We started off at the Public Service building and Vital Statistics but came up empty. Apparently everything from our era of interest was sent to the state archives in Salem, and we know that Tracey had gone over much of the information there. We did find some pretty cool Sequoia trees though...
After also striking out at the local paper we headed towards Vernonia. On the way we stopped in at Tualatin Plains cemetery just out of town where a sister of Aaron L. was believed to be buried. We thought there was an outside chance he could be buried near her but unfortunately we had no luck finding evidence of either individual.
We continued along the winding highway to Vernonia and it was easy to tell what resource the local economy was based on...
At times our GPS had an unsettling habit of selecting very "rural" routes to take us where we wanted to go. Although it was beautiful country our high-tech guide definitely had us scratching our heads a few times. At least the livestock were friendly...
When we arrived in Vernonia inquiries at the library led us to the local Pioneer Cemetery.
We were unsuccessful at finding the headstone of Aaron L's sister Ellen Claire Sheeley (Chamberlin) but found one belonging to that of son Omar and what appears to be a daughter and grand-daughter of Ellen Claire.
We then got directions to the other cemetery in town and quickly realized the stock directions for finding cemeteries in this part of the country is "head to the top of the hill...you can't miss it!" We scoured the headstones at the second cemetery without success.
Attempting to find Aaron L. has begun to feel like the classic cat and mouse scenario...except the mouse is permanently stationary and the cat is decidedly disoriented. I am sure it will be all worth it when we finally get that "eureka" moment. We will re-group back at home and pour over the information acquired thus far...then plan our next approach to this mystery. Until then we bid farewall to Oregon at Rainier, crossing the mighty Columbia on the Lewis and Clark bridge to head north to British Columbia.
The bridge was built in 1924 and I was fascinated by the construction of that era...practical but also kinda visually cool...
Onward to and through Seattle...
We made it just north of the "Emerald City" when we decided to make camp and drown our sorrows with some quality Chinese food...
The next day we would be crossing the border and welcomed back to familiar surroundings. Both of us agreed, however, that we could have stayed in Oregon for much, much longer and felt right at home. What a great State full of wonderful people. We will be back!
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