By Kay Burt, Albany Regional Museum member
This year’s Albany Regional Museum-sponsored History Through Headstones Tour is coming full circle, honoring Albany’s founders and pioneers and celebrating Riverside Cemetery’s 175th anniversary. It will be held on Wednesday, July 20.
This is the 12th year for the free event which runs from 7 p.m. to dusk. Riverside Cemetery Association board members will serve light refreshments.
Map Courtesy Riverside Cemetery Association.
“In 2008 the Museum’s board decided to offer a cemetery tour based on then-director Tami Sneddon’s suggestions. We honored five individuals, including the Monteith brothers and Samuel Young, who are again on this year’s tour,” said John Buchner, who served on the original Headstone Tour committee. He is a current Museum member and Riverside Cemetery board member.
The Tour has been a success since the beginning with attendance growing each year. Average attendance has been 125-150, and last year topped the 200 mark. “Young faces are appearing, many now on their third or fourth Tour. Once they learn a little history of their town, they are eager to learn more,” said Museum member Peggy Kowal, who has helped coordinate the event since 2009.
Eleven people are being featured and are considered as Albany’s founders and early visionaries. In addition, David Pinyerd and Bernadette Niederer of Historic Preservation Northwest, will discuss their work at Riverside Cemetery for marker repair and restoration awarded to Riverside Cemetery by the Oregon Commission on Historic Cemeteries.
Here is an overview of those to be honored, along with the names of the docents who will talk about each one.
Hiram Smead (1824-1888) came to Oregon in 1845 and with Abner Hackleman, explored the site of present Albany. He took up a claim and spent the winter of 1845-46 in a cabin near the present corner of First and Ellsworth Streets, thus being the first permanent settler of the town. In 1848 or 1849 he sold his claim to Thomas and Walter Monteith for $400 and went to the California gold mines, was successful, and returned to Albany, filing a claim in what is known today as the Sunrise Addition. Docent: Daniel Murphy, ARM Board member
Walter Monteith Citation: Cartes-de-Visite Collection, Org. Lot 500, Oregon Historical Society Research Library
Walter Monteith (1816-1876) enjoyed a happy and loving marriage with Margaret Smith, who he married in 1865. They lived at one of Albany’s finest homes on Elm Street, raising three children on land that is today’s Albany General Hospital. While younger brother Thomas was involved in civic and political realms, Walter focused on his properties, donating land for Riverside Cemetery and helped underwrite the establishment of Albany Collegiate Institute in 1867. Walter was also one of the founders of Magnolia Flour Mill at the base of the Calapooia River. Docent: Kim Sass, ARM member
Thomas Monteith (1824-1899) was born near Broadalbin, NY, and came to Oregon Territory in 1847 with older brother Walter in the Thomas Cox wagon train. In May 1848 the brothers purchased Hiram Smead’s claim on land which is now the downtown business district, Bryant Park, and Albany General Hospital. They named Albany after their state capitol in New York. After serving in the Cayuse War and goldmining in California, Thomas went to Iowa and married Christina Marie Dunbar in 1854, a young girl that he met on his earlier journey to Oregon. The couple had five children. Thomas became a noted businessman and held several trusts under the county and city. He was twice elected country treasurer. He served as Albany’s mayor from 1878-79. Docent: Chet Houser, ARM member
John (1787-1856) and Rebecca Burkhart (1800-1884) lived with their twelve children in Iowa. Two of their sons, Raymond and Coriolanus, came to Oregon in 1846 and filed a land claim east of Abram Hackleman’s claim. The next year Coriolanus met his father, mother and their eight children on the Oregon Trail and brought them to Albany. John was the first postmaster in Albany and a school commissioner. As patriarch of the family, John owned directly or indirectly some 3,200 acres within a few miles of present-day Albany. After Thomas Monteith donated the land for Riverside Cemetery, John plotted it out, based on a cemetery he liked in Nashville, TN. He has the earliest birthdate of anyone buried at Riverside Cemetery, 1787. Docent: Judie Weissert, ARM member
Abner (1829-1904) and Eleanor Hackelman (1825-1899) were married in 1849 and lived in a cabin in the Hackleman’s Grove neighborhood and later moved to a Victorian home at Fifth and Jackson. In 1858 Abram purchased 3,000 acres near Prineville after driving 300 head of cattle across the Cascades. He helped plan and build the Santiam Wagon Road to promote trade. Abram was elected to the Albany city council and was a director of the Oregon Pacific Railroad. Eleanor conducted a school out of their home for neighborhood children and showed her compassionate nature by nursing sick babies of the Calapooia Indians who camped near Hackleman’s Grove. Docent: Kathy Martin, descendant and ARM member
Rev. James Patterson Millar (1792-1854) at age 59 was called to be a missionary in Oregon. He and his family settled in the west side of Albany where he built the well-known Octagon House. In 1851 at the Monteith House, the Albany United Presbyterian Church was formed, the first church in the nation organized as a United Presbyterian Church where Millar served as the first minister. Millar preached his last sermon on April 2, 1854, speaking on the glories of Christ’s kingdom. Two days later he made a trip to Portland, and on the return trip, the boiler of the steamboat The Gazelle exploded, and Miller was killed instantly by a piece of iron hitting his head. Docent: Larry Bardell, community volunteer
Stephen Daniel Haley (1805-1882) departed Springfield, MO in 1851 as a widower with seven children ranging in age from seven to twenty-two. Upon arrival in the mid-Valley, he, along with fellow wagon train members Dave Froman, Nimrod Price, Martin Payne, and Nathan Morgan, staked their donation land claims adjacent to each other near present-day Grand Prairie Road east of Interstate 5. In 1856 Haley married Diantha Holmes and they alternated between their Peoria farm and a home on the northeast corner of Fifth and Washington Streets. Haley was the first county judge. He was elected to the Oregon State Senate three times representing Linn County. Docent: Liz Rapp, Haley Family member
Samuel Ewing Young (1838-1919) and Naomi Althouse Young. Samuel was a merchant and partner in Barrows & Co. later known as S.E. Young & Co. He developed much of Albany’s southwest downtown, building the S.E. Young building in 1887 which presently is the home of Albany Regional Museum. Young built a third clothing store at 124 Broadalbin Street in 1912, frequently traveling to San Francisco by steamer to buy the latest fashions. This store is known today as The Natty Dresser. Samuel and Naomi gifted their Third & Ferry property for a public library. Docent: Kitty Buchner, ARM Board member