St. Peter's Catholic Cemetery - The Dalles Oregon

On January 27th I stopped at The Dalles to search the Catholic cemetery for the graves of Philip J Ohlegschlager, Elizabeth Ohlegschlager, Jacob Wetle, Lena Ohlegschlager Wetle and any other family members I could locate.

I first went to the library to check the indexes. I found the following in the listings of burials in St Peters Cemetery.

Ohlegschlager, Elizabeth - Section 3, row 24, lot 28
Ohlegschlager, Phillip – Section 3, row 24, lot 29
Wetle, Jacob – Section 3, row 25, lot 16
Wetle, Lena – Section 3, row 25, lot 17
Wetle, Willie – Section 3, row 25, lot 18

The index seems to record the information from the tombstones. A short interview with the cemetery caretaker revealed that early records were destroyed in a fire so it is unknown if other family members are buried here.

The cemetery is accessed from Cherry Street just south of Tenth. This area was part of an old patent issued to the Catholic mission. The first two catholic churches were located here. There is a flag pole near the center of the cemetery and section 3 is south west of this point. The Ohlegschlagers are 24 rows down the dirt road and about two lots to the south. The Wetle burials are in the next row and further south.



JACOB & LENA WETLE

Engraved on Tombstone:
Willie
Son of
JACOB & LENA
WETLE
Born Dec 1, 1886;
Died Jan 24, 1894
________

Gone to a fairer land
Of pleasure and love
To join the bright band
Of angels above
Placed on the base of the monument for Willie was a small stone painted as a flower. What is the significance of the stone and who might have placed in there?