Fisher Cemetery, Vancouver, Washington, USA
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Rose Red
N 45° 35.381 W 122° 30.174
10T E 538775 N 5048580
William Simmons donated an acre of his land for the site of Fisher Cemetery in honor of his wife, Ann J. Fisher Simmons. This is the oldest public burying ground in Clark County dating to 1852.
Waymark Code: WM2A0H
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 09/30/2007
Views: 88
Lovely, quiet place (except when the trains go past).
Solomon Welton Fisher, his brothers and sisters along with William Mortimer Simmons, Ann Fisher Simmons and their children had traveled westward from West Virginia. They left Missouri in the spring of 1850 by covered wagons pulled by oxen, heading for the gold fields of California. After meeting so many discouraged gold seekers, they headed toward the Oregon Country instead.
Simmons took out a Donation Land Claim east of present-day 164th Avenue. Fisher took out a Donation Land Claim west of 164th Avenue.
They founded Fisher community (see Clark County Heritage Site board). The town had a post office, blacksmith shop, general store, one-room schoolhouse with grades 1-8, and early grange. Later a church was built.
Solomon W. Fisher, a bachelor, was a trader and the first postmaster at the crossroads. He operated the post office from 1858 until 1870 when it closed. In 1881, the post office was opened, again with Fisher as postmaster. It was named Fisher's, and in 1894 the name was shortened to Fisher. The post office was closed in 1917.
Fisher established a riverboat landing. Wood was cut for fuel for the river steamers. Several steamers stopped every day at the landing to take on cord wood.
William M. Simmons, a family man, was a farmer. He built a two-story house with a large, central brick chimney with four fireplaces. The lumber was cut at Hudson's Bay Company sawmill and towed upriver to the landing. He had a large fruit orchard with all types of apples, pears, peaches, prunes, walnuts and grapes.
A riverboat landing was built on Simmons riverfront property about present-day 17200 SE Evergreen Highway. Simmons rented it to Remington who sold wood stacked high along the landing to river steamers for 85 cents a cord for fuel.
W.[William] M.[Mortimer] Simmons died 23 Aug 1878. His first wife, Ann J. [Fisher] Simmons, died in 1867. Solomon W. [Welton] Fisher died 10 Apr 1903.
Although the small community took the name of Fisher, it was William Simmons who donated an acre of his land for the site of Fisher Cemetery in honor of his wife, Ann J. Fisher Simmons. There are approximately 100 graves. This is the oldest public burying ground in Clark County dating to 1852.
Instructions for logging waymark: A photograph is required of you (or your GPS receiver, if you are waymarking solo) and the Fisher Cemetery gate/sign.
City, Town, or Parish / State / Country: Not listed
Approximate number of graves: Not listed
Cemetery Status: Not listed
Cemetery Website: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:
Post an original, un-copywrited picture of the Cemetery into this Waymark gallery, along with any observations about the cemetery.