This report was written by Liisa Penner on the 19th Day of February, 1988
The Riverview Cemetery~ was recently donated to the Lewis and Clark Cemetery Association by John H. Reith, whose family had owned it for almost a hundred years.
The Challenge:
The Lewis and Clark Cemetery Association is only a little over a year old. It developed out of the desire of members of the Netel Grange on Logan Road to clean up the cemetery. The cemetery was in such poor conditon that families were having their relatives reinterred at other cemeteries. Jorgen Madsen, who is the Netel Grange Master, and Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Marxen and Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Nielsen were members of this Grange committee. About this same time, Evelyn Leahy Hankel and Marie Oesting challenged the Clatsop County Genealogical Society to find and record information from all the cemeteries in the county. On behalf of this group, I called members of the Netel Grange for information about the Lewis and Clark Cemetery and was invited to join their efforts in trying to preserve this cemetery. At our first meeting in December 1986, we decided we needed to get help from the community. We held a public meeting on January 25, 1987 and invited all who were interested in the cemetery to attend and suggested to them that they elect officers and take steps to form an association. George Fulton had agreed to do the complicated work of setting up a non-profit organization. Denney Thompson and Michael Leamy addressed the people who attended (about 50) about the requirements of setting up a cemetery association. Jorgen Madsen explained to the group the need for doing something now to preserve the cemetery. Officers were chosen: Jorgen Madsen, President; Gib Marxen and Chuck McBride, Board Members, and; Liisa Penner, Secretary. Later, George Fulton suggested that the Secretary become a member of the board. (Two more board members were chosen in April, Gunnar Johanson, who has volunteered to take over the duties of Treasurer and Carl Peterson. Still later, Jim Peyok was chosen to be greenskeeper and Nathaneel Christensen was chosen to be responsible for the flag).
The main concern of the people attending the first general meeting was what it would cost to clean and preserve the cemetery, and how would money be raised to pay it. These concerns were discussed at later board meetings and at another general meeting held April 7, 1987. It was decided that the best way to fund the work of improvement of the cemetery would be to ask for donations. A small amount of money would be used for buying spray to prevent the advance of the blackberries and salal. The rest of the money would go into a special fund. When the amount of this fund would reach a sufficient size, about $35,000, then we would use the interest that this amount of money would earn in the bank for the maintenance of the Lewis and Clark Cemetery.
The principal would remain untouched. Donations at this time have reached about $25,000, but we are still seeking more to insure that enough interest will be produced to pay for continuing clean-up.
We had a workday at the cemetery on May 3, 1987. So many people showed up with weed-eaters, lawnmowers and rakes that the cemetery was cleaned up in only a few hours. We learned that many people in the community did care about this place where their ancestors were buried.
Since then, the association has installed a flag pole which became the focus of attention on Memorial Day, the services for which were arranged by Bettie Ober. On May 21, the genealogy society worked on reading the stones. Those who worked were Bettie Ober, Bettie & Ted McCue, Lavina Jones, Joyce Morrell, Jim Dennon, John Birdeno and the writer. This book is the result of our work.
The Beginning:
A notice was placed in the Daily Morning Astorian dated October 10, 1897 that John W. Reith had filed a plat for the Lewis and Clark Cemetery. In the plat book at the Clatsop County Courthouse, this plat is recorded with the date of 22 January 1896. Two plat revisions were made, one in 1919 and another more recent one. Gelo Parker was the original surveyor. According to the only surviving sexton's book, (the others burned in a fire at the home of John H. Reith's son) the first listed burial took place about 1886. Burials are still being made in this cemetery, but only a few each year. In early years deeds for cemetery plots were recorded at the Clatsop County Courthouse. These deeds make it clear that the burial plot is the property of the purchaser, and his heirs, forever. Therefore, it follows that
the responsibility for the maintenance of the plot lies with the purchaser and his heirs. In years past, families visited the cemetery several times a year for an all-day outing and picnic and to clean up the graves. According to John H. Reith, in the last few years families rarely ever returned after a burial. The cemetery was on the point of being lost forever to the blackberries and fern. The records were nearly all lost, too, in a fire.
A year later, the cemetery is one of the best kept in the county. Enough money has been donated to insure that it will remain that way in the future. This book is the sum of our attempt to reconstruct the records that were lost.
Liisa Penner February 19, 1988
The Riverview Cemetery~ was recently donated to the Lewis and Clark Cemetery Association by John H. Reith, whose family had owned it for almost a hundred years.
The Challenge:
The Lewis and Clark Cemetery Association is only a little over a year old. It developed out of the desire of members of the Netel Grange on Logan Road to clean up the cemetery. The cemetery was in such poor conditon that families were having their relatives reinterred at other cemeteries. Jorgen Madsen, who is the Netel Grange Master, and Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Marxen and Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Nielsen were members of this Grange committee. About this same time, Evelyn Leahy Hankel and Marie Oesting challenged the Clatsop County Genealogical Society to find and record information from all the cemeteries in the county. On behalf of this group, I called members of the Netel Grange for information about the Lewis and Clark Cemetery and was invited to join their efforts in trying to preserve this cemetery. At our first meeting in December 1986, we decided we needed to get help from the community. We held a public meeting on January 25, 1987 and invited all who were interested in the cemetery to attend and suggested to them that they elect officers and take steps to form an association. George Fulton had agreed to do the complicated work of setting up a non-profit organization. Denney Thompson and Michael Leamy addressed the people who attended (about 50) about the requirements of setting up a cemetery association. Jorgen Madsen explained to the group the need for doing something now to preserve the cemetery. Officers were chosen: Jorgen Madsen, President; Gib Marxen and Chuck McBride, Board Members, and; Liisa Penner, Secretary. Later, George Fulton suggested that the Secretary become a member of the board. (Two more board members were chosen in April, Gunnar Johanson, who has volunteered to take over the duties of Treasurer and Carl Peterson. Still later, Jim Peyok was chosen to be greenskeeper and Nathaneel Christensen was chosen to be responsible for the flag). The main concern of the people attending the first general meeting was what it would cost to clean and preserve the cemetery, and how would money be raised to pay it. These concerns were discussed at later board meetings and at another general meeting held April 7, 1987. It was decided that the best way to fund the work of improvement of the cemetery would be to ask for donations. A small amount of money would be used for buying spray to prevent the advance of the blackberries and salal. The rest of the money would go into a special fund. When the amount of this fund would reach a sufficient size, about $35,000, then we would use the interest that this amount of money would earn in the bank for the maintenance of the Lewis and Clark Cemetery.
The principal would remain untouched. Donations at this time have reached about $25,000, but we are still seeking more to insure that enough interest will be produced to pay for continuing clean-up.
We had a workday at the cemetery on May 3, 1987. So many people showed up with weed-eaters, lawnmowers and rakes that the cemetery was cleaned up in only a few hours. We learned that many people in the community did care about this place where their ancestors were buried.
Since then, the association has installed a flag pole which became the focus of attention on Memorial Day, the services for which were arranged by Bettie Ober. On May 21, the genealogy society worked on reading the stones. Those who worked were Bettie Ober, Bettie & Ted McCue, Lavina Jones, Joyce Morrell, Jim Dennon, John Birdeno and the writer. This book is the result of our work.
The Beginning:
A notice was placed in the Daily Morning Astorian dated October 10, 1897 that John W. Reith had filed a plat for the Lewis and Clark Cemetery. In the plat book at the Clatsop County Courthouse, this plat is recorded with the date of 22 January 1896. Two plat revisions were made, one in 1919 and another more recent one. Gelo Parker was the original surveyor. According to the only surviving sexton's book, (the others burned in a fire at the home of John H. Reith's son) the first listed burial took place about 1886. Burials are still being made in this cemetery, but only a few each year. In early years deeds for cemetery plots were recorded at the Clatsop County Courthouse. These deeds make it clear that the burial plot is the property of the purchaser, and his heirs, forever. Therefore, it follows that
the responsibility for the maintenance of the plot lies with the purchaser and his heirs. In years past, families visited the cemetery several times a year for an all-day outing and picnic and to clean up the graves. According to John H. Reith, in the last few years families rarely ever returned after a burial. The cemetery was on the point of being lost forever to the blackberries and fern. The records were nearly all lost, too, in a fire. A year later, the cemetery is one of the best kept in the county. Enough money has been donated to insure that it will remain that way in the future. This book is the sum of our attempt to reconstruct the records that were lost.
Liisa Penner February 19, 1988
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