Stafford Church Baptist Cemetery

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Wilsonville, Clackamas, Oregon, United States

The Stafford Baptist Church Cemetery is located at the intersection of Newland and Gage Roads in the community of Stafford, which is now part of the city of Wilsonville, Oregon.

The Gage family donated the land for the lower portion of the cemetery and reserved space in the west end for their family. At the top of the slope the cemetery reaches its border and the upper portion is a different cemetery named after early pioneer Robert Bird. The two cemeteries were divided in the 1920's by a series of metal pipes that once supported a fence between the two properties, but the fence is long gone, giving the appearance of one large cemetery. The plot map posted on the Robert Bird caretaker's shed does not include the internments for Stafford Baptist cemetery.

The Church was founded by German pioneer immigrants to the area, most arriving on the Oregon trail through Oregon City, and homesteading in the Stafford and Wilsonville area. The church celebrated its 100th anniversary Oct.15, 1992. The first burial in the lower cemetery was Bee Gage in 1891. The earliest known burial in the neighboring Robert Bird cemetery was Oliver J. Walker in 1851. Thus, anyone buried before 1890 is in the upper cemetery, after 1891 they could be in either cemetery. Over time newspaper obituaries variously called the cemetery "The German Baptist Church cemetery" "The cemetery at Stafford", "The Stafford Baptist cemetery", and until 1923 included the section at the top of the hill which was then renamed.