Oregon150

By Sue Fagalde Lick
South Beach, OR

I sit cross-legged on a dry patch of grass in the Damascus Pioneer Cemetery and introduce myself to Refucia Maria Alviso and Jean Fagalde, my great-great grandparents on my dad’s father’s side. My husband Fred and I, California refugees, only live three hours away in South Beach, but it took quite a journey to find this spot.

It began with the Internet discovery that Refucia, Jean and their son John were buried there. When my father and my brother Mike came to visit, we drove to this tiny town southeast of Portland to look for our roots. The weather was clear and pleasantly warm. We wandered all over the cemetery, reading good old names like Daisy and Amos and Eulalia, but no Fagaldes. Whatever stone or wooden markers might have been placed on the Fagalde graves had disintegrated over time. After all, Jean died in 1883 (or maybe 1886). But if they were on the list, someone must know where they were buried.

We stopped at Damascus City Hall. A young woman came out of the cubicles to greet us. Our relatives settled here in the 1800s, we said. We knew they were buried in the cemetery, but couldn’t find any stones. Who might know about this? She directed us to City Councilwoman Barbara Ledbury, who was thrilled to hear from me. She had paid for an expensive radar search to locate her people and found the Fagalde graves next door.

Barbara couldn’t meet with us that day, but we had one more stop to make. According to the 1870 census, the Fagaldes lived at the junction of Deep Creek and the Clackamas River. We headed down a country road past barns and fields of tall grass, passed a school and came to the creek. As the creek grew into the wide Clackamas River, we imagined Jean and Refucia and their 13 children farming this land.

Jean was born in France; Refucia came from Baja California. His family had a chocolate factory in Cambo-Les-Bains. Her father or grandfather was part of the De Anza expedition that founded San Francisco. How did they get together?

Eight of their 13 children were born in California, the others in Oregon. One of those Oregon-born Fagaldes was my great-grandfather, Joseph Burt Fagalde, who married Louisa Gilroy and settled in San Jose, my hometown. But perhaps we’re Oregonians after all.

Months later, Fred and I meet Barbara at the cemetery. She shows us exactly where the graves are. The Fagalde plots are still unmarked, but I sit in the middle of them and start talking. I explain that I am Susan, daughter of Clarence, Jr., Son of Clarence Sr., whose father was their son Joseph. I tell them I am a writer and musician, that I hope they would be proud of this middle-aged, blue-jeaned woman sitting atop their grave. Someday we will give them the markers they deserve. Meanwhile we have a lot of catching up to do.