Clark County, WA Poor Farm Cemetery

Clark County Poor Farm Cemetery
1873 to 1935

The Clark County Poor Farm Cemetery is located on Washington State Experimental Facility property. The County (Clark) maintains the cemetery grounds.

The entrance is located at aproximately 1816 or 1814 NE 68th Street, Vancouver, WA.

There is no mailing address nor mailbox. The above address is only an approximation of the physical location where you will find the narrow drive (**View Drive HERE) up the property, along with a gate.
(**View the Gate HERE)

The property is posted "keep out". Anyone interested in viewing the cemetery should first get permission from the office at the experimental facility or Clark County.

Because the graves were of the county's poor, their markers were only metal plaquards, which have long-since been lost, damaged, or stolen by vandals.
View inside of Cemetery HERE.

There were supposed to be two markers left, but at the time we visited the site (April 25th, 2001) the only evident marker was a flat stone for Elias Koser (1857-1929).
View the stone HERE.

There is a large boulder at the far back of the cemetery. On it are two metal plaques.

The upper plaque reads:

IN LIFE FORSAKEN
IN DEATH FORGOTTEN
THESE UNKNOWN PIONEERS
BUILT OUR DESTINY
**View Plaque HERE

The lower (larger) plaque reads:

FROM 1873 TO 1935 APPROXIMATELY
200 PERSONS WERE BURIED ON THIS PLOT.
OVERCOME BY MISFORTUNE AND ADVERSITY
THEY CAME TO THIS FINAL RESTING PLACE
FROM THE CLARK COUNTY POOR FARM.

ALTHOUGH THEIR LIVES ENDED IN
POVERTY, THESE PIONEERS RAISED FAMILIES
AND TOILED IN THE WOODS AND FIELDS
TO BUILD THIS COUNTRY.

THIS MONUMENT IS DEDICATED TO
THOSE UNKNOWN PIONEERS DECEMBER 22, 1966.

BY ORDER OF THE BOARD OF CLARK COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS KENNETH E. TETER, CHAIRMAN
LAWRENCE BEAUCHAMP, J.A. (JIM) WORTHINGTON.
**View Plaque HERE

Also located at the top of the cemetery, to the left, is an abandoned stone building. We spoke with a gentleman who lived next to the cemetery for over 50 years. He told us that the building was once used as a radio transmission center for Clark County ambulances. It may have had other purposes. Not long ago police removed a transient who was living inside.
View the Building HERE.

I have lived in Clark County for over 30 years, and never knew this cemetery existed. It was wonderful to walk the grounds and wonder what life was like in the County back when the cemetery was in use.

However, it was truly sad to see the open ground, knowing that some 200 people are buried there, with no markers left to identify their final resting places.

The gentleman we spoke with said that the County only mows the cemetery about twice a year!! What a Horrible thing!! As we walked, the grass was up to our knees in much of the cemetery.

The first plaque says " IN LIFE FORSAKEN, IN DEATH FORGOTTEN" ... Well, hopefully we, as fellow genealogists and historians, can keep these ancestors from being Forgotten.

Here is a link to the burial index posted at CCGS & Rootsweb:
Clark Co. Poor Farm Cemetery index,
from a book by Rose Marie Harshman, Kitty Oman, & Mary Snell.
The page not only contains the burial list, but also information on the funeral homes and dates serving the poor farm. To view the list and info, go to:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~waclark/poorfarm.htm

To join other Clark County researchers in locating your ancestors, please consider joining the Clark County, WA mailing list by sending "Subscribe" message/subject to either:

WACLARK-D-request@rootsweb.com (for digest mode)

WACLARK-L-request@rootsweb.com (for individual messages)

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.............Last update: 05/26/04 09:46:33 PM

These pages were created by and the property of Pat Hanning, copyrighted 1997-2004, all rights reserved. No duplication or reproduction in whole or in part is permitted without author's express written consent. No consent is ever given to sites Charging Admission Fees, or to entities reselling information or accesses. These pages will remain FREE.