Filling In The Blanks....The Search for Josiah Thomas Boothby (Part 2)

  IOOF Cemetery/Cherry Heights Cemetery

Cherry Heights Road The Dalles, Oregon

Find A Grave Image

      Cemetery searches are a natural part of any genealogist's efforts to research, document and celebrate family history. We map out locations, take lots of  pictures and sometimes traipse through weeds and bushes looking for any marker or headstone that records the final resting place of an ancestor.  Personally, it is one of my favorite family history activities.  

   Something I have found is that over time information on family cemetery locations or burial plot locations can be lost after only a few generations. It happens more than you think it would. Headstones and markers degrade and records can be destroyed.  Family members move away from the area.  Information is not passed down to succeeding generations. And not everything can be found online these days.  I believe the exact location of Josiah Thomas Boothby's burial was indeed lost (at least to me). I have been looking online and researching quite a few years with no luck.  Yet I knew he had to be somewhere! 

  Was I able to find him? Serendipitously, yes!  

   I knew that Josiah had  funeral services conducted from the Christian Church in The Dalles, so his body must have been taken from Portland to The Dalles in a matter of days after his death.  His burial had to have been somewhere in The Dalles area.  From my visit  earlier in the afternoon to The Dalles Library I found out that he was buried in the IOOF (International Order of Odd Fellows) Cemetery, now a part of the Cherry Heights Cemetery.  That was one piece of information I was very happy to have; but exactly where was he?  It is a large cemetery comprised of many different sections. Finding his burial plot would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.  The cemetery was only a few minutes away from the library, so off we went. 

   The directions to the cemetery are as follows (do not rely on Google Maps for directions...you will end up in someone's backyard...).  

In the city of The Dalles:  Take Cherry Heights Road up the hill from West 6th Street past St. Peter's Cemetery on the right hand side.  The driveway is about 100 yards beyond West 13th Street on the left hand side.  It is open Monday through Friday, 8-5. 

Google Maps November 2025

   We drove through the entrance that Wednesday afternoon, then slowly drove to the end of the drive taking in the expanse of the grounds.  The Pioneer Cemetery is at the southwest end of the property, and we started looking there.  Beautiful trees lined the drive and it was peaceful and quiet. 

 Cherry Heights Cemetery, looking northeast  from the lower section.

Photograph by Patti Alden October 7, 2025

   Of course, the search for an exact plot would be impossible without more information to go on.  I would have been happy just being there and getting a feel for the area.  On the way out we noticed that the small office had an open sign.  I was thinking there was no possibility they would know where Josiah was buried. but I had to try.  I opened the door and was greeted by a sleepy golden lab. There was a nice man working at the desk; he had a large old ledger in front of him that he was using to compare information on his computer screen.  He said "Can I help you?"  And I said, "I'm looking for my great grandfather.  I hope you can help me find him!"  And the nice man said, "What is his name?"

   Josiah Thomas Boothby was in the cemetery's computer system.  We had a wonderful chat about family history while he looked up Josiah's information in the large ledger, which just happened to be the record book he was working with at the time.  The information didn't quite jive with what he had in the computer, so he made sure to correct a few things there so the transcription from the ledger was correct.  Then he printed out a map of where we could find the plot.  I was not allowed to take photographs of the ledger of course, as it contained private information on other individuals.  But, I did get a good look at it!  The page that had Josiah's information recorded was from October 13th, 1915.  Just amazing. 

 The map from the Cemetery office.  

    

   Josiah's plot was paid for by his step son Clyde Dale Horner who also took care of the arrangements. According to the office manager,  Josiah was most likely given a simple brick marker with his name, date of birth and date of death.  His information is located in the IOOF Record Big Book 1, page 259.  His plot is located in the Middle Section, Row 30, Plot KK.   Unfortunately, the markers in that particular section are currently under several inches of grass and were not visible at the time of our visit. But, with some directions to find the two Japanese Maples we were able to find the general area of Josiah's burial. 

 Look for two Japanese Maples in the middle section.  

Photograph by Patti Alden October 7, 2025. 

 The Middle section.  Row 30 is in this general vicinity, section KK.  The markers are all under several inches of grass.  Looking southwest. 

Photograph by Patti Alden October 7, 2025.

    

Approximate location of Josiah Thomas Boothby's burial plot. You can see the two Japanese Maples as reference.

Google Maps November 2025.

    Josiah Boothby passed away in Portland on October 11, 1915 and was interred just a few days after that.  His body was most likely transported back to The Dalles on the train.  His youngest step son Clyde Dale Horner was just 20 years old.  His oldest son Thomas Josiah was 17 years old.  My grandfather Sterl was 8 years old, and his younger brother Harold was just 7.  My great grandmother Lillie Mae was left to finish raising these 4 boys without the support of her husband.  Her older children Marion, Ceola and Harold were already married and beginning their families.  I imagine that this remaining family, as well as community members who knew Josiah,  would have attended the funeral at the Christian Church (no longer standing) and would have been present at the cemetery when he was buried. 

    

 The Boothby boys
Harold, Thomas (Tommie) and Sterl.  
"The Dalles 1914"
From Sterl Boothby's Photograph Album

 Lillie Mae Hayman Horner Boothby

"Mother The Dalles 1915"

From Sterl Boothby's Photograph Album.

     Over the next several days we explored Grass Valley and Kent  where the Boothbys also lived and worked before Josiah's death.  I was able to fill in even more blanks on this branch of my family tree.  More to come....

Relationship Reference:  Me->Dale Richard Boothby->Sterl Kenneth Boothby->Josiah Thomas Boothby->Josiah Stewart Boothby

Filling In The Blanks....The Search for Josiah Thomas Boothby (Part 1)

  The Dalles Public Library 

722 Court Street, The Dalles, Wasco County, Oregon.

What would I find in here? 

Photograph by Patti Alden October 7, 2025

   It has been quite awhile since I have posted!  I took a long, much needed break from writing.  My last post was February of 2025 and since then our spring and summer was full of cross country travel and spending time with family far and near.  I am back home and ready to put things down on paper (or out in the blogosphere) and share what I've recently discovered about my great grandfather, Josiah Thomas Boothby. 

   I specially planned our last camping trip of the year to help me jumpstart my Boothby research again. It was a wonderful fall trip up US 97 to the Columbia River area in central Oregon. We drove north from Reno through pines and yellow aspens and then continued north to the flood basalts of the Columbia Plateau.  As far as the eye could see were fallow wheat fields dotted with towering wind turbines. 

istockphoto

 

The Columbia River looking east from the Maryhill Museum of Art.  The Sam Hill Memorial Bridge crosses from Oregon to Washington state on US 97.  If you look closely, you can see the wind turbines on the top of the plateau. 

Photograph by Patti Alden

October 10, 2025

We made our way down through the canyons to the great Columbia River and stayed in Maryhill, on the Washington side of the river. 

The Columbia River, Mt. Hood, vineyards and orchards looking west from the Maryhill Stonehenge Memorial,  Maryhill, Washington.  

Photograph by Patti Alden October 5, 2025

  In addition to exploring the area, I wanted to do some archival searches for any information on the death of Josiah Boothby in 1915. I knew very little of why he died or where he was buried.  Several side trips took us to The Dalles Library, the Sherman County Historical Museum in Moro, and short visits to Grass Valley and Kent where the Boothbys and the Horners farmed wheat. I met some lovely people who were more than willing to share their knowledge of the area with me. More importantly, I think I gained a true sense of place while we drove through endless miles of wheat fields and passed old homesteads still standing from the turn of the century. If you removed the wind turbines, the landscape would have looked much the same as it did in the early 1900's! We followed the same routes my great grandparents took while living in the area as we drove through the gorge on I-84 heading west to The Dalles from the Sherman Highway on 97 and east towards Rufus. 

  

 Our trip took us north through Kent and Grass Valley, east to Rufus and west to The Dalles.  

 Google Maps

  Lillie Mae Hayman Horner Boothby and Josiah Thomas Boothby.  This photograph was taken before the fall of 1915 as Josiah passed away on October 11 in Portland Oregon.  He was 59 years old. 

Photograph in our family collection. 

     I previously posted about Josiah's life in 2021 and what I knew about him.  Since then, I have done extensive online searches looking for a death certificate to find out what kind of cancer he had or any record of where he might have been buried. The only clues I had to go on were  from several online obituaries that stated Josiah had gone to Portland for an operation for cancer and died there.  His funeral services were held at the Christian Church in The Dalles.  I was having no luck finding anything new on the internet. 

   I have often wondered what brought Lillie Mae and Josiah to this part of Oregon.  They were in Lexington and Heppner working as wheat farmers in 1898 and through the 1900 census.  By 1907 they were in Kent where my grandfather Sterl was born.  They may have moved because of the damage caused by the Heppner flood in 1903 or after the death of his father Josiah Stewart  in 1905.  Josiah Thomas leased land in Grass Valley owned by O.P. King and farmed wheat there until his death in 1915.  

 "Our combine at Grass Valley 1911"

From Sterl Boothby's Photograph Album

  I had so many missing pieces to Josiah's story that I needed to fill in.  My trip to the library was the first step. 

   From my online searches I discovered The Dalles Public Library had a genealogy and local history section.  So, after a morning spent visiting apple orchards near Hood River, we drove through the town of The Dalles for a bit and then stopped at the library before heading back to Maryhill. I found the genealogy section towards the back of the library and began going through the card catalog.......

 Found in the B's section of the card catalog. 

  Within a very few minutes I had my answers!  My great grandfather went to Portland for an operation for stomach cancer and died during the procedure. His funeral was held in The Dalles and he was buried in the IOOF Cemetery. I had filled in two important blanks in his life in the span of about 20 minutes. Someone at some point had transcribed these two newspaper obituaries and added them to the card catalog. The newspapers were on microfilm (and not on Newspapers.com) but because of these transcriptions I did not need to spend time looking in a different section of the library.  I am so thankful!  

   Guess where we headed next....

IOOF Cemetery 

Cherry Heights Road

The Dalles Oregon

Find A Grave image

  

 Part 2 coming soon!

Relationship Reference:  Me->Dale Richard Boothby->Sterl Kenneth Boothby->Josiah Thomas Boothby->Josiah Stewart Boothby

Who Was Clifford Ross Hayes? Adding to the Hayes Family Tree....

 The San Francisco Examiner

Wednesday, June 1, 1892

newspapers.com

    Who was Clifford Ross Hayes? This name came up in a search I was doing through newspapers.com the other day.  I was very surprised to see that Frank and Sallie E. Hayes had another child, as I always thought Lester Franklin Hayes was an only child.  Lester was my great grandfather; he married my great grandmother Emma King in 1908 in San Francisco.  Clifford Ross was Lester's younger brother!  Quite a discovery! 

    Clifford was born when Sallie was 36 years old, and when Franklin was 38 years old.  He was born 10 years after his older brother Lester.  There are no records discovered (yet) of any other children born between Lester's birth in 1882 and Clifford's birth in 1892.  

 The San Francisco Examiner

Wednesday, June 1, 1892

newspapers.com

       

 San Francisco Chronicle 

Thursday, June 2, 1892

newspapers.com

    Funeral services were held shortly after Clifford's death at the Hayes home,  18 Elgin Park, in San Francisco.  Hayes family members in attendance with Frank and Sallie Hayes were most likely Lester and Lillie Ross Hayes, Franklin's mother.  The death date for Lillie's husband Robert is unknown at this time, so he may or may not have been alive in 1892.  Frank's brothers Joseph and William were possibly in attendance.  Sallie's Crawford siblings (Mary and George) were living in San Francisco, and may have also attended.  Sallies' parents John Washington Crawford and Sarah Byerly Crawford were still living at the time in the city, and may have attended. Members of the Cummings family may have also been present.  It must have been a very sad and somber gathering for everyone, especially Franklin, Sallie and Lester. 

   I don't know why Clifford didn't live past his first birthday.  His death certificate or any records of burial may have been lost in the 1906 Great Earthquake.  He may have been buried in one of the original San Francisco cemeteries which were  later moved to Colma after 1900.  Robert Hayes had purchased plots in the Lone Mountain Cemetery in 1863. Bodies from this cemetery (later named Laurel Hill) were not completely relocated to Colma until after 1940, and unclaimed headstones were reused for seawalls and erosion control.  Many were used for lining rain gutters.  Clifford's funeral notice did not give a place of internment, so we just don't know what happened to his body after his death. 

 Clifford Ross Hayes

b. ? 1891 d. May 31, 1892 aged 1 year. 

Image from Pinterest

   

    Clifford was given the middle name Ross, which was his paternal grandmother's maiden name.  Lester and Emma gave their first daughter the same middle name:  Dorothy Ross Hayes.  In memory of Lillie Ross Hayes and Clifford Ross Hayes.  I have added Clifford to the family tree where he will no longer be lost to time or forgotten. 

#National Hat Day.... Vere Burrows Hansen Poses in Her Hat

 

 

Vere Hansen (on left) with an unknown group of adults.  Her oldest son Jack Hansen is standing in front of the group. This was probably taken around 1911 or so.  Enlarged from the original.

From the Hansen Family Photograph Album

  

    Happy National Hat Day!  Yes, there is such a thing.  It has been celebrated since 1983, and the date marks an occurrence that took place on January 15,  1797 when London haberdasher John Heatherington appeared in court.  His crime was disturbing the peace by wearing the first ever top hat in public. Several women fainted and a young boy broke his arm after being frightened by the tall hat.  Imagine that!

   The above photograph was found in the Hansen Family photograph album.  My great grandmother, Vere Hansen, is sporting a very fashionable hat for the day (this picture was taken around 1911-1912).  Women's hats around this time were at their largest; the brims often extended beyond the wearer's shoulders.  Hat pins (some as long as 18") were skewered through the hat and the hair to secure the headpiece.  The unknown ladies posing with Vere are sporting stylish headwear also.  

   This is the original photograph. It almost looks like this group is on a boat; the photo may have been taken in San Francisco while Vere was staying with her mother because her husband John Hansen was away in Central America. It may also have been taken when Vere and little Jack boarded a ship to La Union, San Salvador, to meet John in 1912.  The young woman third from the left might be Vere's sister Gladys Burrows at around 19 years of age. 

    This photograph was found in Vere's family photograph album.  No identification was found on the back. 

Relationship Reference:

Me->Margaret Hansen Boothby->Harold Hansen-Vere Burrows Hansen m. John Hartwig Hansen