Genealogical Society of Stanislaus County

Wood Colony Cemetery is located at 3511 Dakota Avenue between Beckwith and Murphy Roads.

In 1910 Stanislaus County had 22,522 inhabitants. In 1994 the population had grown to 417,200. The Wood Colony-community and cemetery-has been an important part of the history of this region.

This cemetery is owned by the German Brethren Baptist Church and is governed by a ten member board of trustees. Each trustee has a complete record book of the cemetery and these are maintained by yearly updating.

The appearance of this cemetery is always excellent. Each grave is marked by a tombstone, a cemetery requirement.

The location at 3511 Dakota Avenue is clearly marked by a gateway arch bearing the name Wood Colony Cemetery.

A brief history of Wood Colony community and cemetery, as recorded by Lowell H. Beachier on November 15th, 1995.

Ebenezer Wood(1823-1902) came from New York in 1849 to California. He was married in 1856 to Sarah Wiley (1841-1919) who also came from New York in 1855. They were the parents of five sons and one daughter. From 1869 until 1894, they farmed between Modesto and Salida on the west side of the Central (later Southern) Pacific Railway. This was 1,760 acres with the farm buildings near the corner of what became McDonald Avenue and Dakota Avenue (called Pennsylvania Avenue until 1904). They bought this land from Timothy Paige in 1884 and sold back to him in 1893. In 1902 Timothy Paige of San Francisco died, and Albert B. Shoemake and Ora McHenry bought the farm from his estate soon afterwards. In 1903 they sold the farm to William Graham, who sold it to John Zweep in 1906. His grandson Norman Vlach now resides on the farm (1996) and remnants of the old Wood Colony buildings are still standing.

This area became known as "Woodland" and "Wood Track", and then "Wood Colony". The area extended a larger circumference around the original farm. It extended north of Beckwith Road to land owned by Franklin C. Davis.

Franklin C. Davis (1838-1910) came to California in 1855 and settled at Salida in 1864. He was married to Rachel R. Covert (1848-1929) who came to California in 1856. They bought property on the south side of Salida in 1864 and 1879, and by 1906, they owned 800 acres.

As early as 1860s members of the German Baptist Brethren Church settled in Stanislaus County, mainly southwest of Salida in the Beckwith Road and Jackson Road vicinity, and also in the Standiford Avenue and McHenry Avenue vicinity. They worshipped in their homes and in a grove on Beckwith Road, also in the Salida Schoolhouse after it was build in 1878. Some of the early names were Shelley, Riggle, Garman, and Flory,and a maiden lady of the Beckwiths was also a baptized member. By 1886, most of these early members had moved away. They did have an organized congregation at Salida, and a larger one at Lathrop. In 18811883 time period, there was a division of the Brethren people, it became three separate distinctive groups.

One of the groups was the Old German Baptist Brethren Church. They came to Stanislaus County in May 1903 to look at property for sale with the irrigation prospects at hand. The first members arrived in July and August 1903, and settled on newly sub-divided farms on Shoemake Avenue and Beckwith Road. A.B. Shoemake and Ora McHenry encouraged them to settle in the area to start a new settlement. By March 1904, they begin to hold church services in their homes, and organized as the Wood Colony Congregation in November 1906. The early members came from Whittler and Coalinga areas, and then from eastern states.

By 1905, the church members felt they were here to stay, so decided to look into buying property for a meetinghouse (church) and a cemetery. Three trustees from the New River Church District near Los Nietos and Whittler in Los Angeles County, had moved to Stanislaus County. They were J.T. Gish, Henry Miller, and Harry L. Heinrich. On August 11, 1905, they bought two acres of lot 6 in section 14, for $120.00 from Albert B. Shoemake. The piece of property was east of Dakota Avenue on North Avenue, adjacent to the corner property of Mary L. Otey, who sold her farm to Nicholas and Lucinda Yourex on April 25, 1906. When the land was tested, it was found that the water level was too close to the surface and not suitable for graves or church property.

On August 3, 1909, the congregation appointed Jacob Cover, Trussie Gish, and Samuel E. Garber to look into suitable property since the first purchase was not used.

At that time, Dakota Avenue ended at Beckwith Road, and a small country road went from Beckwith Road up towards Salida on land that became the Graybill Wenger farm.

Franklin and Rachel Davis of Salida were approached by the Brethren, and on September 13, 1909, acreage was purchased from them for a building site and a cemetery site. Since no road was in the immediate area, Dakota Avenue was extended north of Beckwith to the railroad tracks and to Murphy Road.

The land description purchased from the Davis family was - "north east 1/4 quarter of section 10, township 3, south, range 8 east, Mount Diablo Base and Meridian." It is recorded in volume 130 deeds, page 476, County of Stanislaus, Modesto, and signed by M. Luther Garber, Clarence Woodbridge, and Christie R. Cover.

On August 30, 1909, the two acre property was sold by Gish, Miller and Heinrich to Weston L. Yourex for $300.00.

On October 24, 1909 William Boyd age 55 years, passed away. This was the first death among the Brethren. Since the ground was not ready for burial purposes, he was buried in the Modesto Citizens Cemetery.

On January 8, 1910, a committee of John J. Wagoner, Weston H. Mohler, Jacob A. Cover, Samuel E. Garber, and Clarence L. Woodbridge, was appointed to plot out the area for the use of parking, church building, and cemetery. Jacob Cover drafted the layout plan.

The first burial was on March 1, 1912. It was an infant girl, daughter of Forest and Edna (Mohler) Byrer. The second death and burial was of Charles Rebman, who drowned on August 14, 1912, aged 24 years. The third death and burial was of Nicholas Yourex, who died from a fall on September 4, 1912.

In the winter of 1910-1911, a meetinghouse was built in front of the cemetery property. It was dedicated on April 9, 1911. The church was added onto twice afterwards, and burnt to the ground on September 1, 1932. The area has since been used for parking area for the cemetery. New meetinghousas were built elsewhere.

In May 1947 and again in July 1964, additional property was bought from Orvel Gish to enlarge the cemetery. The back part of the cemetery is still used in farming.

At first the Brethren took care of the property as a group. Then special care-takers were appointed. These have been George Boyd, Jesse W. Miller, Levi Bowman, and John Wolf, covering a span of over 60 years.

From 1909 until 1995, there have been 36 trustees on the cemetery board, usually 10 at a time. Walter Wise (1904-1995) served the longest from 1949 until 1989. There is an annual meeting of directors each January.

The cemetery is primarily used for members and families of the Old German Baptist Church. During the 1930's several burials took place for people that could not afford elsewhere. They were mainly people from Salida. A charter was drawn up in 1960 to keep it mainly for church families.

Since 1912 until April 1996 there have been 813 burials in Wood Colony Cemetery. The oldest person buried there was Dora (Brubaker) Frantz, who died November 10, 1990, at the age of 105 years, 11 months, and 13 days.

Since many of the Old German Baptist people came from other areas, a number have been shipped east to former home areas throughout the years. Also some of the members that passed away were taken south to the New River Cemetery at Whittier, and several have been buried at Lakewood Memorial Park, Hughson.

This, in brief, is a history of the Wood Colony Cemetery.

(Mr. Beachier added information in May 1996 to reflect additional research.)

This charming well kept cemetery located in the farm community of Wood Colony, has excellent records from the first burials to the present day. The records contain all birth and death information that is available on the markers, in the church archives (obituaries) and in a remarkable diary kept by the grandmother of Lowell Beachler. Mr. Beachler compared markers and records and reconciled any areas of disagreement. Because of the completeness and accuracy of these records and his work, it was decided not to record headstone information.

Appreciation is expessed to the following key individuals for their contributions to this account:

• Ouida Fillebrown for her vision in starting this record preservation project.
• Lowell Beachler for countless contributions. He provided the raw material for our input; he consulted Grandma 's diary and the church obituaries when a tough question arose; he wrote the fine history of the cemetery for this book; and he was always available with answers to our endless questions.
• Wendy Olsen for doing the computer input with great accuracy and care.
• Wayne Hasemeier for proofreading the names and dates.
• Sandra Turner for proofreading, and to her husband Richard for the fine grid map of the cemetery.
• The Cemetery Committee, Chairperson Wayne Hasemeier, members Dorothy Jenkinson, Sandra Turner and Millie Starr for efforts to complete this project.
• The entire membership of the Genealogical Society of Stanislaus County, Inc. for sponsoring the publication of this piece of our history.