The red granite three tiered obelisk is about twelve feet tall. Standing atop a grey granite base it is the last headstone of any type on the south end of the cemetery.
This is the marker for the final resting place for one of the best known pioneers of Merritt, William Henry Voght, known as "The Father of Merritt". Born in Holstein, Germany in 1837, he sailed for the New World in 1852. After slowly making his way through much of the U.S., as far south as New Orleans, and spending some time participating in the California gold rush, he landed in Victoria, in what was then a crown colony of England. From there he thrice participated in the various British Columbia gold rushes.
Disenchanted with the hard life of the gold miner, he then took up land in North Bend in 1859, later moving to the Nicola Valley and homesteading at the confluence of the Nicola and Coldwater Rivers. In 1893 parts of three ranches, owned by William Voght, Jesus Garcia, and the John Charters Estate, were surveyed and the town of Forksdale platted. The name was not a popular one so it was changed in 1906 to honor William Hamilton Merritt III, a mining engineer and railway promoter.
Voght passed away February 4th, 1911. His funeral was attended by over 500 friends and admirers, with another 300 attending the graveside ceremonies. An obituary describing the man and what he meant to the town and its people appeared on the front page of the February 10, 1911 edition of the
Nicola Valley News.
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