Located a few miles SW of Talent is a pioneer cemetery containing graves from the late 1800s to current dates. The newer graves are located in the north (front) portion of the cemetery. The older, established graves are located on a hillside in the south portion of the cemetery.
Great Turnout for July
Stearns Cemetery Tour
September 2015
On a warm summer evening, over
50 people gathered at the historic
Stearns Cemetery on Anderson Creek
Rd. west of Talent to hear THS board
member, Jan Wright, give a walking
tour of the grounds.
The cemetery was created in 1857
when Judge Avery P. Stearns was
buried in his nephew, David Stearns,
wheat field, and in the following years,
the Stearns family allowed burials there
as a courtesy to their neighbors. In
1886, following David Stearns death,
the family donated the land for a public
cemetery. Then in August of 1889,
local school master W.J. Dean, along
with Welborn Beeson and trustees John
Abbott and Ern Purves, laid out the
Stearns Cemetery on the hillside west of
Talent. A new granite memorial stone,
installed earlier this year, honors the
Stearns family and their donation.
Volunteers and families provide
upkeep as Stearns is not a perpetual
care cemetery. It’s operated by the nonprofit
Wagner Creek Cemetery
Association. In 2011, the cemetery was
officially proclaimed a “Historic
Cemetery”.
The three-acre cemetery includes
the original Stearns area at the top of
the hill as well as the former
Independent Order of Odd Fellows
Cemetery located at the bottom of the
hill next to the road. It was deeded to
the Association in 1980.
Many of Talent’s well known pioneer
families are buried there. The tour
stopped at John Beeson’s grave who Jan
characterized as “ a man ahead of his
time.” His views about the mistreatment
of the local Native Americans caused him
to be ostracized by the Wagner Valley
Community. Because of fears for his
safety, Beeson fled the valley leaving his
son, Welborn, to take care of his wife and
homestead. John Beeson’s grave marker
reads: Born in England, Sept. 15, 1803 -
Died Apr. 21, 1889 - A Pioneer and Man
of Peace.
An important intent of the tour was to
highlight the lives of lesser know
individuals who are also buried at the
cemetery. Miners and laborers did
seasonal work for area families and had
no permanent houses. However, they
were an important part of the community
and had a great deal of value even into
their later years. The community as a
whole took care of them .