores are only equipped to process negatives and must send photos out to have negatives made. This takes more time and puts irreplaceable family photographs at risk of being lost or damaged in the mail.

We had a copy negative and a 3’’ x 5’’ print made of all of our photographs before returning them to their donors. We then had the prints half toned using an 85-line screen as our printer directed for reproduction on a laser copier. Had we printed on an offset press a 100-line screen would have been used. Photos must be screened or they end up muddy looking and very unsatisfactory.

We knew that many descendants reading our book would like to have prints of their ancestors for framing, so we listed our addresses and offered copies at cost plus postage and handling. Several of our readers have taken advantage of this offer to date.

The City of Lebanon donated the printing costs for the first 100 books and loaned the funds for an additional 100 copies for a total of 200 books. Pat and I did the binding on machines we borrowed from the city and the Lebanon Genealogical Society. The books were completed and ready for distribution in March of 1991.

I spoke in May with a well-informed publisher in Oregon who told me she never prints more than 50 copies of a cemetery book. She said the first 30 or so sell quickly, then the remainder dribbles out slowly over a period of years. This is no doubt true of most cemetery listings. However, our book has sold, in its first six months, over 150 copies. We are now collecting additional information and more photos for a revised edition that should be published in 1992.

Before our book was completed we envisioned turning the finished books over to the City of Lebanon and letting them handle promotion and sales. Unfortunately, the city wasn’t in the book selling business. They thanked us most politely—the Mayor and City Council even presented us with lovely plaques ``in appreciation for the countless hours of volunteered time dedicated to the research and publication of the History of Lebanon Pioneer Cemetery.’’ Pat and I quickly discovered if we wanted anyone to know about our book, we’d have to tell them.

We began by preparing a promotional flyer which was mailed to descendants and interested friends. We sat down one afternoon with the Handybook for Genealogists and made a list of all major libraries and genealogical or historical societies in the states where our pioneers were born. We had one copy of the book that was incomplete, so we used it to send sample pages and flyers to each addressee with someone from their state highlighted on the sample. This method was proven to work when we received a book order from the New York Public Library!

In addition to flyers, we sent a number of free copies of our book to reviewers—some in Oregon, others from national publications. Thus far all of our reviews have been very positive and resulted in increased book sales. One review in an Albany, Oregon monthly brought us an order from Tokyo, Japan.

While the book generated lots of interest in and money for the Lebanon Pioneer Cemetery, nothing much really changed there. Vandalism continued on a regular basis.

Pat told me the Lebanon Chamber of Commerce sponsored an annual Founder’s Day celebration, so we decided to attend one of their planning meetings to see if the cemetery could somehow become part of the Founder’s Day activities. The Chamber was very understanding and immediately agreed that the final resting place of the town’s founders should be honored. Together we decided that the Saturday prior to Founder’s Day, or the first Saturday of every August, would be the Annual Lebanon Pioneer Cemetery Clean Up and Picnic. For the first time someone else was doing the promoting—and doing it well! News people were contacted, interviews given, and photos taken. We even made the front page of the Lebanon Express!

Many of the graves at Lebanon Pioneer Cemetery are marked with marble or granite obelisks mounted on one or more base stones. Over the years the mortar used originally to bind the pieces deteriorated, leaving the obelisks at risk of being accidentally or deliberately toppled. Many times these pillars were remounted only to fall again, each tumble putting greater strain on already fragile material.

Pat and I agreed that a sturdy monument is harder to topple than a wobbly one. We also felt that a loose marble slab was far more susceptible to theft than one attached firmly to its massive base. While some would advise against removing stains and lichen from an antique stone, or doing anything permanent such as gluing, we had to give the cemetery the appearance of being cared for. Drastic measures were needed to help reduce vandalism!

We knew there were lots of don’ts regarding gravestones, such as "NEVER USE A WIRE BRUSH," so we consulted with a monument professional and purchased, as advised, the appropriate epoxy and monument cleaning crystals . We were also given hands-on instruction in the proper use of materials and restoration techniques.  

Note: I no longer advise the use of monument cleaning crystals.  

Our First Annual Lebanon Pioneer Cemetery Clean Up and Picnic was held August 3, 1991. It was a "rousing’’ success! The 40-plus volunteers who showed up spent an eight-hour day scrubbing stones, pulling weeds, cutting down a dead tree, and remounting and gluing nearly 50 toppled and broken markers. The cemetery, which had begun to take on a flat appearance now has the look of most Victorian cemeteries, with markers of diverse material and shapes standing proudly in their park-like setting, shaded by massive cedar and oak trees. Most rewarding for me was overhearing several of the volunteers talking about what they plan to work on at the Second Annual Lebanon Pioneer Cemetery Clean Up and Picnic.

The weekend following our clean up, Pat and I set up a booth at the Lebanon Founder’s Day celebration where we sold books and provided registration and badges for pioneer descendants. We decorated our booth with antiques, and I dressed in a blue taffeta floor-length dress with a hoop skirt. We passed out free lemon drops and jellybeans and sold 15 copies of our book!

The work continues. The Lebanon Garden Club has asked us to speak at one of their meetings about cemetery activities they can participate in or sponsor. We are arranging to talk with local school officials with an eye toward cemetery tours and related classroom studies. We are participating in an upcoming Heritage Fair—in costume. We are preparing an educational program for society meetings and conferences. Research and descendant searches are part of our daily lives. Plans are underway for carriage tours to the cemetery during next year’s Founder’s Day celebration. Pat and I will attend the next meeting of the city budget planning committee to make sure lighting and fence removal and replacement are top priorities.

The Lebanon Garden Club decorated several of the graves at the Lebanon Pioneer Cemetery for Founder’s Day. That day I arrived at the cemetery at 7:00 am with several more vases of flowers from my garden. As I walked through the cemetery in the morning mist I was filled with the greatest satisfaction I could imagine. Everything looked so pretty. Vases filled with Black-eyed Susans, whose seeds accompanied many of our pioneer mothers to Oregon, graced stones so long unadorned. The overall feel was of a place that was clean, tended, and loved. I couldn’t help but remember my first visit, four years earlier, and the remarkable metamorphosis that had taken place.

Helping to save a cemetery isn’t easy and it isn’t quick. It’s sometimes frustrating and can seem hopeless. It is also fun, interesting, educational, rewarding, and filled with new experiences and good friends. And, when you see what hard work can accomplish, it can be one of the most gratifying experiences of a lifetime.

Suggested Reading

A Graveyard Preservation Primer, by Lynette Strangstad, The American Association for State and Local History, Nashville, TN, 1988

Graveyard Restoration Hand Book, by Carleton R. Vance, New Hampshire Old Graveyard Association, Manchester, NH, 1987

Recommendations for the Care of Gravestones, by Jessie Lie Farber, AGS Publications, Needham, MA