Fannie Hunsaker - Croxton Memorial Park - Grants Pass, OR
N 42° 26.912 W 123° 18.907
10T E 474086 N 4699626
This zinc headstone is the only one among a number of pioneer graves located within this former cemetery, now a city park.
Waymark Code: WMN74X
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 01/09/2015
Views: 2
Located in Croxton Memorial Park is a large, concrete circle with a number of headstones imbedded in concrete. There are also two plaques that note the names of 90 individuals interred here. This park was once a cemetery for many years but neglect and vandalism forced the city to convert this lot into a city park in 1975. The headstones of the surviving graves were imbedded in concrete to prevent further vandalism and damage. The fact that this burial ground is now a city park makes these pioneer graves seem out of place here since it is no longer known as a cemetery to the locals. Below the plaques mentioning the names interred here is a smaller plaque that reads:
IN 1867 THIS LAND WAS OFFICIALLY
GIVEN BY THOMAS CROXTON "FOR BURIAL
GROUND TO BE USED BY THE PUBLIC."
PIONEERS KNOWN TO BE INTERRED HERE ARE
There's a FindaGrave.com web page for Fannie here and the contributor to her page notes that this headstone is the only known white bronze marker in Josephine County. I intend to prove her wrong some day...:)
It should be noted that the graves of Thomas Croxton and his wife, Ella (the donators of this land), were exhumed many years after their deaths and moved to the Masonic Cemetery on Foothill Blvd. No maps exist of the former Croxton Cemetery as it was laid out. Today there are concrete pads with picnic tables in several places. There are original lamp-posts, cast by Grants Pass Iron & Steel Works throughout the park and they still work.