IOOF Cemetery/Cherry Heights Cemetery
Cherry Heights Road The Dalles, Oregon
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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.
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| 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
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