Jacksonville Review – April 2024

APRIL IS A QUIET MONTH in the cemetery but also one of anticipation and transition from the cold of winter to the blooms of spring and, eventually, the warmth and long days of summer. By the time you read this, we will hopefully have completed our first Community Cemetery Clean-up of the year and, next month, we’ll have news about additional Friends’ programs for 2024, including our History Saturday talks and tours, and opportunities to help spruce up the hundreds of blocks and markers in the seven sections of our cemetery. Adopt-A-Block continues, and Marker Cleaning Workshops will offer tips and techniques for new Friends, as well as a refresher for the rest of us—all conducted out of doors in our glorious historic cemetery!

Meanwhile, if you’ve visited the cemetery recently, you’ve likely noticed the remarkable transformation of several blocks at the top of Cemetery Road. The Toepper block (City 333), near the flagpole, is the most visible. A total restoration by Friends volunteers John and Kurt Elliott involved excavating the block’s enclosure, then reinstalling it to raise the level and restore the original size and shape. With similar work on the monuments, the Toepper block’s appearance is dramatically improved!

But, while we often recognize names found on headstones nearby, such as Hoffman, T’Vault, Ish, and Linn, for example, the question remains: who exactly were the Toeppers? Read on to find out!

John and Doris (Hesse) Toepper were born in Germany in 1822 and 1816, respectively. They emigrated, individually, to the US as young adults and eventually met in Cincinnati, Ohio, where they wed in 1851. John soon headed for the Rogue Valley where he found work making fence rails for farmers, then eventually began improving a farm of his own in the Willow Springs district (near today’s Central Point). By 1855, Doris, a lifelong member of the German Presbyterian Church, had joined her husband and, according to the Southern Oregon Pioneer Association, made a happy home for John and several orphan children. The Toeppers adopted a daughter, became prosperous farmers and, in time, owned property in Jacksonville.

By 1885, with Doris’s health in decline, the Toeppers moved to town, where Doris passed two years later. Services were held at the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the elegant monument in the now-restored Toepper block was constructed in her memory by local stone mason JC Whipp.

John had family in Jacksonville (sister, Doris Anne Krach; niece, Minnie Obenchain), and he eventually re-married (Mrs. Anna Counts). John passed in 1896. An inscription on the Toepper monument reads: “Gone but not forgotten.”

Visit www.friendsjvillecemetery.org for more information about events and restoration efforts.

Featured image: Toepper Block (City 333), Jacksonville Historic Cemetery. Photo by Dick Meyers