Ever wonder about the cemetery on the pasture hillside while you are traveling on Jackson Ranch Road? It is the private cemetery of George Washington Arbaugh, Sr. and some of his family and that of his wife, Rebecca Graves–the Dunlaps.

 

George was a very educated and interesting man. He was born in Decatur, Alabama on August 9, 1822. Raised on his father’s farm, his parents paid for his early education because there were no “public” schools there. He moved to Arkansas where he remained until 1846 when he enlisted in the U.S. Army for the Mexican-American war. He mustered out of the military after being stationed at Fort Gibson, Oklahoma in the territory of the Cherokee Nation.

 

He taught school in Arkansas for three months where he met his future wife, Miss Rebecca Graves. He went back to war to fight the Yuma Indians (1850-1853) under General J.C. Moorehead with 46 men under his command; he was discharged after four months.

 

With his wife Rebecca and one child (Rebecca was pregnant with their second child), they headed to Oregon, and arrived in Eugene city on October 24, 1853. He left his family there and headed to the gold fields of Shasta County in California. Family members today think that he may have done this to hide for a time because the Civil War was imminent, and he felt that he’d be called up to fight.

 

George brought his wife and family to Siskiyou County on June 18, 1855. In 1857, he settled on what became the Arbaugh family farm (the kitchen from the house was sent to the Smithsonian Museum to be placed on display). George and Rebecca had 9 children, two of whom are buried with them in the pasture hillside family cemetery. Other Arbaugh children are buried in the Edgewood Cemetery. Some of Rebecca’s family members, the Dunlaps (her brother & family) are also buried in the pasture hillside cemetery. 

 

The concept of “The Sacred Acre”

One of the sad necessities connected with the settling of every town is the early setting apart of the sacred acre, where–sooner or later–all must find rest after the work of life is done.

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Headstone Inscription of George W. Arbaugh, Sr.

“The arm of an angel put me here, but all the angels in Heaven cannot keep me here.”

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(Contributed by Deb Wilson, Weed, CA)