Lone Fir tour

When Emmor Stepens died in 1846, he was buried at the farm of his son, J.B. Stephens, which was located a few miles east of the small town of Portland. When the younger Mr. Stephens sold the land to Colburn Barrell in 1854, it was the agreement that Barrell maintain the gravesite.

On April 8, 1854, the boiler of the steamship Gazelle exploded killing several people including Barrell's business partner, Crawford Dobbins. Barrell buried the victims near Emmor Stephens and set aside ten acres of his land as a cemetery.

Today, Lone Fir Cemetery is a wooded, landscaped arboretum in the heart of Oregon's largest city, Portland. Stroll through this peaceful place and visit the graves of the rich and poor, famous and infamous, and the young and old.

Near the Frush family plot stands a beautifully carved marble bowl. Once gracing the polished bar of Coluburn Barrell's saloon on First Street, it was a token of Portland's cheer in the years following 1849 as a receptacle for the Yuletide "Tom and Jerry", a kind of egg nog.

James Frush often enjoyed his sips from the yuletide bowl. He asked his good friend Mr. Barrell to place the bowl at his grave when he died, and the request was honored.

The marble lid of the bowl has disappeared, and flowering plants now fill the hollow from which the tasty concoction was once dipped at Christmas time.

Julius Ceasar was born December 23, 1830. An emancipated slave, Julius became an ardent baseball fan. When he died at the age of 75 in Portland, Oregon, it was his request that the epitaph "Play Ball" be inscribed on his gravestone.

In 1973 this unusual grave marker appeared in the syndicated newspaper column, Ripley's "Believe it or Not."

Look for the Julius Ceasar gravestone in block 19.

The gravestone of Frederic Roeder is small and rather common looking at first glance. Born in Stolp, Pommerania, a region of northern Europe on the Baltic Sea, this man was drowned at the young age of 39 on June 19, 1887.

Closer examination of the artwork reveals a graphic depiction of the death of Mr. Roeder complete with angry waves, a broken mast, an empty boat, and a hand reaching through the waters for aid that never came.

Dr James C. Hawthorne came to Portland in 1857 and later established the Oregon Hospital for the Insane. Possessed of a kindly nature and philanthropic spirit, the care he gave his indigent patients often included arranging for their final needs.

The massive monument memorializing Dr. Hawthorne stands near many of the 132 mental patients buried at Lone Fir Cemetery at his expense.

Dr. Hawthorne's obituary describes him as a tall man of imposing presence. The monument erected in his honor matches that description also.

Samuel L. Simpson came to Oregon with his parents in 1845 when but six months old. His mother is said to have taught him the alphabet by tracing the letters in the ashes on the hearthstone of the primitive family cabin they occupied in Marion County.

Samuel Simpson became Oregon's poet. That his work included the romantic subjects of pioneer life inspired the Sons and Daughters of Oregon Pioneers to erect this beautiful monument in his honor.

James B. Stephens came to Oregon in 1844 and operated the historic Stark Street ferry on the Willamette River in Portland.

James and Elizabeth Stephens were married more than 57 years when she died in 1887. The grieving widower is said to have had the couple's photograph taken a few years before her death. Until his death two years later, James was able to visit here and imagine again holding the hand of his dear wife.