22 May Bringing pioneer history to life at Ashland Cemetery
Tombstone Tales.
Pioneer stories at 7 grave sites.
Who helped elect President Lincoln?
Who bridged two cultures?
34 photos!
Published May 2025.
“Tombstone Tales,” which took place last week in Ashland Cemetery, was a fun way of bringing pioneer history to life. Nearly 150 people came to “meet” and hear stories of seven pioneer families who are buried at this historic cemetery on East Main Street, the one behind Safeway. This photo essay is an expanded version of my article that appeared in Ashland.news on May 19, 2025.
Our cemetery event was part of 2025 Historic Preservation Week. Sponsored by Ashland’s Historic Preservation Advisory Committee since the 1980s, the week puts a spotlight on our historic homes, commercial buildings and our pioneer history. Since many of the pioneers are (literally) in Ashland Cemetery, Katy Repp and Shelby Scharen approached me in mid-March with this email request: “We are planning a “Meet the Ghosts” event on Weds May 14th, with actors that play as historic Ashland residents, hosted in one of our historic cemeteries.” I said “Yes” to helping plan the event, and it turned into something beyond what I could envision. We ended up with pioneer stories at seven grave sites, with all of our actors in costume.
Treats to accompany the stories.
Guests who came for the history stories also had treats at two grave sites. Bruce Hall portrayed “the old cider man” William Powell, who sold his apple cider at the Ashland train station for decades. Colleen Patrick-Riley portrayed his wife Rosanah. What did they serve the guests? Apple cider, of course. (Not aged for 120 years, however.) You might like to know that their family home is still here, at 462 A Street, where you can now purchase pet supplies rather than apple cider.
Judy Singer (who portrayed Elizabeth Applegate) baked snickerdoodles, a popular American cookie since the late 1800s. That’s when Lindsay and Elizabeth Applegate owned 160 acres of Ashland that became the Railroad District in the 1880s.
At six of the sites, the husband and wife bantered back and forth, following a script that told family stories connected with Ashland history. The seventh site was a single woman, Ashland’s first woman telegrapher. Each script was about six minutes long, so the entire tour took an hour for the guests to complete. My original plan was to write the seven scripts for the event, a daunting task.
Then I stumbled upon a gold mine while wearing blindfolds. I knew my friend Lynn Ransford had experience with history events in Jacksonville, so I asked if she would help us with some advice. What I found out, to my surprise, was that Lynn helped coordinate Ashland Cemetery pioneer story tours the last time they were done – in 2012 and 2013! Not only that, she still had pioneer story scripts from those years – and she was excited to help! Between the years 2009 and 2013, the event had been called “Tombstone Tales,” so we also adopted that name for our 2025 event. Now we had a coordinating team (Katy, Lynn and Peter), but only two months to pull together an ambitious project.
Bringing pioneer history to life … at 7 grave sites
If you had been there on May 14, 2025 and taken the tour to all seven grave sites, here is a taste of what you would have seen and heard (in addition to apple cider and snickerdoodles). As our cemetery entrance tables, you would have been met by two Greeters in costume: Carol Yirak and Marian Crumme. I was there as the Historian, with 28 historic 8 x 10 photos that people could peruse as they waited for their tour to begin.
“Many people buried in our cemeteries had a huge influence on the development of Oregon, not just Ashland. Those stories are worth telling.” Lynn Ransford
The first tour stop was the grave site of Abel Helman and his wife Martha Helman.
Abel Helman and Martha Helman
Abel and Martha Helman certainly had lives full of drama. Living in Ohio, they married in 1849. Abel was a carpenter and farmer. I will let Martha pick up the story here, as she told it during Tombstone Tales. “Abel and I were married in 1849. I was pregnant with our first child Almeda in 1850 when you got the “gold bug” and traveled to make your fortune in California. Tell the good folks how much of a fortune you made.
Abel: Now Martha, don’t rub it in. After a year of mining and losing money every month, I felt desperate, homesick and hungry. My low point was while a group of us were mining at Salmon Creek in the Spring of 1851. An unexpected blizzard cut us off. We were marooned, and sugar was the only thing left to eat for two weeks!
Martha: But as they say, ‘Every cloud has a silver lining.’ The silver lining for our family was that you decided to settle down in the beautiful Rogue Valley in what was then the Oregon Territory.”
In 1852, Abel Helman helped found the small community of Ashland, and the first business – a sawmill. In 1853, he went back to Ohio to get his wife Martha, their infant daughter, and the wife and child of his Ashland co-founder and friend Eber Emery. The two families took the “easier” route from Ohio to Ashland. “Easier” than the treacherous Oregon Trail, but not easy by any means.
As Martha told the guests who attended Tombstone Tales: “With our two family’s belongings, we traveled from Ohio to New York, then boarded a ship that brought us to the east coast of Panama. Mrs. Emery and I, with our two children, rode on mules across the Isthmus of Panama. Another ship brought us to San Francisco. The last couple hundred miles, we were back on horses or mules as we crossed the Siskiyou Mountains and finally arrived in our new home.” The population of Ashland was about 25 people at that time.
The family name lives on through Helman Street and Helman School. You can still see their home, and the Osage Orange tree Abel planted in the front yard, at the corner of Helman Street and Orange Avenue.
James Sutton and Mary Sutton
Sutton introduced himself to the tour groups: “I’m James McCall Sutton, founder and first editor of the Ashland Tidings newspaper. You might not know the Tidings if you recently moved to Ashland. For a small town newspaper, it had a very long life – from 1876 until 2021.”
At six of the seven grave sites, family stories were told through dialog and banter between the husband and wife. Lynn Ransford (who portrayed Martha Helman) described why this approach was used during the Ashland Cemetery tour. “Contributions of pioneer women are seldom mentioned in history books. Most of what we know about their lives comes from their diaries or letters. Listening to female pioneers tell their personal stories about overcoming challenges, and their contributions to the Westward Movement (and to the development of Ashland), offered great opportunities for visitors to learn more about important roles that women played.”
James and Mary Sutton provide a good example of this banter, as seen below.
“Mary: Well, dear, that was all well and good, but you are forgetting to recognize the pioneer women, too. You, and lots of folks, tend to overlook the women pioneers. There is very little historical record of them, unless they wrote a diary.
James: Mary, that is so true. I am grateful for all you did to keep our family together; raising our three children; and all those endless chores in the home and garden.
Mary: Yes, it was hard but satisfying work. Once again, James, you are leaving out the equally important work we ladies did for the entire community. Many of the women buried right here in this cemetery helped start the Ashland Library, the Normal School that has grown into a university, and lovely Lithia Park. Before we women even had the right to vote, in 1908 we got a measure on the ballot to tear down the dilapidated old flour mill right next to Ashland Plaza, and dedicate many acres of land along Ashland Creek for a new city park. It passed by a vote of more than 5 to 1, and it wasn’t many years before Lithia Park was being called ‘the jewel of Ashland.'”
“It is remarkable that we have someone in our cemetery who helped Lincoln become President. I think that’s really noteworthy.” Lynn Ransford
Lindsay Applegate and Elizabeth Applegate
“Come on closer. We’re dead. We don’t bite.” That is how Judy Singer (portraying Elizabeth Appegate) broke the ice with the first tour group to reach the Applegate grave site.
We were honored to have Lindsay Applegate portrayed by Mark Kellenbeck. Lindsay is his great-great-great-uncle. Mark is a descendant of Lindsay’s brother Jesse Applegate. Both brothers knew Abraham Lincoln as children, and Jesse had a life-long correspondence with Lincoln through letters.
Mark said, “It was heartwarming for me to see the level of interest from the people who came out.” All thirteen of the “actors” who portrayed pioneers enjoyed the way attendees related to their pioneer stories, both the funny ones and the tragedies. The Applegate stories had examples of both. Here’s an excerpt from Lindsay and Elizabeth’s dialog in a humorous vein.
Lindsay: Betsy was reminding me of when I first met Abe. We go way back.
Betsy: We were laughing about the time Lindsay was visiting his Aunt Letticia Applegate, in Illinois. Aunt Lettie was a good lady who always made sure to observe the Sabbath properly.
Lindsay: One Sunday, her young neighbor, Abe, came by in his scraggly overalls.
Betsy: “The Gangly One,” Aunt Lettie called him.
Lindsay: Abe talked a bunch of us boys into going ‘coon hunting. We took our hound dogs and treed those coons. When they poked their little faces outta the tree, we couldn’t stop laughing. Abe said, just like Aunt Letticia, shaking his long finger: “Now, boys, there ought not be such levity on the Sabbath.”
Soon afterward, their dialog turned tragic. Here is another excerpt, as Lindsay describes the death of a young son and nephew.
“Lindsay: Back in 1843, we and our six oldest children were part of one of the first wagon trains from Missouri to the Oregon Territory – 100 wagons and 800 people in all. Sadly, tragedy struck toward the end of our journey. Our nine-year-old son Warren and our ten-year-old nephew Edward drowned when one of the boats capsized on the mighty Columbia River. That was one reason my brother Jesse and I felt obligated to help blaze a southern route from the Midwest to Oregon that avoided the Columbia River. It came to be called the Applegate Trail. You’ve probably heard of it, right?”
Did you notice the quote about Lincoln that introduces this section? Here it is again: “It is remarkable that we have someone in our cemetery who helped Lincoln become President.” Not only did Lindsay and Jesse Applegate know Abe Lincoln as children, they and other family members also campaigned statewide to help Lincoln win Oregon’s three electoral college votes in the Presidential election of 1860.
That is a lot of history at one grave site!
On a personal note, Judy told me that she was initiated into the Elks four weeks ago. Most who live in Ashland know that the Elks Lodge is four-story building downtown on East Main Street. As Judy was learning to tell Elizabeth’s stories, she found out that “her” Applegate family house had been located right where the Elks Lodge was built in 1910. Judy said knowing that gave extra meaning to being an Elk.
Emma Howard James
Emma Howard James introduced herself with these lines.
“Good afternoon. I am Emma Howard James. I am proud to tell you that I was the first woman telegrapher in Ashland – when I was only 19 or 20 years old. I also assisted the Ashland Postmaster, my step-father A.P. Howard, during my teen years. Being a telegrapher was a respected job for a woman in the late 1800s. Wells Fargo hired me after I proved that I was proficient in transmitting and receiving Morse Code. I worked in the Wells Fargo office on the ground floor of the Ganiard Opera House building. Who knows the name of the store that is there today in the same place my office was?”
The Ganiard Opera House, built in 1890, had a large community auditorium on the second and third floors of the building downtown, one block from Ashland Plaza. O. Winter’s grocery store occupied most of the ground floor, with the Wells Fargo office at the prominent corner entrance. Though the top two floors of Ganiard Opera House burned in 1912, you can still see the original limestone block entrance walls in current photos of the one-story building that has remained to this day.
Emma left her Wells Fargo job after eight years. As she put it during the Tombstone Tales tour, “I was courted by Mr. Thomas Francis James, a mining engineer and superintendent of the Shorty Hope Mine. We got married in May of 1896, and of course I resigned from my Wells Fargo job since I was a married woman.”
William Powell and Rosanah Powell
William Powell was a well-known “character” in the early years of Southern Pacific train service to Ashland. He told visitors on the tour: “I am William Powell. Well, I hate to brag, but in my obituary in the 1913 Ashland Tidings, I was described as ‘perhaps the most widely known man in Ashland.’ This is merely because I was here at my cider cart by the railroad depot for a quarter of a century. The train came almost every day, gorging out passengers, fortunately thirsty ones.”
Powell had an apple cider cart at the train station and also a store across the street from the station. The sign on his store said in big letters: “THE OLD CIDER MAN.”
We don’t know very much about his wife Rosanah. They were married in 1860 in Indiana and had seven children together. In 1889, the Powell’s built a small house at 462 A Street, one block from the train station. The house looks just about the same in 2025 as it did 136 years ago.
Powell’s apple cider press was located near the house, as well as a few of his apple trees. At that time, the hillsides south of Ashland were covered with orchards growing apples, peaches and other fruits, so he had an endless supply of apples for his business. During the cemetery tour, Powell described how Ashland fruit growers were able to sell nationwide.
“William: I had plenty of business serving the train passengers. On a bigger scale, the coming of trains in the 1880s made it possible to plant orchards that covered the hillsides above town. Because of the speed of trains, and the ice we cut from our frozen winter lakes and insulated in straw all year round, fresh Rogue Valley fruit began to sell all over the country! When Max Pracht of Ashland won the Gold Medal for the best peaches in the country at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, our Ashland peaches got premium prices. Like Harry & David does with pears today. I was proud of our good fruit and of having a good life.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed the cemetery tour today. The actors were wonderful. I actually had tears in my eyes when they spoke of losing children to illness or accidents.” Tim McCartney, founder of “Ashland Oregon – Then and Now” Facebook group.
John McCall and Lizzie McCall
John and Lizzie McCall were both “movers and shakers” during the first 50 years or so of Ashland’s history. Lizzie was the first school teacher – when she was still a teenager herself! John helped start major businesses, such as his General Store, Ashland’s first bank, and the Ashland Woolen Mill, the town’s largest employer for 30 years.
During their dialog at the grave site, Lizzie praised other contributions he made. She said, “You were a good businessman, but I am also proud of the many ways you uplifted our community. You helped Ashland’s women get our town library started. Politically, you served as Mayor and you were elected twice to terms in the Oregon State legislature. You believed in education enough to serve on the Board of Regents of Ashland State Normal School.”
One of the most poignant moments of the tour, which Tim McCartney alluded to in his quote above, was John and Lizzie describing the death of their daughter Elsie.
“Lizzie: We have had so many great days. I think we should also acknowledge a very sad day for our family. Our daughter Elsie, who was a ray of sunshine to everyone who knew her, had been weakened by a serious measles infection at age eight. Never able to regain full health, she passed away at home on April 20, 1890 when she was only 17 years old. As we were mourning our loss, we decided to do something positive. Later that year, we planted a Southern magnolia tree in Elsie’s memory, right in our front yard where everyone could admire it.
John: Whether because Elsie blessed it or for some other reason, the tree thrived immediately. Here’s what the Ashland Tidings newspaper said about it in 1891, just one year later. ‘The young magnolia tree at the McCall residence on Oak Street is in full bloom, and the perfume from a number of very large flowers fills the air in its neighborhood. The magnolia does well here, and it is strange that there are not more of them in town.’ Well, that makes ‘Elsie’s tree’ 135 years old this year, a much longer life than normal for Southern magnolias. I hope you folks will stop by our house and admire the beautiful tree.”
I will add that I had this photo of Elsie at our photos table near the cemetery entrance. A group of five young girls noticed Elsie’s photo and asked me about it. When I told them that Elsie was very ill as a young girl and then died at age 17, they were visibly moved.
Katy Repp added her experience with the girls. “Oh! They were very sweet. They saw your photo of (my daughter) Elsie and wanted to know all about her. When they did my tour, I guided them to the side [of the McCall grave marker] where her name is.”
Mr. Wong and Mrs. Wong – bridging two cultures
Mr. Wong was a Chinese labor contractor for Southern Pacific Railroad for 42 years. That position gave him great respect professionally and within the Ashland community. He and his wife used that respect and the income that came with it to become a bridge between the local Chinese community and the larger Ashland community.
During the cemetery tour, Mrs. Wong talked about their family. “Mrs. Wong: We had three children: Jennie, Sammy and Gin Tie. Little Gin Tie born 1905, but not healthy baby. She died only nine months old. We very sad. She buried here, but not even a tombstone. Like all Chinese here in those days. Many years after I die, a very nice lady from Ashland Historic Railroad Museum made the gravestone for our daughter.
“Jennie and Sammy both go to school here. Many kids not nice. Make fun of them. Call them mean names. But Jennie and Sammy good children. One girl, Mabel Dunlap, she very nice. She good friend to our Jennie. She like it in our house. She like my cooking. She especially like fish head with leeks, shrimp and dried smoked chicken all the way from China. She spend time in garden. Mabel even help me write letters in English.”
The Wong’s owned three properties at the corner of A Street and Second Street in the Railroad District. They had a two-story house with a Chinese grocery store downstairs. Through the store, Mr. Wong provided food for Chinese railroad workers and for those who lived in the small Ashland Chinatown of the time.
The family friend Mabel, mentioned by Mrs. Wong, told how American kids who lived in the Railroad District loved the Wong’s store for exotic penny candies from China, while local men folk preferred the Chinese plum wine and rice wine for their treats.
Here is a brief example of bridging Chinese and American cultures from Mr. Wong’s story at the event. “Everybody like firecrackers. I sell lots. We light many, many more firecrackers on Chinese New Year to scare away the bad stuff from the old year!
I spend lot of time with other businessmen in Ashland, even the mayor. Only if people like you, you can do good business. I even drive my car in 4th of July parade – all done up in Red, White, and Blue! People like that. They even write about me in the [Ashland Tidings] newspaper!”
Wrap-up: I hope this gives you a little flavor of this lively cemetery event. This was the first Tombstone Tales pioneer story-telling in Ashland since 2013. Many of the attendees were enthusiastic, saying, “You have to do this again next year.” In fact, both during and after the event, more than a dozen people said they wanted to participate as actors or helpers in the next Tombstone Tales. So “stay tuned” for 2026!
Here are the names of our thirteen pioneers and other helpers who made Tombstone Tales 2025 possible.
Pioneer’s name — Portrayed by
Abel D. Helman — John Richards
Martha J. Helman — Lynn Ransford
James Sutton — John Tyler
Mary Sutton — Dickie Wilson
Lindsay Applegate — Mark Kellenbeck
Elizabeth Applegate — Judy Singer
Emma Howard James — Marlene Baker
William Powell — Bruce Hall
Rosanah Powell — Colleen Patrick-Riley
John A. McCall — Jesse Repp
Lizzie McCall — Katy Repp
Mr. Wong (Wong Quon Sue) — Joseph Kuo
Mrs. Wong (Wong Soo Lue) — Meiwen Richards
Greeter — Carol Yirak
Greeter — Marian Crumme
Historian — Peter Finkle
Costumes provided by Karen Griffiths of the Ashland High School drama department, and by Ann Wilton of Renaissance Rose.
The event was sponsored by the Historic Preservation Advisory Committee of the City of Ashland. Shelby Scharen was the committee Chair who helped get the ball rolling, and Derek Severson, Ashland Planning Manager, was the supportive City liaison.
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