September 21, 2010 ~ almost 150 years after the cemetery was founded.

Reuben Shipley, William Wyatt, Abiathar Newton and George Bethers formally established the cemetery on May 11, 1861 on two acreas of land donated by Reuben Shipley, which he divided off of the NW corner of his 80 acre farm. Early day Oregon Territory was not hospitable to Black people, so one of the conditions Reuben placed on the land donation was that Black people could be buried there, an unusual event in those years. The name given to the cemetery showed unity with the antislavery Northern forces during the Civil War. Abiathar and Norrie Newton had donation land claims just to the north and west of the cemetery and during the first few years there were many Newtons buried there, leading some to call it the Newtom Cemtery. George Bethers, an early pioneer, traded land east of Reuben Shipley's cabin as his share of the expense of the cemetery. The Shipley farm was later owned by the Wheeler family who built a large home there. Mrs Minnie Gray (Taylor) Wheeler later sold more acreage to the Cemetery Association to meet the growing needs of the cemetery, which brought it to its present size of 6.7 acres.
Prior to coming to Oregon, Reuben Shipley was a Black slave and the overseer of a large plantation in Missouri. In 1853 he agreed to drive a team of exen to Oregon with the Robert Shipley family, from whom he took his last name, in exchange for his freedom. After arriving in Benton County, he worked on the farm of Eldrige Hartless, who was part Black, and a neighboring pioneer of the Plymouth community. Reuben saved $1500 and bought 80 acres adjoining the Shipley farm. See Reuben Shipley in this cemetery for additional information.

New cemetery arch, installed July 2022

View of Willamette Valley from Mount Union Cemetery

Archway Gate

Adalina Henderson died 28 years wife to William Henderson

Mount Union Cemetery has beautiful views, almost panoramic in nature. If you need to find a headstone here, get a map as many headstones are hard to read, even fairly recent ones. The cemetery closes at 5PM, so come early.

Jason Palmer's grave on lower left at sunset

Overview of northeast area of Mount Union Cemetery, Philomath, Benton County, Oregon

Overview Mount Union Cemetery looking more to the North/Northeast