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Newport Cemetery
Newport, Pend Oreille County, Washington
7th & Cemetery Rd
Newport WA 99156
509-447-3114, Chris Demlow
Lat: 48° 10' 29"N, Lon: 117° 04' 09"W
T31N R46E Sec 23-24
Transcribed by Maggie Rail, © Feb 18, 2004, edited Aug 14, 2008 [mrail@asisna.com]. Total records = 5,401.
To reach the cemetery drive west out of Newport on Hwy 2 for about a mile. The highway curves southwest just about the time you will see the cemetery off to your right. It is tricky to spot, until you have been there a few times. Turn right onto 7th St for about a block, to the entrance on 7th & Cemetery Road.
This cemetery began in 1902 by the Oddfellows. After many years they were unable to continue managing it. I do not have details of the in between time. It is now owned and maintained by Pend Oreille Cemetery District #1. If one wishes assistance finding a headstone, it would be best to phone ahead of time and make an appointment, since there is only one person at the cemetery to help people.
I can easily say is is very well maintained. Stacy, the one in charge at the cemetery in 2004, told me that it was let run down for a time, but slowly it is being brought back to a good condition. There are about 8,000 gravesites at present in this cemetery and about 3/4 of them are filled. Some of these are unknown, many others are without markers, or reserved to be used when needed.
I found many funeral home markers set in a cement stone for markers. I imagine it is a less expensive way to have a marker which lasts a while. Another thing I noticed was the large number of couples married over 50 and 60 years on those with markers.
When my first transcription from headstones resulted in so many missing records, on Mar 16, 2004 I returned to the cemetery office and copied all of the records in the sexton book. The last months I have been going through those and adding to what I transcribed. I do not feel all that good about the results, I might have duplications and errors, since the sexton files sometimes had a nickname for the person, or the stone had the nickname and the legal name was in the records, and the spelling was not always accurate. Difficult to know unless the dates match exactly what I was working with at times. A few pages in the book were illegible, so I could not compare those names. There were no records for some burials, and in a few cases inaccurate records.
At the present time they are keeping good records, and we just have to accept what is or is not there. I can only say, I did my best, so do compare what is here with other records to be sure. Usually if they differed, I added the sexton record in parenthesis. As a rule it is the headstone reading unless there is a double asterisk ** following the entry. Those entries are from the sexton files only and have no headstone or marker.
I compared my reading with one published in Tombstone Inscriptions for Pend Oreille County pub. 1976 by EWGS. I have placed an asterisk * after about 20 entries added from this reading, which I did not find a marker for or record in the sexton files.
When I returned to copy the records Mar 16, 2004, Stacy was pleased to show me they were adding another area to the cemetery which was being platted, and will be needed very soon. They also have constructed a new building to facilitate the storage of equipment, which will allow enlarging the office space in the present building, and hopefully create room for a computer and other items to make record keeping easier and more efficient.
Please contact me if you have proof of an error I made. I am always happy to correct it if need be. Some entries were difficult to follow across the page, so it is possible I could have incorrect burial information on some.
My grandson, Thomas Morris, and I walked this cemetery on Aug 11-12, 2003. We each used a digital camera to accomplish this. I have a photo of all of the stones and markers which were legible up to that date. These records now are complete up to Feb 24, 2007, with additions dated after Aug 2003 being from the sexton files.
- Maggie Rail
Legend:
sss, shared surname stone
s/w empty = double stone, one side is empty
s/w = stone with
s/by = stone by, usually matched
FH = Funeral Home
OES = Order of Eastern Star
* = no headstone or marker, 1976 reading
** = no headstone, sexton files
Records Index