A6
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2022
Marker: A sense of history makes the region special
Continued from Page A1
of the brass screws, Ellsberg
thinks it was likely built by a
shipbuilder.
He estimates the object is
at least a century old, if not
much older.
“We fi nd this thing, and,
I mean, that is the last thing
we expected to fi nd — we
didn’t expect to fi nd any-
thing,” Ellsberg said. “ ...
It was kind of neat to fi nd
something that old … What
are the chances? There’s no
way that hasn’t been there
120 years.”
Thanks to some old pho-
tographs, Ellsberg believes
the wooden plank was part
of the entrance to one of the
county’s fi rst cemeteries,
constructed in the 1800s. It
was referred to as the Clat-
sop County Cemetery, and
later as the Pauper Cemetery.
When Astoria eventually
opened Ocean View Cem-
etery nearby in 1898, many
families, if wealthy enough,
paid to have the bodies of
their relatives moved there,
which is when the old space
became known as the Pauper
Cemetery, Ellsberg said.
Many Native Ameri-
cans were also believed to
have been buried there. The
graveyard, which was dis-
rupted by the building of
the railroad and the harvest-
‘THE IDEA IS, YOUR HISTORY IS
SOMETHING THAT PEOPLE ARE
ALWAYS INTERESTED IN, AND
HISTORY IS WHAT WE SELL HERE
— LEWIS AND CLARK GAVE US A
PRETTY GOOD SELLING POINT.’
Bob Ellsberg
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
An inscription reading ‘lesu lesu,’ believed to refer to Jesus in Latin, is carved into the right side
of the sign.
ing of spruce wood during
World War I, was later over-
grown and forgotten .
There is a record of Adam
Van Dusen, a well-known
early settler in Astoria ,
being one of the bodies that
was moved to Ocean View,
where he has a headstone .
The land along Ninth
Street, where the Pauper
Cemetery once sat, became
of interest to Ellsberg, an
Astoria track and fi eld coach
and former history instructor
at Clatsop Community Col-
lege and Astoria city coun-
cilor , after doing extensive
research on a man named
Joab Moffi tt.
Moffi tt was another early
settler in the region and also
believed to be buried at Pau-
per. But unlike Van Dusen,
there was no record of his
body ever being moved.
Ellsberg discovered that
Moffi tt was a judge, a legis-
lator and one of the founders
of the Masonic Lodge after
his arrival in Astoria. But he
wanted to learn more about
the man .
So he went searching near
his last known burial, think-
ing he’d maybe fi nd an old
gravestone.
“I wanted to get a feeling
… about what that old cem-
etery was — where it was,
that kind of thing,” Ellsberg
said . “I’m a curious sort any-
way, so I thought, ‘Let’s go
fi nd that out.’”
Because his discovery
“I’d like to get permis-
sion to rebuild the front part
of (the entrance), and clear
out the acre right where it is
now,” he said. “We could get
some volunteers … and have
them go in and fi x it up so we
can have a little walkway up
to it and a park … just so we
could give it a little dignity.”
Ellsberg also hopes to
hear from anyone with infor-
mation about where Moffi tt’s
body might be buried.
He thinks he deserves a
little dignity, too.
“One of the things that
Astoria has that makes it
special is its sense of history
— we have a wonderful his-
tory,” Ellsberg said. “ … The
idea is, your history is some-
thing that people are always
interested in, and history is
what we sell here — Lewis
and Clark gave us a pretty
good selling point.
“It’s really important that
we honor those parts of it.”
was found on city land, the
Astoria Parks and Recreation
Department, which over-
sees Ocean View Cemetery,
is holding on to the cemetery
marker while the state deter-
mines if it is an artifact.
For an item to be consid-
ered an artifact, it must be at
least 50 years old.
It is “infrequent to fi nd
potential archeological arti-
facts,” Matt Moritz, the
city’s parks maintenance
supervisor, said.
Ellsberg is disappointed
that a place with so much
important history has been
ignored and allowed to
become overgrown and fi lled
with trash.
“If you want to fi nd
grandpa, it might be a chal-
lenge,” he said .
He hopes the attention
around the sign will encour-
age the city to get the area
cleaned up. He also has plans
of his own.
Manship: Working with musicians on the coast
Continued from Page A1
As a second lieutenant
after Purdue with the ROTC ,
he spent two years on active
duty in the U.S. Air Force
before a career as a defense
contractor.
He and his family lived
in North Bend, Washing-
ton, and Scottsdale, Arizona,
before moving to Seaside
last year.
His wife, Kate, is a spe-
cial education teacher at
Pacifi c Ridge Elementary;
Miles, 12, attends Seaside
Middle School and Isla, 9,
attends Pacifi c Ridge. Kate’s
parents live downstairs in a
fully-furnished basement.
His studio business saw a
reboot in Seaside.
“Basically, the whole
time we were in Arizona, I
didn’t do anything,” Man-
ship said. “I had drums, but
never played them, or rarely.
I prioritized family and
work.”
The job here aff orded him
the opportunity to develop
the studio.
“That was another fringe
benefi t,” he said. “It wasn’t
in the forefront of my mind,
but we saw this house and
this space. This was perfect
to start.”
While the COVID-19
pandemic has cut down on
live studio recording, people
are still coming in, he said,
including guitarist Bruce
Smith and Astoria-based
singer-songwriter
Segrid
Coleman.
Manship plays drums
behind Coleman and his
father provides bass and gui-
tar tracks from his studio in
R.J. Marx/The Astorian
Wahanna Fields in Seaside.
Softball: ‘I don’t think
it closes the door on
looking at other options’
Continued from Page A1
R.J. Marx/The Astorian
Kyle Manship in his Seaside studio.
Colorado using a recording
interface.
When musicians record
from their own home stu-
dios, they may not have the
experience or the tools to
mix and master their tracks,
he said. They send their
tracks to a studio like his.
“Essentially, I have an
online store,” Manship said.
“Somebody can send me
their work, I can say, ‘Hey,
here’s what it needs from
my professional perspec-
tive. Here’s what it will take
if you want it to be indus-
try standard quality. Here’s
what we need to do.’ And
you can elect to do that.”
He said he is slowly get-
ting the word out in Clat-
sop County , with his web-
site
seasidesoundstudios.
myshopify.com, local social
media sites and contacts
with local businesses like
Music 101 on Avenue S.
“Especially for local art-
ists, my rates are very rea-
sonable because I do this
for more than the love of
money,” he said. “Any
money I make goes right
back into the business. I
think I’m unique in the posi-
tion that nobody that I know
of, unless you go to Port-
land, has the kind of equip-
ment that I have. I can’t fi t
an orchestra in here, but any
singer-songwriter, artist — I
can certainly get you in here
and we’re going to give you
industry-standard quality.”
Coleman said “Kyle’s got
this really amazing natural
talent for taking any artist
with any project, no matter
what the level is, in just rais-
ing mediocrity and bringing
it into a spectrum where it
shines . He is a real gem to
be found in Seaside.”
“I said, ‘Hey, why don’t
you come in and check it
out,” Manship said. “And
here we are, about to release
a seven-song CD next
month.”
According to Modin,
they’re also looking at
reconstructing the dug-
outs on the fi rst and third
base lines, and adding bull-
pens and pitching cages, as
well as a crow’s nest behind
home plate. The exist-
ing batting cages may see
improvements.
They also want to install
new lighting, although there
are questions concerning
the proximity of the fi eld
to the hospital’s helipad.
Additionally, they expect to
include parking and land-
scaping improvements and
extra storage.
According to Harde-
beck, the project scope is
still in the early conceptual
stage. Cost estimates will
be prepared for school dis-
trict review and approval as
the design progresses fur-
ther and more details are
determined. The project
team plans share estimates
for the project in the next
few months. The goal is to
start construction by late
April to early May.
The
school
board
approved the team’s recom-
mendation to make Wah-
anna the primary option
and move the project into
the next stage of design.
“I don’t think it closes
the door on looking at other
options,” Hardebeck said.
However, he added,
“This seems to be the
most viable option to cur-
rently get us to that end date
required by the Offi ce of
Civil Rights.”
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