Cemetery
Continued from Page 1A
aside to pay for maintenance.
Holmes said that only the fund’s
accrued interest can be used and
money-raising efforts are on-going
in an attempt to boost the total to
$500,000.
While ensuring financial stabil
ity is certainly crucial to the
cemetery’s future, other local resi
dents and scholars are intrigued
by its historical and sociological
nature.
The first burial in the cemetery
took place in 1873, the year after
the railroad first arrived in Eugene
and three years before the Univer
sity was founded, adjunct sociolo
gy professor Doug Card said.
Two-year-old Herman Zumwalt
died on Sept. 23 and was buried
four days later. Yet, a walk
through Pioneer won’t always re
veal what was a sad truth of the
times.
Medical care was just terrible
back then and doctors had mini
mal skills,” Card said. “Often ty
phoid or smallpox would sweep
through and wipe out entire fami
lies. Many times when children
died young, the parents didn’t
even bother with a headstone.
They’d probably just put up a lit
tle marker that would have disap
peared a long time ago.”
Those vanishing pieces of our
history are being recaptured by at
least one class of students in the
Historical Preservation Program.
Julie Osborne, an adjunct profes
sor in the School of Architecture
and Allied Arts, is sending her
students into the graveyard this
fall to study various aspects of
cemeteries.
One grou£ of students focuses
on the area’s folklore compo
nents, such as burial traditions of
the late 19th and early 20th cen
turies and how those contrast
with other cultures’ customs. An
other group is researching physi
cal components, such as land
scape design and restoring
headstones.
“A couple of students were a
little hesitant at first about the
project,” Osborne said. “But
when you study things like how
American cemeteries evolved,
the information makes them not
so morbid.
• .“Besides, it’s amazing how
much you can learn from reading
headstones.”
Just seeing a small slice of
someone’s life engraved on a
marker can generate curiosity.
Even the most seemingly insignif
icant marker, if found in an odd
place, can make a person question
the story of its existence. No more
than two feet from little Sara
Folts’ detailed headstone stands
another, with just the word
“BABY” etched into its face.
Untold tales abound in the
cemetery, of course, but Card
knows a heart-wrenching one,
thanks to his countless hours of
exploring the city of Eugene’s his
tory. His readings fleshed out the
tale of a grave plot that reads
“Brown” on its stone boundary,
yet contains a marker for Edith B.
Linton, who died July 10,1929, at
the age of 73.
As the story goes, Thomas
Belshaw, founder of the Eugene
Brass Band around 1860, hired a
man named J.H. Brown to direct
the group. Belshaw’s daughter,
Edith, was a child prodigy on pi
ano, and as a teen-age girl, she fell
in love with Brown.
Edith’s parents thought she was
too young to marry, so they told
Brown if he went away for a year
then came back with the same in
tentions of being married to Edith,
he would receive their blessing.
Brown did, and the couple even
tually married.
For about 10 years, Edith and
J.H. were one of Eugene’s most
celebrated couples — what Card
called “a great, passionate love
match” — with both appearing in
many of the earliest music pro
grams given at the University. In
1882, however, during a scuffle
with a man named A.J. Bumison,
Brown was killed, leaving Edith a
widow. Burnison was acquitted
of manslaughter.
Edith later remarried, to a T.D.
Linton, but when Edith died, her
request to be buried with her first
husband was honored.
“That’s such a romantic story,”
Holmes said, when reminded of
the drama.
At least once in the past 40
years, the University has pro
posed different building schemes
to EPCA, which would encroach
on the Pioneer Cemetery proper
ty. Holmes said that officials first
tried to condemn it in 1956 and
then in the 1960s wanted to build
classroom space over the plot of
land, with an open-air first floor
so as not to disturb the actual
gravesites. That suggestion was
quickly rejected.
“The Pioneer Cemetery is in a
very good situation,” Holmes
said. “It’s the only valuable green
space in the area, so I don’t think
anyone has to worry about the
University taking over the land.”
Unfortunately, other acts of de
struction do happen on the
grounds. Vandalized headstones
are common and Card hoped that
attention focused on Pioneer
doesn’t cause an increase in spoil
ing the area.
“I think part of the reason be
hind the vandalism is that people
are angry at society, and it’s very
symbolic to have a chance to at
tack the past,” Card said. “In a
way, a newspaper article about
this place is going to encourage
more people to use it, and while it
might encourage a small percent
age to cause trouble, hopefully it
will encourage just a lot more reg
ular students to use and respect
it.”
That sentiment is partly what
drives the Historic Preservation
Program to turn its studies toward
the cemetery.
“We care about the cemetery
just as we care about the historic
fabric that makes up our commu
nity,” program director Don Pet
ing said. “We study cemeteries
because of the history of the peo
ple who are there.”
Card acknowledged that the
Eugene Masonic Cemetery, far
ther south on University Street,
actually contains more of Eu
gene’s historic figures, including
the city’s founders, Eugene and
Mary Skinner. But, considering
its proximity to the University,
Card said Pioneer Cemetery de
serves our appreciation as well.
“This is prime development
property, and not allowing it to be
altered is really a question of our
values and whether or not we re
spect our past,” he said. “I once
thought it was absurd to block
progress. But today, I look at this
cemetery and consider its sense of
history and see it as a marker for
our tradition.”
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