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By Doris Gundersen
Democrat Herald Staff Writer
A peaceful, scenic spot on a southeast foothill of
Peterson’s butte, picked out a century ago by a pioneer for his own burial
plot, has become a Memorial Day mecca for many families throughout the
state and beyond.
The spot was chosen by Artimus Dodge, a pioneer from
Maine who came by oxteam to Walla Walla about 1950 [sic] and moved to the
Lebanon area in 1852. He selected it on a day when he was riding horseback
over his property and was struck by the beauty of the view. As he sat on
the saddlehorse, he remarked, “What a beautiful place to be buried.”
His feeling about the place was echoed years later by a
minister conducting a service on the peaceful site, “The summer breezes
will always blow softly here.”
Has Two Names
Known variously as Dodge Cemetery and Rock Hill
Cemetery, the land was donated for cemetery use in 1892. It was surveyed
and plotted June 23 and 24 of that year by E. T. T. Fisher.
It was officially deeded to the Rock Hill Cemetery
Association in 1897.
Samuel M. Garland of Lebanon drew up the articles of incorporation on May
15, 1897, giving it as Rock Hill Cemetery, and the papers were recorded on
June 9 on the same year. The names on the deed are Grant and Sarah Dodge,
Grant being a son of Artimus.
Prior to that time the cemetery had been used and known
to many as the Dodge Cemetery, and to many it is still known and used by
that name. It was formerly marked by an arch over the gateway, reading
“Dodge Cemetery,” but the arch fell into disrepair years ago.
1877 First Burial
The first burial was in 1877 for Artimus Dodge’s
sister, Malinda Townsend, aged 71. Later four of his children were buried
there, prior to his own death in 1892.
Other headstones of historical interest include those
of Addison Pollard Blackburn, a pioneer of 1876 from Missouri, one of the
founders of the Lebanon Presbyterian church; Martin V. Jackson and Callie
Blackburn Jackson, parents of W. L. Jackson, educator, lone time county
school superintendent and newspaperman in the county; G. L. Calavan, whose
1901 headstone reads “Here Rests a Woodman of the World”; M. Vanderpool,
born in 1798 and lived to be 98; J. W. Wilson and wife Maria, who came in
the 1850’s; A. G. Williams and wife Rhoda A. Stringer; C. D. Steen and
wife Jennie; James Boyle, whose headstone bears the grange emblem of a
sheaf of grain and a sickle; Edgar C. Nichols, who came from Illinois in
1875 and married Jennie Blackburn.
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The incorporation papers of
the Rock Hill cemetery Association shows the names of Blackburn, Wilson,
Steen, Nichols, Williams and Frank Leslie, who attended the first meeting
of the association in 1897. Blackburn was the first chairman, Steen the
first clerk, and Wilson Blackburn and Grant Dodge were elected trustees.
Among later directors were Clay Nichols of Lebanon, who
was president for years; W. L. Jackson, J. L. Blackburn, Orvis B. Wilson,
John Steen and Frank B. Steen who served as secretary-treasurer for many
years.
Present directors [in 1964] are Gilbert Morgan, George
Ransom and Clem Pape, with Mrs. Alta Wilson Ballew as secretary-treasurer.
In the past few years the cemetery has been leveled,
cleared and planted to lawn, and is now kept like a park. The directors
installed a new gate this month.
Uses Donations
All sources of income for upkeep are donations from
interested persons or by individual lot owners. Interested persons have
been coming forward to support the improvements and set new stones.
The cemetery is an old Indian trail country, and Indian
campgrounds are known to have existed on the former Dodge property, now
owned by John Steen, and on the Blackburn place to the south on Rock Hill.
The Dodge property was first settled by a Peterson, who sold to Artimus
Dodge, whose son Grant sold to C. D. Steen.
Add Mystery
A mystery of the area was the discovery by C. D.
Steen of a handful of Spanish quarters dated 1799 and 1802 and Mexican
dollars dated 1846 and 1847. It was known that a Mexican traveler came
through in early days following an Indian trail.
Within the cemetery are other mysteries, notably two
smallish native rocks about 14 inches in diameter set apparently as
headstones. Several unmarked graves are known to exist.
Research on the cemetery was done by Mrs. Idell M.
Olson of Lebanon, a granddaughter to A. P. Blackburn. Mrs. Olson obtained
information from Mrs. Alta Ballew, a granddaughter of J. W. Wilson, and
from William Long, a grandson of Artimus Dodge.
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